Setup Google Ads Conversion Tag with Google Tag Manager – Step by Step Guide

Many of you must have gone through that phase where you believed that your Google Ads campaigns were effective but lacked the necessary data to link the dots.
A good Google Ads campaign extends well beyond ad clicks and impressions. When you want to generate leads, sales, and other conversions, you must understand what happens after the click.
In this article, we’ll go over Google Ads conversion tracking, why you should use it, how to set it up, different types of Google Ads Conversion Tags, and how to troubleshoot conversion tracking. Let’s start from the very beginning.

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

Google Ads Conversion Tracking is an advanced tool that helps advertisers measure the efficacy of their online advertising efforts.
Advertisers can use a small piece of code on their website to track when a person takes a specific action after clicking on an ad, such as completing a purchase, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter. This data is then consolidated and published in the Google Ads platform, allowing marketers to see which keywords, ads, and campaigns are driving the most conversions.
Advertisers may use this information to optimize their ads for better performance, make data-driven decisions, and ultimately increase their return on investment (ROI).

Why should we setup Google Ads Conversion Tag?

Setting up your conversion tracking in Google Ads correctly will assist you:
• Measure what truly matters: results.
• Make better judgments since you’ll know which campaigns, ad groups, and keywords are performing well and bringing in more conversions and value.
• Improve your campaign segmentation and targeting by knowing which categories perform best regarding conversions. Imagine you’re spending a lot of money to get a lot of visitors from the desktop, but all of your conversions come from mobile. You’ll know it thanks to Google Ads conversion monitoring in the cross-device reports.
• Understand your return on investment (ROI), which means recognizing which acts are advantageous for you and which are not.
• Allocate your spare advertising budget wisely.
• Use smart bidding tactics to link Google Ads with your business goals, such as targeting CPAs or ROAS and maximizing conversions.
Tracking your conversions correctly is critical, regardless of the size of your organization. Whatever you invest in Google Ads, you’ll want to know how your ads are performing so you can make informed decisions.
Basically, without information on how people engage with your business, it will be difficult to determine if your actions are successful and to know how to maintain and improve them.

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How to setup Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

So as of now, we have learned what Google Ads Conversion tracking is and it’s uses. So we shall move forward to the setup process. I will elaborate one by one, first on setting up the conversion in Google Ads and assigning the tags in GTM. Then assigning Google Ads conversion to the campaign.

Setup Tracking through Google Tag Manager

A. First, Let’s Creating Conversion in Google Ads

Let’s say I have a newsletter subscription form on my website. I want to send data back to Google Ads once it is correctly submitted.
First, let us build a conversion in Google Ads. Log in to your ads account at ads.google.com and select Goals > Conversions > Summary (from the left sidebar). Then select the New conversion action button.

The window will prompt you to select the conversions you wish to track. Because I am working with a website, I select Website.

The Google Ads screen will now prompt you to input your website’s URL to see how it is configured for ads.

Enter your domain and click Scan. Once completed, you will see a variety of settings.
First, it will automatically import conversions based on the website events that you’ve defined. If you completed this in GA4, you can import it directly here as a conversion.

 

The second approach (which I prefer) is to specify the conversion operations manually.

Let us track the newsletter subscription manually. A new window will pop up when you click the “+Add a conversion action manually” button. Please enter the following settings:

• Goal and Action Optimization: Choose the Subscribe option from the dropdown menu. If you’re tracking something other than a newsletter subscription, select another activity.
• Conversion Name: Subscribe form (you can call it whatever you wish).
• The value of each conversion is: This can change based on the website’s purpose. You might set a preset value for each reader who subscribes to your newsletter. However, for an e-commerce website, the value of each purchase can differ. Since we’re tracking mail signups, I’ll set a fixed value of €5. Simply follow the screenshot below.

 

• Count: This is an important parameter to consider. Google Ads employs the count to determine the right number of conversions on the website following a user’s arrival via the ad.

For e-commerce purchases, every purchase should have a different count, even if they are of the same product. However, if the same subscriber subscribes to your newsletter twice, data will be duplicated. Counting this as two conversions would be erroneous. So now, let’s select the count as one.

Click Save and Continue. You will now be taken to a page that displays the many ways to add conversion tracking to your website. To no one’s surprise, here at Analytics Mania, I chose to use Google Tag Manager.

Then you will notice two values: Conversion ID and Conversion Label. Google Tag Manager requires both of these.

