Google Ads bids, reports and makes recommendations based on one thing: the conversions you tell it about. If that data is wrong, everything built on it is wrong too, from Smart Bidding to your cost per lead.
This guide covers the decisions that matter: what to track, which setup route fits your site, phone calls, enhanced conversions, consent mode, and how to check it all works. It’s not a click-by-click tutorial. Google’s interface changes often, so where I describe steps, I link to the Google page they come from.
What should you track as a conversion?
Start with the actions that are worth money to your business:
- Leads: a submitted contact or quote form
- Phone calls: calls from your ads and calls from your website
- Bookings: a completed appointment or reservation
- Purchases: a completed order, with its value
Each conversion action is either primary or secondary. Primary actions are reported in the “Conversions” column and used for bidding; secondary actions are for observation only and show up in “All conversions”. Google also warns that misconfiguring this can prevent Smart Bidding from optimizing effectively.
So the real question is “what should Google bid for?” My rule: only real business outcomes should be primary. These can be tracked as secondary, but shouldn’t drive bidding:
- Page views, including the contact page
- Clicks on a “Book now” button that only opens a form
- Scroll depth, time on site or video views
- Newsletter sign-ups, unless they’re genuinely your main goal
If one of those drives bidding, Google will find you more of the cheapest version of it.
Two settings people skip: count and value
Every conversion action has a Count setting. Google explains that “Every” counts every conversion after an ad interaction and suits sales, while “One” counts one conversion per ad click and suits leads. In practice, leads, calls and bookings usually get “One”; purchases get “Every”. You edit it in Goals → Conversions → Summary, then the conversion action, then Edit settings. Changes only apply to future conversions.
The second is value. Conversion values show the total business value Google Ads generated rather than just the number of conversions, and they’re what Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value bid on. For e-commerce, send the actual order value. For lead generation, even a rough value per action helps Google tell a phone call apart from a newsletter sign-up.
Three ways to set up website conversion tracking
Google’s setup guide offers two paths: create conversions with the Google tag, or from your Google Analytics events. In practice that gives you three routes.
1. The Google tag directly
Google’s setup flow scans your site for an existing Google tag, then offers two options:
- Set up with URL: best for simple tracking of page loads, with no code changes once your tags are set up, such as a visit to a thank-you page after a form.
- Set up with code: required for button clicks, dynamic values like purchase amounts, or transaction IDs.
When it fits: a simple site with a proper thank-you page, no Tag Manager, and one or two conversion actions.
2. Google Tag Manager
In Google Tag Manager (GTM) you add a Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag. Google’s guide lists the prerequisites: a GTM container, the Google tag, a Conversion Linker tag, and a conversion action created in Google Ads. You enter the Conversion ID and Conversion Label, optionally a value, transaction ID and currency, choose a trigger, then preview and publish.
When it fits: most business websites I work on. GTM keeps your tags in one place, handles forms, button clicks and booking widgets without editing the site each time, and Preview mode makes testing easier.
3. Importing GA4 key events
If GA4 is set up well, you can import its key events as conversions. Google’s requirements: link Google Ads and Google Analytics, turn on auto-tagging, and mark the event as a key event in GA4. The same page notes:
- Imported data can take up to 24 hours to appear in Google Ads, and history from before the import isn’t included.
- Conversions created through the Google Analytics interface are set as secondary. To bid on them, change them to primary in Google Ads.
- Numbers won’t match GA4 exactly. Google Ads reports conversions on the date of the click; GA4 on the date of the conversion.
When it fits: when GA4 is already your source of truth and its key events are clean. If GA4 is half-configured, importing from it just moves the mess into Google Ads.
Which route should you choose?
| Your situation | Route I’d usually choose |
|---|---|
| Simple site, thank-you page after every form, no GTM | Google tag, URL-based setup |
| Several forms, a booking widget, click tracking or purchase values | Google Tag Manager |
| GA4 well set up and already the business’s reporting source | GA4 key event import |
Google says you can use Google Analytics conversions and Google Ads conversion measurement at the same time. That’s fine, as long as the same action isn’t counted twice as primary. More on that below.
Tracking phone calls
For many local businesses, calls are the most valuable leads. Google lists five ways to track call conversions. The main ones:
Calls from ads
These are calls from call-only ads or from call and location assets. With call reporting turned on, Google shows a forwarding number in your ad and records details like call duration. You set a minimum call length, and calls that last at least that long count as conversions.
Google also offers an option where, with call recording on, its AI analyzes the recording to judge lead quality, falling back to call duration when a call can’t be recorded. For now that’s limited to calls where both parties are in the U.S. or Canada.
Calls from your website
Someone clicks your ad, lands on your site and calls from there. Two options:
- Calls to a number on your website: a Google forwarding number dynamically replaces your business number for visitors who came from an ad. You need the Google tag plus a phone snippet, or the “Google Ads Calls from Website Conversion” tag in GTM.
- Clicks on your number on the mobile site: this tracks the tap on a phone link. Google is clear that it can only track these clicks, not the phone calls themselves. A tap isn’t a conversation, so I treat it as a weaker signal.
