Google Ads conversion tracking is vital because it’s the most important collection of information needed for improving your Google Ads performance. Conversion tracking records how many conversions your site has received, the specific keywords that are converting, and the specific ad copy that is converting. When armed with conversion tracking data, you can improve the efficiency of your campaigns, and drive more conversions at a lower cost.
What Is A Conversion?
First of all, let’s discuss what qualifies as a “conversion” because it can mean different things to different businesses. In general, conversions are any significant actions taken by visitors on your site after clicking on one of your ads. A conversion can be anything you define it to be, depending on what you want to track.
As an advertiser, it is your job to first identify the significant actions that you want to track. For example, if you’re an e-commerce business, you’ll likely want to track sales as conversions. If you’re a local business, you might want to track phone calls or contact form submissions. Generally speaking, anything that contributes towards driving business is worth tracking.
We have found, through experience, that many businesses either aren’t using conversion tracking or are not using it correctly. Too many times while conducting a Google Ads audit, we have run into situations where businesses are tracking visits instead of conversions. For example, they may be tracking contact page visits rather than contact form submissions. A page visit is not a conversion until further action is taken by the visitor. Advertisers who are tracking the wrong data unfortunately don’t have an accurate record of what’s converting and what’s not.
Why You Should Use Google Ads Conversion Tracking
When you have Google Ads conversion tracking set up correctly, you can see which keywords are leading to the ads that are driving the most conversions. Then you can use that data to do more of what’s working and filter out what’s not working. If your goal is to drive more phone calls, you can use AdWords conversion tracking data to learn which keywords and ad copy are leading to the most phone calls. This will provide insight into whether you need to adjust the keywords you’re bidding on, adjust your ad copy, or adjust your landing page based on what the data is telling you.
You can also use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to track these actions on your site by linking your GA4 and Google Ads accounts together. With these two services linked together, you can see all paid conversions on your site. We highly recommend connecting these two platforms because Google Analytics tracks everything on your site, while Google Ads conversion tracking tags only track actions taken from advertising. With all of your conversion data in one place, you’ll have a more complete picture of what’s working and what’s not. From there, you can make a more informed decision on how to improve your Google Ads campaigns and/or landing pages.
Wrap Up
Google Ads conversion tracking grants detailed insight into how your campaigns are performing. When it comes to conversion tracking, there are a lot of moving parts. Those who are not adept at things like Google Tag Manager often have trouble doing it on their own, or they end up tracking the wrong things.
Tracking the wrong data is arguably worse than not having conversion tracking set up at all, because you may end up making misinformed decisions. We want to help you prevent that, which is why we offer a completely free Google Ads audit. Simply request an audit and we will provide additional guidance after looking at how your account is set up.
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