B. Creating a tag

Let’s get to Google Tag Manager. Select Tags > New. Now select Google Ads Conversion Tracking in the Tag Configuration window. Then enter the Conversion ID and Conversion label in the appropriate fields.

Did you see the warning “Conversion Linker tag missing in container“? The conversion linker tag is necessary for storing ad click information when a conversion occurs on your website.

Click the Create button next to the caution symbol to open the template for the conversion linker. There is no need to make any further modifications except to ensure that it is set for all page views.
If you only have one domain to manage, no additional configuration is required. Save the tag.
If you’re dealing with numerous domains and wish to track visitors across them, click Enable linking across domains and input the domains of all websites involved in the same user journey. Separate them with commas.

Now, return to the Google Ads Conversion Tag. We need to specify when the tag will fire. This depends on the type of interaction you want to monitor. There is no simple, universal norm.
In my case, there is a Subscribe form, for that, I will ask a developer to add an emailSubscriber event to the data layer after the form is successfully submitted.

Since emailSubscriber is sent via datalayer.push, the Custom Event trigger is the best option for this conversion.
In the Triggering section, click the Plus button and select Custom Event as the trigger type. Please enter the following settings:

I’ll type emailSubscriber (with an uppercase S) or copy-paste the name because that’s the event that a developer included in the data layer. Save the trigger. It will be automatically added to the tag. Save the Google Ads tag.
The final setup of your Google Ads conversion tag should look something like this:

C. Testing

In this stage, we will test the setup using two tools: GTM’s Preview & Debug mode and a Chrome extension called Google Tag Assistant (Legacy). If you haven’t done so before, install the extension.
To enable Google Tag Manager Debug mode, click the Preview button in the top right corner of the GTM interface (next to the Submit button).

A new browser tab will open in tagassistant.google.com.
A box will appear, prompting you to input the URL you want to test and debug. It could be the URL of a specific page or the location of the homepage. Then select Start.

A new browser window should appear, displaying the URL you provided in the previous popup. At the bottom of that page or tab, you must click on the following badge:

And when you return to the tagassistant.google.com tab, you should see this success message.

In Preview mode, click the Continue button. Return to the page, click the Google Tag Assistant (Legacy) icon, and then enable.

Now, let’s submit the form on your website. After that, the emailSubscriber event should appear on the left side of the preview and debug modes. Once I click it, the tag should fire.

Now it’s time to confirm that the tag is working correctly using the Google Tag Assistant (Legacy) extension. Go to the website, then click the Google Tag Assistant Legacy symbol to see if the extension has identified the Google Ads Conversion Tag. If so, then click it.
P.S. Ignore the two identical GTM containers shown in the extension. The GTM preview mode causes the extension to record two containers.

You will then see the conversion ID and label that Google Ads received.

 

D. Publishing

Is everything good? You can now publish Google Tag Manager container updates, and now the tags will be firing for every event that you have setup in the Google Ads Conversion Tag. To publish the container, first click the Submit button in the top-right corner of the GTM interface, then select Publish.

E. Assigning a Campaign:

Follow the steps outlined below to simply set up campaign-level conversion tracking:

• From your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon and select the campaign you want to set conversion goals to.
  
• In the Settings menu, click the Goals drop-down menu.
• Click on Campaign-specific objective settings.
  
• Select the required conversion. Goal and save.

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Different Types of Tags in Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Now we shall discuss the various types of Conversion Tags in Google Ads.

1. Google Ads eCommerce Conversion Tag:

This tag is used to track all kinds of purchase-related conversions happening on your website. The primary objective for enabling Google advertising Sales conversion monitoring is to determine how useful your advertising are in terms of customer interactions and conversion goals. With this conversion tracking, you can:

• Analyze the keywords, advertising, ad groups, and campaigns that are most effective at generating conversions into your business.
• Understanding the return on ad spend (ROAS) allows you to develop an effective plan and make informed decisions about the expenses of your next ad campaign.
• Get a detailed picture of the client journey before they convert into buyers.

2. Google Ads Enhanced Conversion Tag:

Tracking the impact of advertising on your bottom line is crucial for effective marketing. Clicks and impressions are great, but conversions are considerably better. It can be tough to measure that precisely.
Setting up the Google Ads Enhanced Conversion Tag can help you increase the accuracy of your conversion measurement in Google Ads. It performs far better than standard Google Ads Conversion Tracking.

