A marketer notices the bidder is using a different measurement source than the CFO and CEO's internal CRM. Why is this source alignment critical?

Alignment matters because it makes sure the bidder is trying to achieve the same business truth. If Google Ads optimises towards web form submissions while the board judges success on signed revenue in the CRM, the two are chasing different outcomes, and the campaigns will look successful in one system while disappointing in the other. Smart Bidding will faithfully maximise whatever it has been given, so the definition of success embedded in the conversion setup effectively becomes the company's advertising strategy. Aligning sources means agreeing what counts as a conversion and what it is worth, then feeding the CRM's view back into Google Ads through offline conversion imports so the model learns which clicks produced real revenue. It also ends the familiar argument where marketing reports 400 leads and finance reports eleven customers.