How to Set Up Conversion Tracking in Google Ads (Step-by-Step)

Running ads without tracking conversions is like throwing darts with your eyes closed.

You might hit something occasionally, but you won’t know why or how to do it again.

This is where Google Ads conversion tracking plays a role in.

It shows you exactly what happens after someone clicks on your ad.

Did they fill out a form?

Make a purchase?

Call your business?

That’s the kind of clarity you get when conversion tracking is set up correctly.

It’s more than just a tech feature.

It’s a tool that helps you see which parts of your marketing are working.

You can spot patterns in user behavior, focus on what’s bringing in results, and cut the rest.

You stop guessing and start making smarter decisions.

There are different kinds of conversions, depending on your goals.

For an online store, it might be a completed purchase.

A phone call or a filled-out contact form could be a win for a local service business.

And if you’re running a B2B campaign, maybe it’s someone downloading a lead magnet or booking a consultation.

Central to everything is data.

Real, accurate conversion data that connects your ad spend to actual results.

Whether you’re looking to grow leads, boost sales, or use your budget better, tracking conversions keeps you grounded and gives you a clear direction.

What are Conversions in Google Ads

A conversion is any action you want a potential customer to take after interacting with your ad.

That could be buying a product, submitting a lead form, clicking on a phone number to call, signing up for a newsletter, or even visiting a key page on your website.

These are the moments that matter.

They show someone moved from interest to action.

Google Ads lets you define and track different types of conversions depending on your business model.

Website conversions, including purchases, contact form submissions, or newsletter signups, are the most common.

Then there are phone call conversions, where a user dials your business directly from the ad or after landing on your site.

You also have lead generation conversions, which focus on capturing information from potential customers.

Each of these is a valuable action.

They’re signals that someone is not just browsing but taking a step closer to becoming a customer.

Throughout a customer journey, there are what we call key events.

These touchpoints move someone forward, like viewing a landing page, filling out a lead form, or clicking through a pricing page.

When you track these events, you start to see what’s working.

You’ll learn which ads drive the most calls, which landing pages lead to more form submissions, and which offers to bring in better leads.

Think of conversions as the scoreboard.

They help you measure the plays that matter real actions, real progress.

And when you can track things like purchases, phone numbers dialed, or emails submitted, you’re no longer just running ads.

You’re building a system that gets smarter over time.

Prerequisites Before You Begin

Before jumping into conversion tracking, there are a few basics to get in place.

It’s nothing too technical, just the foundation that’ll make everything else run smoothly.

First, make sure your Google Ads account is ready to go.

That’s where you’ll manage all your campaigns, so it’s non-negotiable.

Connecting your goals with Google Ads is a good idea if you already use Google Analytics.

This helps you track website conversions like form submissions, purchases, and other customer actions without duplicating efforts.

It also gives you a clearer picture of how your ads perform across the customer journey.

Planning to use Google Tag Manager?

Go ahead and create a GTM account.

It’ll make things a lot easier later on, especially when adding tags without digging into your site’s code every time.

Lastly, you’ll need access to your landing page or website code.

Whether working with a developer or managing it yourself, ensure you have permission to edit and publish changes.

This is where the actual tracking code goes; without it, the whole process can’t start.

First Step: Create a New Conversion Action in Google Ads

Let’s start tracking.

Access your Google Ads account and navigate “Goals”, then to the Conversions section.

That’s where all your tracking setup happens.

When you get there, click on “+ New Conversion Action.” button.

This is where you tell Google what kind of conversions you care about most.

You’ll be asked to pick a conversion source.

This could be your website, an app, phone calls, or data you plan to import later, like offline conversions.

Now, it’s time to define the conversion type.

For example, if someone submits a lead form or buys a product, that’s a website conversion.

If they call your business directly from an ad, that’s a phone call conversion.

Give your conversion a clear, descriptive name.

Something like “Form Submission – Contact Page” or “Phone Call – Ad Extension.”

This helps you easily recognize and organize your conversion data later on.

Setting Conversion Details

Once you’ve created your conversion action, defining the details is time.

This is where Google starts to understand how you value customer actions and what counts as success for your business.

You’ll see a few fields to fill in.

Let’s walk through them.

Start with the conversion value.

You can enter that monetary value here if you sell a product or service with a fixed price.

