Hey there, Benjamin from Loves Data here.
Welcome back!
In this video, I'm going to show you how to check that conversions are being tracked correctly
into your Google Ads account.
If you've just set up conversion tracking, then it's a good idea to check that conversions
are being tracked before you start spending lots of budget with your campaigns.
So I'm going to show you how to test your conversion tracking.
The first thing you will need to do is check which type of conversion tracking you're using
in Google Ads.
If you're importing conversions from Google Analytics or if you're using the dedicated
Google Ads conversion tag, then the steps to test your tracking will be different.
We're going to start by testing conversions coming from the dedicated Google Ads conversion
tag, so let's head to Google Ads...
We need to select 'Tools and Settings'...
And then 'Conversions'...
Under 'Submit Lead Form' you can see I've created three conversions.
They're all called 'Benjamin's Conversion' and I'm going to use these to show you how
to test your conversions.
Looking at the 'Conversion Source' column, we can see the first conversion has 'Website'
as the source.
This means the conversion is from the dedicated Google Ads conversion tag.
And the two other conversions are imported from Google Analytics.
The second conversion is imported from a GA4 (Google Analytics 4) property, which is the
latest version of Google Analytics.
And the third conversion is imported from a Universal Analytics property, which is the
previous version of Google Analytics.
As I've mentioned, we're going to start with the dedicated Google Ads conversion tag.
I've added this tag to my website using Google Tag Manager.
I recommend using Google Tag Manager because it lets you manage multiple tags, including
tags from Google Ads and Google Analytics.
If you haven't used Google Tag Manager to add the conversion tag, then I've included
a link to my dedicated conversion tracking tutorial in the description below this video.
In terms of checking your conversion tag in Google Tag Manager, I recommend starting with
the basics.
So check that you've published the container in Google Tag Manager.
And make sure you've entered the conversion ID and label correctly in the tag configuration.
If you've added a space or cut off a character from either of these, then your conversion
tracking won't work.
I also recommend testing your trigger in Google Tag Manager.
We can see the dedicated Google Ads conversion tag says the status is 'Unverified', so let's
go ahead and click 'Troubleshoot' for this conversion...
We can see the steps we will need to follow.
What we need to do is travel through to the conversion page on our website (or complete
the action we are using to track conversions).
Let's click 'Continue'...
Now we can enter the URL of the landing page on our website...
And click 'Connect'...
Now that Tag Assistant has loaded we need to complete the action we have configured
as a conversion.
For my conversion, this means I need to complete the form...
Then click the button...
I'm now taken to the thank you page...
Now let's select 'Finish'...
And this tells us the conversion tag was detected.
This means we've correctly added the tag to our website.
Let's close tag assistant...
Once your tag is collecting conversions, you can also view the individual URLs where there
conversion have been collected.
To do this, select the conversion...
Then choose the 'Webpages' tab at the top...
This will list all of the URLs where your conversion was triggered.
This can be helpful to check that it's firing on the pages you expect (and not any other
pages on your website).
This will be blank until an actual conversion has been collected.
It won't show you any conversions you've tested using the Tag Assistant method we just used.
Now let's navigate back to 'Conversions'...
We can see that the conversions I've imported from Google Analytics are both showing 'No
Recent Conversions' in the status column.
And there is no option to troubleshoot these conversion directly in the Google Ads interface.
Before we head to Google Analytics, I recommend you start by checking that 'Auto-Tagging'
is enabled in Google Ads.
Auto-tagging ensures that data from Google Ads is available in your Google Analytics
reports and it also ensures that traffic from Google Ads is correctly attributed to your
campaigns.
To find this, let's head back to view all of our campaigns...
Now let's select 'Settings'...
And then 'Account Settings'...
We can see that auto-tagging is enabled, so that's good.
I also recommend checking that your Google Ads account is linked to Google Analytics.
To do this, you can select 'Tools and Settings'...
And then choose 'Linked Accounts'...
I have a dedicated video that covers how to link Google Ads to Google Analytics.
So if you're not sure if your accounts are linked or you need to link them, I've included
a link to my tutorial in the description below this video.
Okay, now let's head to Google Analytics...
We're looking at my GA4 (Google Analytics 4) demo property.
To start, I recommend you check that the conversion is being reported.
In GA4 we can do this by navigating to 'Reports'...
Then 'Engagement'...
And then 'Conversions'...
If you don't see your conversion being reported, then it's either incorrectly configured or
nobody has converted.
To learn more about setting up conversions in GA4, I've included a link to my dedicated
tutorial that will walk you through the steps.
Now let's head to a Universal Analytics reporting view...
I recommend following similar steps to the ones we covered for GA4 if you're using Universal
Analytics.
To check your conversion, you can navigate to 'Conversions'...
Then 'Goals'...
And select 'Overview'...
Again, you're looking for goal completions for the particular conversion you've imported
into Google Ads.
If you don't see any conversions, then you will need to check the configuration of your
goal.
And if you do see conversions, but none have been imported to Google Ads, then it might
be because nobody from your Google Ads campaigns have actually converted on your website.
So how do we troubleshoot this further?
Well, there can be a number of different issues that prevent Google Analytics from associating
a conversion with a click from your Google Ads campaigns.
We've already checked that auto-tagging is enabled, and where to check that Google Ads
is linked to Google Analytics.
So one of the most common scenarios is that people are clicking your ads and they are
converting, but Google Analytics isn't associating the click with the conversion.
This can happen if you use redirects on your website.
Let's head to my website to check this...
When people click on your ads they're taken to your landing page and a parameter is added
to the end of the URL.
This is the Google Click ID or 'GCLID' parameter.
So let's add a fake one to the end of the URL...
And load the page again...
Now let's right click...
Select 'Inspect'...
Then choose 'Application'...
Then 'Cookies'...
And choose the domain for our website...
Now we can see all of the cookies stored for our website.
We can then look for the cookie that begins with 'underscore', 'GAC'...
This cookie stores the value of the GCLID parameter.
And we can see that's there, so that's good.
If you don't see the cookie or the value in the cookie, then there's likely a technical
issue with your website that's preventing the Google Analytics tracking code from correctly
associating the click on your ad with Google Ads.
This can happen if you use redirects on your website, so I recommend talking with your
web developer about the issue.
My final recommendation for testing your conversion tracking is to actually click one of your
ads, travel through to your website, and complete the action.
This will mean you have to pay for the click on your ad, but it's a small investment if
you need to check that everything is working for your campaigns.
Have you checked conversions in Google Ads?
Do you have any tips you'd like to add?
I'd love to know.
Let me know in the comments below.
And if you found this video helpful, please like it so I know to make more videos like
this one.
I'll see you in the next video!