3. Google Ads Dynamic Remarketing Tag:

Retargeting campaigns may revolutionize businesses, especially in the retail industry. Among the various retargeting strategies available, dynamic remarketing stands out as an ideal way to target potential customers who have expressed an interest in your products but have not yet made a purchase. Setting up Dynamic Remarketing tags can help you grow your business by allowing you to target the right audience.

4. Google Ads Custom Conversion Tracking Tag:

Set up Google Ads Custom Conversion Tracking Tag to measure crucial website behaviors, including form submissions, mail clicks, and phone calls. Tracking these behaviors can help you increase your return on ad spend by refining your ads and making data-driven decisions.

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How do I troubleshoot Google Ads conversion tracking?

Testing your Google Ads conversion tracking is critical to confirm that it is functioning properly and collecting all relevant data. Here are a few methods you can try:

1. Check the Status in Google Ads:

• Navigate to “Tools” > “Conversions” in your Google Ads account.
• Select the conversion action you want to try.
• Check the “Status” column. An “Active” status with green letters implies that everything is operational.
• Hover over the status for more information and troubleshooting tips.

2. To use the Google Tag Assistant:

• install the Chrome extension.
• Use the conversion tag on your website page.
• Click the Google Tag Assistant button in the browser toolbar.
• The extension will examine the page and notify any problems with your conversion tag implementation.

3. To test manually with Test Conversions,

• Navigate to “Tools” > “Conversions” in your Google Ads account.
• Select the conversion action you want to try.
• Click “Test Conversion.”

Follow instructions to manually initiate a test conversion, such as filling out a form or simulating a transaction.
Google Ads should register test conversions within 24 hours.

4. Use the Google Ads Conversion Linker:

• Track conversions across several devices and browsers.
• Include the linker code on your website’s pages or use the Click ID parameter in your URL.
• Test conversions across devices and browsers for accurate tracking.

5. Examine Conversion Statistics Trends:

• Track conversion statistics over time in Google Ads reports.
• Check for odd drops or surges that could suggest tracking concerns.
• Identify disparities by comparing conversion statistics to other analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics.

What are the different statuses of tracking in Google Ads Conversion Tag?

After you’ve set up Google Ads Conversion tracking, you should always double-check that your conversions are recorded correctly. To determine whether the tracking setup is operating successfully, simply follow these four simple steps:

• Sign in to your Google AdWords account.
• In the upper right corner of your account, find the “tools” symbol, which looks like a miniature wrench.
• Select Conversions from “Measurement.”
• In the conversion actions table, find the conversion action you want to verify in the “Name” column and select it to display the “Status” column.

If the tracking status shows “Recording Conversions,” it implies Google has successfully recorded your conversion actions during the last 7 days.

There are multiple additional types of tracking status, as shown below:

• Unverified: Your tag has not yet been verified to be on your website. This takes several hours. You can ensure that we see your tag by visiting your conversion page.
• No recent Conversions: Your conversion tracking tag has been detected, but no conversions have been logged during the last 7 days. Make sure all of your campaigns are active and that individuals who click on your advertising are sent to the correct page.
• Conversions Recording: We detected and logged conversions within the last 7 days using your conversion tag.
• Tag inactive: No conversions were observed in the recent 7 days. Hover over the tracking status to reveal additional details. You will receive the date we last saw your conversion tracking tag, as well as the last time we registered any conversions, if any.

• If no conversions were reported, it could be due to the tag being on the incorrect page or a lack of traffic from ads.
• If previously documented conversions have stopped, it could be due to changes in your website or ad campaigns.
• Your conversion tag may not be properly installed on your website. If you have advertising pointing to the correct page and are confident there is traffic on that page.

In such circumstances, verify your Google Ads Conversion Tag implementation, evaluate your conversion settings, look into recent changes (if any), test the conversion to confirm everything is operating properly, and delete browser caches and cookies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google Ads Conversion Tag is a powerful tool that allows advertisers to track the effectiveness of their online advertising efforts by tracking specific actions taken by users after clicking on an ad. It helps optimize campaigns, make data-driven decisions, and improve return on investment. Setting up conversion tracking correctly is essential for understanding the success of ad campaigns and making informed decisions. There are different types of conversion tags available, such as eCommerce, enhanced, dynamic remarketing, and custom conversion tracking tags. Testing and troubleshooting the tracking is important to ensure accurate data capture.