If you’re tracking leads or something less tangible, you can leave it blank or assign a rough value based on how much a lead is worth to your business.

Next is the click-through conversion window.

This tells Google how long after someone clicks your ad, they can still be counted as a conversion.

If you have a longer sales cycle, extend this window.

If most conversions happen quickly, you can shorten it.

Then comes the attribution model.

Google gives you a few options here.

The standard model used is last-click attribution, which assigns complete credit to the final interaction.

But you might prefer something more balanced depending on your customer journey.

Finally, set whether to count every conversion or just one per click.

For example, if someone fills out multiple forms during one visit, do you want each one counted or just the first?

Think about what makes sense for your goals.

Once that’s done, you’re one step closer to seeing what’s driving results in your ad campaigns.

Adding the Google Ads Conversion Tracking Tag

You’ll get a small piece of code once you’ve created your new conversion action in your Google Ads account.

It’s not as intimidating as it looks, but it’s powerful.

Google gives you two parts: the global site tag, your base code, and the event snippet, which tells Google when a conversion happens.

The global site tag goes on every page of your website, ideally right before the closing <head> tag.

If it’s already installed, you don’t need to add it again.

But if it’s your first time, this is your foundation.

It helps Google recognize your site and ties together all the conversion data.

On the other hand, the event snippet is where the magic happens.

This part of the tag goes on the page that confirms a conversion, like a thank-you page after someone submits a form or makes a purchase.

It’s what signals to Google, “Hey, someone just took a valuable action!”

If you’re not into editing website code manually or worried about breaking something, there’s a much easier route: use Google Tag Manager.

Tag Manager lets you manage all your tags in one place without touching your site’s code whenever you need to change.

It also makes it easier to keep things organized and accurate.

If you’re using Tag Manager, make sure also to include a conversion linker tag.

This little piece connects user clicks on your ads to the right conversions.

Without it, you risk missing valuable tracking data.

Using Google Tag Manager (Best Way for Most Users)

Google Tag Manager is your ideal companion for maintaining organization, adaptability, and future-proof.

Here’s how to set up your Google Ads conversion tracking using Tag Manager, step by step.

1. Open your Google Tag Manager account and head to the container for your site.
2. Select Tags in the sidebar and click New to create a tag.
3. Give your tag a name you’ll remember. Something like “Google Ads – Purchase Conversion” works well.
4. For the tag type, choose Google Ads Conversion Tracking.
5. Now, enter your conversion ID and conversion label. When you create the conversion action, you’ll find these in your Google Ads account.
6. Next up, set your trigger. This is what tells Tag Manager when to fire the tag. You can choose:
   • Page views (for thank-you pages)
   • Form submissions
   • Custom events like button clicks
7. Once everything is set, click on Preview This lets you test your tag without publishing it yet. Visit your site, trigger the event, and ensure your tag fires correctly.
8. If everything looks good, hit Submit in Tag Manager and publish your changes.

Done right, this setup gives you reliable tracking and complete visibility into how your ad clicks turn into conversions.

Plus, it’s easier to tweak and update later without diving back into your website code.

Enhanced Conversions & First-Party Data

Enhancing conversions are a good idea if you want more accurate tracking and better performance from your Google Ads campaigns.

They take what you’re already doing and make it smarter.

When someone fills out a form on your site, they may enter their name, email address, or phone number; you can capture that data (with consent) and send it to Google in a privacy-safe way.

Google then matches it with data from signed-in users to fill in the gaps and ensure conversions are tracked even when cookies don’t catch everything.

You’ll need to modify your Google Ads conversion tag slightly to enable enhanced conversions.

This often means adding some additional code to your site or using variables in your data layer.

If you are utilizing Google Tag Manager, it is even easier.

Custom variables allow you to pass first-party data like email addresses, transaction IDs, or phone numbers.

Set them up once, and they can be reused for different tags.

This is especially useful if your business has a longer sales cycle or if you’re seeing a drop in reported conversions due to privacy restrictions.

Enhanced conversions help bridge that gap and give you a clearer picture of the full customer journey.

You can also assign dynamic values to each conversion, so instead of reporting one flat value for every lead or sale, you’re capturing the specific value tied to each action.

This gives your reporting and bidding strategies a serious upgrade.

Tracking the right customer actions with enhanced conversions means smarter data, better targeting, and more accurate optimization.

