What can count as a conversion
That’s the advertiser’s call. Google’s examples include a sale, a sign-up and a phone call, and once they’re measured the reports show which keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns bring them in. Google sorts the places a conversion can come from into four kinds:
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Website | Things people finish on the site, such as buying or signing up |
| App | Installing an Android or iOS app, and buying or doing things inside it |
| Phone call | Calls made from an ad, calls to the number on the site, and taps on that number on a phone |
| Offline | Results uploaded from files or other systems, to see how ads feed sales in physical stores |
How a conversion gets recorded
In most cases a small piece of code, the Google tag, sits on the site or in the app. Clicking an ad on Google Search or on selected Display Network sites, or watching a video ad, leaves a temporary cookie on the person’s device; when they then do the thing the advertiser chose to count, the tag spots the cookie and logs a conversion.
For a website, Google wants the tag on every page, plus an event snippet on the pages where the conversion takes place. After a tag goes in or is fixed, the status in Google Ads can take up to 48 hours to catch up.
Some kinds skip the tag. Calls from call assets and call-only ads are traced through a Google forwarding number, while app installs and in-app purchases through Google Play, and local actions, are counted without any code.
Setting it up, in Google’s order
- Pick where the data comes from. Tell Google Ads where conversions happen, then link a source: Google Analytics suits advertisers who already track events there, and the Google tag gives a signal made for Google Ads bidding. Using both is allowed.
- Define the conversion actions. Each action is one valuable thing a customer does. Google stresses marking each as primary, which bidding uses, or secondary, which is only watched, because Smart Bidding learns from those signals.
- Wrap up. Go through the closing checks so the conversions are counted properly.
The conversion window
The window is how long after an ad interaction, a click or a video view for instance, a conversion still gets credited. Left alone, the click-through window is 30 days. It can run from 1 to 90 days depending on the source, and Google advises no fewer than 7. For view-through conversions, where someone saw the ad but didn’t click, the starting setting is 1 day.
A change only counts from then on. Google shows this with an ad interaction on 1 March and two later changes, drawn here:
- 1 MarWith a 30-day window, anything up to 30 March counts towards this interaction.
- 7 MarCut to 10 days: the cut-off for the 1 March interaction moves back to 10 March.
- 16 MarRaised to 20 days: the cut-off moves to 20 March, but a conversion on 13 March, missed under the 10-day setting, stays uncounted.
To pick a length, Google suggests the time lag report in the attribution reports, which shows the gap between interacting with an ad and converting. If most conversions arrive late in the month after a click, a short window would miss them.
If the numbers look low
When tracking is in place but conversions are missing or fewer than expected, Google’s checks, in its order:
- Make sure the tags went in properly; Google Tag Assistant can confirm it.
- Look at the conversion action’s status. A new tag often reads unverified or inactive, and turns active once a first conversion or a successful test comes through.
- If Google Tag Manager is in use, confirm the Conversion Linker tag is set up right.
- Bear in mind that view-through conversions are kept out of the main Conversions column, so Smart Bidding learns from active interactions.
Privacy
Google expects advertisers to tell people plainly what data their sites and apps collect, and to get consent wherever the law or Google’s own policies call for it.