Google Ads
Google Ads Conversion Tracking
By Adedon · Updated 2026-08-14
How should Google Ads conversion tracking work?
Google Ads conversion tracking should count the business actions you want more of — purchases, qualified leads, booked calls — as primary conversions, and keep page views or micro-events secondary or excluded from bidding. Enhanced conversions and, for lead gen, offline or CRM imports close the gap between a form fill and a real opportunity. Duplicate conversion actions are how accounts congratulate themselves twice for one sale.
Primary versus secondary is a bidding decision
Smart bidding leans on primary conversions. If ‘time on site’ is primary, you will buy time on site. Keep the primary list short and economically meaningful. Secondary conversions are for reporting curiosity, not for teaching the algorithm.
Tag, event, and thank-you page hygiene
Fire conversions once per completed action. SPA sites often double-fire. Thank-you pages that reload should not re-count. Use Google Tag or a container you can debug. Test in preview before you scale.
Enhanced conversions
Hashed first-party data can improve measurement when implemented with consent and matching rules. It is not a license to ignore a broken base tag. Fix the event, then enhance it.
Lead gen needs a second chapter
A form submit is a start. Importing qualified, opportunity, or closed-won from the CRM — even with delay — is how Google learns the difference between a student and a buyer. If sales will not disposition leads, the ads account cannot invent quality.
Analytics duplication
Importing the same transaction from Google Analytics and from a Google tag as two primaries will distort bidding. Pick a source of truth per action. Adedon audits this during setup; it is one of the highest-ROI boring jobs in management.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use Maximize Conversions before tracking is proven?+−
No. Prove the count against the CRM or store for a sample of days. Then automate bidding.
Is phone-call tracking a conversion?+−
It can be, if calls are a real sales channel and you can tell spam from booked jobs. Call-only metrics without duration or call quality become another vanity primary.
Why don’t Google’s conversions match Shopify?+−
Attribution windows, view-through (where used), and delayed payments. Reconcile; do not ‘fix’ by adding more conversion tags.
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