Tracking Offline Conversions

Not every conversion happens online.

Some customers fill out a form and then call your office to place an order.

Potential customers may click on your ad, explore your website, and come to your physical store later.

These offline conversions are as important as online ones, sometimes more, depending on your business model.

Those actions should be tracked if your sales process includes phone calls, in-person visits, or even email follow-ups.

Otherwise, your Google Ads account will only show part of the picture, and it’ll be tough to tell what’s driving results.

Import the data into Google Ads to connect offline conversions to your campaigns.

The key is the transaction ID.

That’s the bridge between the online click and the offline action.

You assign a unique ID when someone clicks your ad and visits your site.

Later, when they make a purchase or call your sales team, that same ID is captured and saved in your CRM or order system.

Once you’ve collected those conversion events in your CRM, here’s the next step: export the data and format it to match Google’s requirements.

Then, upload it into your Google Ads account.

Now you’ll start to see offline actions tied to actual ad clicks.

If your CRM is more advanced, syncing conversion events can be automated.

Some tools integrate directly with Google Ads and push offline conversions using the transaction ID and key details, like conversion name, conversion value, and conversion time.

This gives you full visibility and helps you optimize for the actions that matter, even if they happen away from your website.

Verify Your Setup

Setting up conversion tracking is one thing.

Making sure it’s working?

That’s where the magic happens.

Start using Google Tag Assistant or turning on preview mode in Google Tag Manager.

These tools let you check if your tags are firing correctly.

You can simulate a form submission or visit your thank-you page to see if the event tag is being triggered.

Next, log into your Google Ads account and head to the conversions section.

Look for new data coming in.

Are conversions being counted?

Is the conversion rate in line with your expectations?

You should see events tied to user actions like form submissions, phone calls, or purchases.

If you aren’t seeing data, something’s off.

Maybe the global site tag wasn’t added to every page, or the event snippet wasn’t placed in the right spot.

Check the event tag, ensure the trigger conditions match the user behavior you want to track, and confirm the code snippet was installed without changes.

Don’t stop at a quick glance.

Dive deeper.

Review how many conversions are being tracked.

Look at your ad campaigns and see which ones lead to valuable actions.

The goal is to capture accurate conversion data so you can make better decisions, test new ideas, and scale what works.

Tracking should never be a guessing game.

Take a few extra minutes to verify the setup now, and you’ll save yourself a lot of confusion.

Tips for Optimizing and Testing

Once conversion tracking is up and running, the real work begins.

This is where you start turning good campaigns into great ones.

Start simple: test different versions of your landing pages.

Change a headline, swap a button color, try a shorter form.

This kind of A/B testing can reveal what moves people to take action.

Sometimes, a small tweak in your lead forms or call-to-action text can lead to a noticeable boost in form submissions or phone calls.

Next, don’t just set your campaigns and forget them.

Keep an eye on how they’re doing.

Dig into the data inside your Google Ads account.

Look at the number of conversions, conversion rate, and which keywords or ads are bringing in the most valuable actions.

If you know where to look, Google Ads reports will tell you a lot.

Use what you learn to fine-tune your bidding.

You may consider increasing your bids there if specific keywords or ad groups consistently lead to strong conversion data.

And if others are burning through the budget without results, it’s a good idea to scale those back.

Also, consider the whole customer journey.

If you sell something that takes a bit more thought or conversation, you might be working with a longer sales cycle.

In those cases, your ad platform strategy needs to be more patient.

Use first-party data to keep in touch with potential customers and nurture them toward the next step.

This helps you align your efforts with real user behavior instead of guesses.

Final Thoughts

Conversion tracking isn’t just a box to check.

It’s how you get clarity.

When it’s set up correctly, you stop guessing what’s working and start knowing.

You understand which ad clicks lead to purchases, phone calls, or form conversions.

You see which user actions support your business goals, not just vanity metrics.

This step-by-step process gives you more than just technical accuracy.

It gives you the insights to make smarter decisions, focus on what drives results, and stop wasting time on what doesn’t.

So yes, setting up conversion tracking takes a little effort.

But if you care about successful campaigns, it’s worth it.

Start measuring the specific value of every click, track the actions that matter, and build better campaigns around the truth, not assumptions.

The best way to grow is to measure what matters.

Start there.