Third-party call tracking
If you need recordings, call scoring or CRM routing, a dedicated call tracking tool may fit better. Google notes that with third-party call tracking you can turn off call reporting so your own number shows on your ads, and that you can import call conversions tracked in another system for more control over which calls count.
I’ve used this in client accounts. For Radiance MedSpa, Call Tracking Metrics let us listen to each call from Google Ads and decide which ones were real bookings, so Google Ads only got credit for those (the case study has the cost per lead results). For Mountainview Movement, a Vancouver massage clinic, CallRail measured calls from Google Ads alongside Jane App for online booking.
Enhanced conversions
Enhanced conversions sends hashed first-party data from a conversion, such as an email address or phone number, to Google. It’s hashed with SHA256 before it’s sent, then matched to signed-in Google accounts that interacted with your ads. Google says it helps recover conversions that otherwise wouldn’t have been measured.
There are two flavors:
- For web: improves measurement of conversions on your website. It can be set up with GTM, the Google tag, or the Google Ads API.
- For leads: for sales that close offline. The tag captures hashed data from your lead form, and when the lead becomes a customer, you import that conversion with the same data. Google calls it an upgraded version of offline conversion import.
One recent change: from April 2026, Google says web and leads are combined into a single on/off setting, with existing users migrated automatically. If you set this up a while ago, check how it looks in your account now.
If your form collects an email or phone number, I turn enhanced conversions on as part of any new setup. Sending closed sales back to Google is a bigger topic, which I cover in my post on Google Ads leads that don’t turn into sales.
Consent mode, briefly
Consent mode isn’t a cookie banner. It passes your visitors’ consent choices from your banner to Google, so tags adjust their behavior. Google describes two versions:
- Basic: Google tags don’t load until the visitor interacts with the banner. If they decline, nothing is sent to Google.
- Advanced: tags load straight away and send cookieless pings while consent is denied, which Google says allows more detailed, advertiser-specific conversion modeling.
Whether you need it, and which version, depends on where your visitors are and the rules that apply to you, so check with whoever handles your privacy compliance.
How to test and verify your tracking
Don’t assume it works because the setup screen said “Done”.
- Use Tag Assistant. Google Tag Assistant connects to your site in debug mode and shows which tags fired. Submit a real test form or booking and confirm the Google Ads conversion fires once, on the right event.
- Use GTM Preview if you use Tag Manager. Google’s guide shows how to use Preview mode to confirm a tag fired and check the values it passed.
- Check the status in Google Ads. In Goals → Conversions → Summary, look at the “Status” column. Google lists five statuses: Active, Needs attention, Misconfigured, Awaiting conversions and Removed, though not every account shows all of them yet. A new phone call action showing “Unverified” or “Inactive” is normal until the first conversion.
- Compare against reality. After a week or two, compare Google Ads conversions with the leads in your inbox, call log or CRM. They won’t match exactly, but they should be close. Twice as many, or half, means something’s wrong.
Common conversion tracking mistakes
Double counting
The one I find most often: the same form submission counted by a Google Ads tag and an imported GA4 key event, both primary. Or a thank-you page conversion and a button-click conversion for the same form. Every lead counts twice, cost per lead looks half of what it is, and bidding gets a distorted signal.
Google also warns that website platform plugins can manage tags, so make sure you’re not double-tagging your site. For purchases, reloading the confirmation page can fire the tag again. Google’s fix is a unique transaction ID, which lets Google Ads discard the duplicate.
The wrong count setting
Google’s default is “Every” for website conversions and “One” for calls from ads, so a lead form left on the default counts one person submitting three times as three leads. Google’s own example is an insurance lead form, where “One” gives the truer picture. Purchases are the opposite: you usually want every sale.
Page views or clicks as primary conversions
A contact page visit costs a user nothing, so Google can produce plenty of them. The conversion column fills up while real enquiries don’t move. Make these secondary or delete them.
No value, or a zero value
Without values, Google Ads can count conversions but not weigh them. In GTM, if the Conversion Value field is empty or undefined, Tag Manager sends the value as “0”. For an online store, that leaves you with no reliable revenue or ROAS figure.
When to get help
Basic tracking on a simple site is a reasonable DIY job. It’s worth getting help when leads in your CRM don’t come close to what Google Ads reports, when you rely on calls and don’t know which ads drive them, or when you want to send closed sales back to Google.
Not sure where your tracking stands? I can review the account in my $120 Google Ads audit, delivered as a recorded video and PDF in 3 business days. For building or rebuilding tracking, my analytics and tracking setup service covers Google Tag Manager, GA4, call tracking and CRM integrations, quoted per project. Conversion tracking with GTM and GA4, including enhanced conversions, is also part of my Google Ads management, from $750 a month with no contracts (see pricing).
If your tracking checks out and the account still isn’t producing leads, my checklist for Google Ads that aren’t converting covers what to look at next.
FAQ
Should I use GA4 import or the Google Ads tag?
Either works. Just don’t use both as primary for the same action.
Do I need Google Tag Manager for Google Ads conversion tracking?
No. A simple site can use the Google tag directly. GTM becomes useful once you track several forms, click events, booking tools or purchase values.
Want a second pair of eyes on your conversion setup? Book a free 30-minute call with me.