Google Ads Conversion Tracking Guide for Better Performance Running 

Google Ads conversion tracking helps you determine valuable actions such as enquiries, calls, purchases, WhatsApp clicks, quote requests, appointment bookings, and other important user actions.

For small businesses, ecommerce brands, service companies, B2B businesses and local businesses; conversion tracking is important to make smarter decisions and ensure your advertising budget is not being wasted.

In this guide, we will discuss what is Google Ads conversion tracking, how does it work, why is it important, what should be tracked, and how it can improve your ROI.

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

Google Ads conversion tracking is a way to measure the actions taken by users after interacting with your advertisement.

A conversion happens when a user takes an action that is valuable to your business.

Examples of a conversion may be:

• Submitting a contact form

• Making a phone call

• Completing a purchase

• Booking an appointment

• Requesting a quotation

• WhatsApp click

• Service/Subscription sign up

• Brochure download

While clicks can tell you the number of people seeing your advertisements; conversion tracking can let you know whether the actions taken by the users are beneficial to your business.

Why is Google Ads Conversion Tracking Important?

Clicks are not always a good indication of a campaign's success.

For example; if you have a campaign A that received 500 clicks and only 5 enquiries and a campaign B that received 250 clicks and 25 enquiries; campaign B would be a better performer.

Conversion tracking can show you which campaign is performing better.

It can tell you:

• Which campaign performed the best

• Best keywords

• Best ads

• Most profitable location

• Best devices

• Cost per lead/sale

Conversion tracking will enable you to make smarter spending decisions with your campaigns.

Track contact form submissions

Contact form submissions are one of the most common conversions for service businesses.

For example; if a user clicked on your Google Ad, visited your landing page, and then submitted a contact form, this can be tracked as a conversion.

You can track contact form submissions using:

• Thank you page

• Form submission

• Google Tag Manager

• Google Analytics

Tracking contact forms will highlight which campaigns are generating leads for you.

Track phone calls

For many businesses, phone calls are often the most valuable lead source.

Google Ads can track calls made through:

• Call assets

• Your ads

• Your website numbers

• Mobile CTA buttons

This is important for:

• Local businesses

• Clinics

• Real estate

• Repair services

• Professional services

• Educational institutes

If phone calls are a good source for customers, then it must be tracked.

Track WhatsApp clicks

Many businesses use WhatsApp as their main source for customer support.

Many businesses use WhatsApp buttons on their websites as a CTA to engage with prospects.

WhatsApp clicks can be tracked as a conversion.

This will let you know:

• Which campaign is generating WhatsApp enquiries

• Which landing page is performing better

• Which ads are generating high-quality interested users

Keep in mind that a WhatsApp click is not always a good indication of a lead, it should be used to track engagements and should be evaluated with how many of those engagements are actually leads.

Track purchases

Purchases are arguably the most important conversion for ecommerce businesses.

By tracking a purchase, you can get valuable information such as:

• Order value

• Product

• Order ID

• Revenue

• Number of purchases

This can help you determine metrics such as:

• CPM (Cost Per Mile)

• CPV (Cost Per View)

• CPL (Cost Per Lead)

• ROI (Return on Investment)

Without purchase tracking, it would be impossible for an ecommerce business to know how profitable their advertising spend is.

Track quote requests

Quote requests are often used in B2B and service businesses such as:

• Website development

• Digital marketing

• Manufacturing

• Security services

• Construction

• Professional services

A quote request can be valuable conversion to track as it shows strong commercial intent.

You can track which campaigns are generating the best leads.

Track appointment bookings

Appointment bookings are important conversions for:

• Clinics

• Consultants

• Salons

• Coaches

• Service providers

This can be used to determine how valuable your advertising spend is.

Track download actions

Brochure downloads are often used as a way to drive users to the next stage of the sales cycle.

While a brochure download is not a direct lead, it can still be a good conversion to track as a secondary conversion.

Other downloadable assets such as catalogues and price lists can also be tracked as conversions.

Primary vs Secondary conversions

Not all conversions should be treated equal, you can categorize your conversions into:

Primary Conversions

These are conversions that directly impact your business. Examples are:

• Purchase

• Lead form

• Phone call

• Quote request

Secondary Conversions

These are conversions that are useful actions but will not directly impact your business results. Examples are:

• WhatsApp click

• Download

• Newsletter signup

• Video views

This will allow you to have a better understanding of your users.

Using Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager can make your tracking easier.

Using Google Tag Manager will allow you to manage your tracking events without having to modify your website every time.

Using Google Tag Manager, you can track:

• Button clicks

• Form submissions

• Phone clicks

• WhatsApp clicks

• Page views

• Custom events

Connecting Google Ads with Google Analytics

By connecting Google Ads with Google Analytics, you can have more powerful insights.

You can analyze user behaviour, landing pages, traffic sources, engagement, and more.

You can also import selected conversion events into Google Ads, for a complete view of the user's journey.

Test conversion tracking

Never assume your conversions are being tracked, always test your conversion tracking.

