Google Ads conversion tracking setup
If you're running Google Ads without conversion tracking, you're flying blind. You have no idea which keywords make money and which waste it. Here's how to fix that in 15 minutes.
You are wasting money without this
Here's what happens without conversion tracking: Google optimizes for clicks, not revenue. It sends traffic to whoever will click, whether they buy or not. Your bid strategy can't optimize for conversions because it doesn't know what a conversion is. You end up spending $2,000/month and saying "I think we got some leads from it."
With conversion tracking, you know that keyword A costs $45 per lead and keyword B costs $180 per lead. You shift budget from B to A. Your cost per lead drops 40%. That's the difference.
Setup in 15 minutes: step by step
Step 1: In Google Ads, go to Tools → Conversions → New conversion action. Choose "Website."
Step 2: Enter your website URL. Google will scan it and suggest conversion events. Ignore the suggestions — set it up manually for better control.
Step 3: Click "Add a conversion action manually." Name it something clear like "Lead Form Submit" or "Purchase." Set the value (more on this below). Choose "One" counting for leads, "Every" for purchases.
Step 4: Copy your Conversion ID and Conversion Label. Open Google Tag Manager. Create a new tag: Google Ads Conversion Tracking. Paste the ID and label. Set the trigger to fire on your thank-you page URL or form submission event.
Step 5: Preview in Tag Manager, submit a test conversion, and verify in Google Ads under Tools → Conversions. Status should show "Recording" within a few hours.
What to track by business type
| Business type | Primary conversion | Secondary conversions |
|---|---|---|
| Local services | Phone call or form submit | Directions click, page time >60s |
| E-commerce | Purchase (with value) | Add to cart, begin checkout |
| SaaS / B2B | Demo request or trial signup | Pricing page view, content download |
| Real estate | Contact form or phone call | Property listing view, save property |
| Healthcare | Appointment booking | Provider page view, insurance check |
Only mark your primary conversion as a "Primary" action in Google Ads. Everything else should be "Secondary." This matters because automated bidding only optimizes for primary conversions. If you mark everything as primary, your bid strategy optimizes for page views and purchases equally — not what you want.
Assigning conversion values
For e-commerce, pass the actual transaction amount as a dynamic value. This is non-negotiable — it lets you calculate real ROAS.
For lead gen, estimate the value. If your average deal is $5,000 and you close 1 in 10 leads, each lead is worth $500. Assign that as the value. It doesn't need to be perfect — even a rough value lets Google's bid algorithms make smarter decisions than optimizing for raw conversion count.
Attribution models: keep it simple
Last-click gives all credit to the final ad click before conversion. It's the simplest model and the best starting point for most businesses. You can reason about it without a statistics degree.
Data-driven attribution uses Google's machine learning to distribute credit across touchpoints. It's better if you have the data to support it — Google recommends 300+ conversions per month. Below that threshold, the model doesn't have enough signal and falls back to last-click anyway.
Our recommendation: start with last-click. Switch to data-driven once you cross 300 conversions/month consistently. Don't overthink it — the difference between attribution models matters far less than having tracking set up correctly in the first place.
Turn on enhanced conversions
Enhanced conversions hash first-party customer data (email, phone number, address) and send it to Google in a privacy-safe way. Google matches this against its logged-in user data to recover conversions that would otherwise be lost to cookie restrictions, iOS privacy changes, and cross-device journeys.
We recommend turning it on for every account. Google reports a 5-15% improvement in measurable conversions. There is no downside — the data is hashed before it leaves your site and Google already has it from the user's Google account. Setup takes 10 minutes in Google Tag Manager.
How Fullrun monitors your tracking
Fullrun checks your conversion tracking health continuously. When conversion volume drops suddenly, it distinguishes between "your ads stopped performing" and "your tracking tag broke" — a distinction that saves you from pausing a profitable campaign because of a false alarm, or pouring money into a broken funnel. It flags duplicate conversions, missing values, and tag errors before they corrupt your data.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I really need conversion tracking?
- Yes, full stop. Without it, you cannot use automated bid strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions — which outperform manual bidding in 90% of accounts. You also have zero way to know your actual cost per lead or ROAS. Every dollar you spend without conversion tracking is a guess.
- What counts as a conversion?
- Any action that has business value. For lead gen, that's form submissions, phone calls, and chat requests. For e-commerce, it's purchases and add-to-carts. Most businesses should track 1 to 2 primary conversions (the actions worth money) and 2 to 3 secondary conversions (engagement signals like page views or video plays) for observation only.
- How do I know if my conversion tracking is working?
- Go to Google Ads, click Tools, then Conversions. Each conversion action shows a status: Recording, No recent conversions, or Inactive. If it says Recording, you're good. If not, use Google Tag Assistant (tagassistant.google.com) to debug. The most common issues are the tag firing on the wrong page, the conversion ID being wrong, or a tag manager trigger not matching.
- Which attribution model should I choose?
- Last-click if you have fewer than 300 conversions per month. It's simple and easy to reason about. Data-driven if you have 300+ conversions per month — it uses machine learning to credit the touchpoints that actually influenced the sale. Ignore first-click, linear, and time-decay — Google is phasing them out and they were never very useful.
- Should I turn on enhanced conversions?
- Yes. Turn it on. Enhanced conversions hash first-party customer data (email, phone, address) and match it against Google's logged-in user data. It recovers conversions lost to cookie blocking and iOS privacy changes. Google reports a 5 to 15% improvement in observable conversions with no downside. There's no reason not to enable it.
- Does Fullrun set up conversion tracking?
- Fullrun validates your existing conversion tracking during onboarding and flags problems — broken tags, duplicate counting, missing values. It monitors conversion data continuously, so if your tag breaks at 2am on a Saturday, you'll know about it Monday morning instead of wondering why leads dried up.
Continue learning
Google Ads: the full guide
Everything about how Google Ads works, from account setup to optimization.
Bid management strategies
Once tracking is live, use conversion data to power automated bidding.
Remarketing campaigns
Retarget people who converted (or almost converted) with tailored ads.
Google Ads for e-commerce
E-commerce-specific tracking setup including dynamic revenue values.