How to Set up Conversion Tracking for Google Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you looking to track your Google Ads conversions? Do you want to know how many leads or sales you are generating from your Google Ads campaigns? If so, then you need to set up conversion tracking. In this step-by-step guide, we will show you how to do just that. We will explain how to configure conversion tracking through Google Tag Manager, import goals through Google Analytics and Google Analytics 4, and set up the Google Tag. Let's get started!

One of the most important things you can do when running a Google Ads campaign is to track your conversions. By tracking your conversions, you will be able to see how many leads or sales you are generating from your Google Ads campaigns. This information is essential in order to determine whether or not your campaigns are successful, help you optimise your campaigns, and feed Google's bidding algorithms.

There are several different ways to track your Google Ads conversions which we will run through.

Import Goals Into Google Ads From Google Analytics or Google Analytics 4 (easiest way)

If you are running Google Analytics or Google Analytics 4 for your website, then you can easily import your goals into Google Ads. This is the easiest way to track your conversions as all of the hard work has already been done for you in setting up your goals in Google Analytics. All you need to do is link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account and then import your goals.

1. To do this, login to your Google Analytics account and click on 'Admin' in the left-hand sidebar. Next, click on 'Google Ads links' under the 'Property' column.

2. Click on the 'Link' button and select your Google Ads account from the drop-down menu. Once you have done this, click on the 'Confirm' button.

3. Select whether you want to 'enable personalised advertising' and 'enable auto-tagging'. We'd advise to have auto-tagging enabled.

4. Press 'Submit' and your Google Analytics 4 account will be linked

5. Click on 'Tools and Settings' and under 'measurement' select 'Conversions'

6. Click on '+ New Conversion Action' then select 'Import' and 'Google Analytics 4' properties or 'Google Analytics (UA)

7. Select the events or conversions you want to import and then click 'Import and continue'

8. Make sure the events have been assigned to the correct 'goal'. If you need to move them you can click 'edit goal' on the right hand side

Set up Google Tag Manager and Create Google Ads Tags (harder way)

If you are not running Google Analytics or Google Analytics for your website, then you will need to set up Google Tag Manager and create Google Ads tags. This is a little more complicated than importing goals from Google Analytics but it is still relatively easy to do.

1. First, you need to sign up for a Google Tag Manager account and create a new container. Once you have done this, you will need to add the Google Tag Manager code to your website.

2. After that go back to Google Ads and click on 'Tools and Settings' and under 'measurement' select 'Conversions'

3. Click on '+ New Conversion Action' then select 'Website'

4. Enter website domain and press 'scan'

5. Underneath 'Create conversion actions manually using code' select '+add a conversion manually'

6. Configure your conversion, specify the goal type, name and more.

7. You’ll then be prompted to set up the conversion event on the website. Refer to ‘Use Google Tag Manager’.

8. Next, you need to create a new tag in Google Tag Manager and select 'Google Ads Conversion Tracking' from the list of tag types.

9. Enter your conversion ID, label and other settings, then select the trigger that will fire your tag. For example, you might want to fire your tag on all pages or only on specific pages.

10. Finally, click on the 'Save' button and then publish your changes. Your Google Ads tag will now be live on your website and you will be able to track your conversions.

Configure Conversion Settings in Google Ads (advanced)

If you want to get more advanced with your conversion tracking, then you can configure your conversion settings in Google Ads. This will allow you to track conversions that happen offline or on other websites.

1. To do this, login to your Google Ads account and click on 'Tools and Settings' and then 'Conversions'. Click on the conversion action name (e.g. Purchase).

2. On the next screen you’ll be presented with the conversion ‘details’. Select ‘edit settings’.

3. You can then edit the ‘goal and action optimization’, Count’. conversion windows and attribution model.

4. Depending on your goal we recommend changing the count to ‘once’ if you are measuring leads, and ‘every conversion’ if you are measuring more sales based activity.

5. You can also update the conversion window. This is the time period in which a conversion can happen after someone clicks on your ad. For example, you might want to set a, 7-day, 30-day or a 60-day window.

6. Finally, you need to select the attribution model. This is the model that will be used to attribute conversions to your ads. For example, you might want to use either first click or the ‘data driven’ model.

7. Click on the 'Save' button and your conversion will be created. You can then start tracking your conversions in Google Ads.

Connect CRM to Google Ads (ideal for leads)

Hubspot

You can create conversion events within Hubspot and send them to Google Ads.

This is ideal if you are measuring the different stages of the customer journey and want to send specific offline events (e.g. when a lead has become a customer).

Hubspot have an easy integration to do this:

1. Navigate to ‘Marketing’ then click on ‘Ads’

2. In the right hand corner, click Create event and then customise the event details

• Select ad network
• Select the ad account you want to sync the event to

3. Select the HubSpot lifecycle stage for the event.

4. Then you’re done!

Connect Your Online Store (e.g. Shopify or WooCommerce) to Google Ads (ideal for eCommerce)

Shopify

If you use Shopify for your online store, you can set up the tracking manually (not recommended) or just use the native Google integration. All you need to do is follow a few simple steps:

1. Sign in to your Shopify account.

2. On the left side menu, click Apps.

3. On the “Apps” page, click Customize your store.

4. Enter “Google channel” in the search bar.

5. Click Add app.

WooCommerce

If you use WooCommerce for Wordpress, there are a number of options that you can use to send purchase events to Google Ads. There are a tonne of WooCommerce plugins that will help you do this. Bear in mind some of these you’ll have to pay for and others are free. You can also use a Google Tag Manager plugin that creates events in the ‘data layer’, however, will require some configuration and is a fairly manual process.

Many of these plugins will also create eCommerce events for most platforms too, such as Meta, Google Ads, Google Analytics and more.

WooCommerce Conversion Tracking (by WebDevs) - They offer both a free and paid version of their plugin. This will cover all of your tracking needs across multiple platforms.

MonsterInsights - This is a paid plugin, however, comes with many bells and whistles such as integrated reporting, website tracking and more.

Google Tag Manager For Wordpress - This is a free plugin that allows you to set up Google Tag Manager on your website. There are settings that allow you to enable ‘enhanced’ eCommerce which will send eCommerce events to Google Analytics. You can then import these via the same steps mentioned earlier.

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As you can see, there are a few different ways that you can set up conversion tracking for Google Ads. The method that you use will depend on your business and what type of conversions you want to track.

If you need any help setting up your tracking for Google Ads when starting with Kepla, we are more than happy to help guide you through the process and set you up correctly.

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