Make sure that the following items are working:

• Form conversions

• Phone click conversions

• Purchase values

• Thank you pages

• Tags firing only when needed

Incorrect conversion tracking can lead to incorrect campaign optimisation.

For example; when a conversion tag is firing when it should not.

Avoid duplicate conversion tracking

Duplicate conversion tracking is a common mistake.

This can happen when:

• Duplicate tracking is set in Google Ads and Google Analytics

• Duplicate event tracking

• Duplicate page view conversion

• Duplicate thank you page tracking

Never allow duplicate conversion tracking, it can make your campaigns look like they are performing better than they actually are.

Track conversion value

Some conversions have more value than others.

For example; in an ecommerce business; all purchases are important but some users spend more money than others.

For a service business; leads can also have varying levels of business value.

Where possible, always assign a realistic conversion value. For example; a website development enquiry can be more valuable than a website support enquiry.

Measure cost per conversion

Cost per conversion indicates how much you spend to get one valuable conversion.

Let's say you spent ₹15,000 and got 30 leads:

Cost per Conversion = ₹500

This is a better metric to analyse than cost per click.

Keep in mind that the lead's quality should also be factored in.

If your low-cost leads never turn into customers, they may not be as valuable as your expensive leads.

Use conversion data for better bidding

Google Ads can optimise your bids based on your conversion data.

For example, Google Ads automated bidding strategies may focus on:

• Maximizing conversions

• Target CPA

• Maximizing value conversions

These automated strategies rely on accurate conversion tracking data. If your conversion tracking is incorrect, Google Ads may optimise your bids incorrectly.

Use conversion data to improve keywords

Conversion data can show you which keywords are converting and which are not.

You may find that:

• Keyword A has a high number of impressions and clicks but no leads

• Keyword B has a low number of impressions and clicks but many leads

In this case you may want to:

• Reduce your spend on keyword A

• Improve targeting on keyword B

• Add negative keywords on keyword A

• Improve your ad relevance for keyword A

Track conversion rate

Conversion rate shows you how effective your targeting, offer, and landing page is.

For example, if 100 users visited your landing page and 10 users submitted the form then your conversion rate is 10%.

A higher conversion rate usually means that your targeting is accurate and your landing page is relevant; however it is important to analyse the quality of your leads.

Google Ads conversion tracking for small businesses

Small businesses should never overlook the importance of conversion tracking.

Even for businesses with a very small budget, it is important to know which campaigns are actually generating leads.

A small business can start with tracking:

• Lead forms

• Phone calls

• WhatsApp clicks

• Quote requests

This will give all the information required to make smarter decisions with the advertising spend.

Google Ads conversion tracking for ecommerce

Conversion data is even more important for ecommerce businesses.

Tracking purchases will allow you to know how your advertising spend is being utilised.

To get more out of your advertisement spend; it is important to track more information including:

• Value of each purchase

• Number of purchases

• Number of items

• Transaction ID

• Revenue

• Cart activity

Google Ads conversion tracking for B2B businesses

For B2B businesses, a lead may not always result in a sale.

A lead may stay in your sales funnel for weeks, even months.

You can track:

• Form submissions

• Phone calls

• Quote requests

• Demo bookings

• Consultation requests

Later on, you can also sync your CRM with Google Ads conversion tracking to see which leads eventually became customers.

Common Google Ads conversion tracking mistakes

Some common mistakes businesses make with Google Ads conversion tracking includes:

• Not using conversion tracking

• Pageview tracking as leads

• Duplicate conversion tracking

• Tracking unimportant actions as actions

• Incorrect purchase values

• Not testing tags

• Not tracking calls

• Not connecting analytics

• Only analysing clicks

• Ignoring lead quality

How Google Ads conversion tracking can improve SEO and Digital Marketing

Google Ads conversion tracking can be useful in improving other areas of your marketing including SEO and digital marketing.

Conversion tracking can show you:

• Which services are attracting the best customers

• Best keywords

• Best locations

• Best landing pages

• Best offers

This can be leveraged to:

• Improve SEO

• Create better websites and landing pages

• Improve your Meta ads

• Increase lead generation

• Improve content marketing

Google Ads conversion tracking with GrowthWeb Digital

At GrowthWeb Digital, we use conversion tracking as a key element for managing performance-based Google Ads campaigns.

With a well-planned campaign we should be able to get clicks; however we should also focus on what happens after someone clicks on our advertisement.

Conversion tracking may include:

• Lead forms

• Phone calls

• WhatsApp clicks

• Quote requests

• Purchases

• Appointment bookings

The goal is to understand where our leads are coming from and how we can improve our advertising spend.

Conclusion

Google Ads conversion tracking is important for any business that wants to get value from their advertising spend.

Without conversion tracking you may see clicks; but you may not know that these clicks are not generating any sales or enquiries.

A good conversion tracking setup will help you measure:

Clicks → Leads → Sales → Revenue

It can also help you improve your keywords, ads, landing pages, bidding, and budget allocation.

Make sure to set up your tracking accurately and make smart decisions to improve your ROI.

For professional Google Ads management, conversion tracking, SEO, website development and performance marketing services; GrowthWeb Digital help businesses build effective digital marketing strategies.