Set up your web conversions

Website conversion measurement analyzes specific actions that users take on your website after interacting with your Google Ads. These metrics can provide insights into user behavior and campaign performance. Understanding how users interact with your site after clicking an ad is crucial for optimizing your campaign. Learn more about conversion measurement.

This article will explain the steps you need to follow to set up your web conversion measurements.

On this page

Requirements for conversion import from Google Analytics
Choosing your setup method
Get started with website conversion data sources
Create conversion actions
Summary and next steps
Check your Google tag status
Set up conversions using dynamic values
Enable Google signals and data sharing in Google Analytics
Troubleshooting

Requirements for conversion import from Google Analytics

Ensure the following criteria are met before attempting to import conversions:

Permissions: You must have Admin access in Google Ads and Edit access in the linked Google Analytics property.
Key events: Only events marked as key events in Google Analytics are eligible for import.
Linked accounts: Verify that the correct Google Analytics property is actively linked to your Google Ads account.

Important: After linking accounts or marking an event as key events, it can take 24 to 48 hours for the system to propagate before the import options appear in Google Ads.

Choosing your setup method

Selecting the right implementation method is crucial for accurate data architecture:

Set up with URL: Best for simple tracking of page loads. It’s fast and requires no code changes once your tags are set up.
Set up with code: Required for tracking button clicks, dynamic values, like variable purchase amounts, or transaction IDs. Use this for more complex business logic.

Third-party CMS platforms may have specific plugins that manage tags. If using these, ensure that you’re not double-tagging your site, which can cause duplicate conversion reporting.

Step 1 of 3: Get started with website conversion data sources

To measure conversions on your website, Google Ads will need access to data from your website. After you’ve entered your website domain, you can add your website data source:

Navigate to Summary within the Goals menu.
Select + Create conversion action.
- Note: If this option is unavailable, proceed directly to entering your website data source in step 2.
Select Edit data sources for "Conversions on a website".
Enter your website domain you want to measure conversions on.
Select Scan to find the best way to connect.

Note: The scan will detect if you have a Google tag or Google Analytics property available. You can select both if you want to create conversions directly from your Google tag and reuse events from your Google Analytics account. If there is no Google tag detected, you will have the opportunity to set up a tag at the end of the conversion setup process.

If a Google tag or a linked Google Analytics property is detected

Your website is already set up to measure conversions. Select Done.

If a Google Analytics property is detected but is unlinked

Choose the data you want to share by turning on the switch:
- Import app and web metrics. Learn more about using Google Analytics metrics in Google Ads.
- Import Google Analytics audiences. Learn more about remarketing audiences.
Select Link.
Select Done.
- Note: When we detect that a Google Analytics property has app data streams, you’ll be prompted to use the Google Analytics property to measure activity in your apps.
To use Google Analytics to measure your app activity, select Use property.
“Conversion on a website” and “Conversion on an app” should both be checked.
Select Continue.

If no Google tag or Google Analytics property is detected

You’ll be prompted to set up a Google tag right away or you can choose to set it up later.
If you want to set up right away, select Set up and follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 2 of 3: Create conversion actions

Part 1: Choose the conversion category you want to measure

Categories help you group multiple conversions together. The category should be the most closely related to the user action you are measuring. If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for, choose the next best category to sort your conversion.

Select a category from one of the top 4 categories recommended for you or select see all to view all category options.

Note: If you already have existing conversions grouped into a category, Google will display how many currently exist in that category.

Why group actions into "conversion goals"?

Grouping related actions, like "Website Purchase" and "App Purchase," into a single conversion goal creates a stronger signal for optimization.
This semantically meaningful grouping helps provide advanced optimization. Learn more about conversion goals.

Optional: Bulk set up conversions using your Google Analytics property

If you’ve linked a Google Analytics account in Step 1, you’ll find an option to Bulk create conversions from your existing Google Analytics property at the bottom of the page.

Select Select property and choose the correct one if multiple are linked.
Check the box next to an existing event that you want to use as a conversion in Google Ads.
After you select an event, assign it to the most relevant category from the dropdown.
If you find the events you' need, select Select events.
If you don’t find the event you want to use, select + Create event to define a new one. Name your event or leave the default, the select a method:
- Create without code:
  1. Select your data stream from the drop down.
  2. Choose the trigger for your event. For example, landing on a specific page or completing a form.
  3. Add the corresponding URL.
- Create with code:
  1. You will be given a code snippet in the Summary and next steps to add to your website or app. This method works well if you want to track a specific button click instead of a URL
Select Save event, then Select events.

Part 2: Define your conversion

If a predefined conversion suggestion is available, you can select Accept suggestions to create a new conversion action.
If no suggestions are available, or if you have a different conversion in mind, select + Create conversion and choose your data source: the Google tag or your Google Analytics events.

Important: Correctly configuring your conversion actions as Primary (biddable) or Secondary (observation-only) is critical. Misconfiguring these settings can prevent Smart Bidding from optimizing effectively, as the algorithm relies on these signals to improve your campaign performance.

Path A: Create conversions directly using the Google tag

Method 1: Set up conversions with a URL

No Coding Necessary: Easy Google Ads Tracking Setup

To view subtitles in your language, turn on YouTube captions. Select the Settings icon at the top right corner of the video player, select "Captions," and then specify your language.

Use this method if you want to track a page load as a conversion and you don’t need to collect transaction specific values like transaction IDs and/or other custom parameters. This is the fastest and easiest way to set up a conversion action.

When measuring website conversions with a URL, you can create an event that can be detected by your Google tag without adding any code to your website.

Select Automatically without code.
Select the event type to define your trigger. For example, landing on a page or form submission.
Select the Match type for your URL:
- URL is: Enter the exact page load URL.
- URL contains: Enter a partial match, such as “thank-you”.
- URL starts with: Enter a prefix, such as “confirmation/”.
Add your URL into the URL box.
[Optional] If you want to adjust any of the conversion settings select Conversion settings and adjust the following settings:
- Action optimization
- Conversion name
- Value
- Count
- Click-through conversion window
- Engaged-view conversion window
- View-through conversion window
- Attribution
- Enhanced conversions
Select Done.

Method 2: Set up conversions manually using code

Measure Every Lead: Capturing Actions Beyond Simple Page Loads

To view subtitles in your language, turn on YouTube captions. Select the Settings icon at the top right corner of the video player, select "Captions," and then specify your language.

Use this method if you need to measure clicks on buttons or links, or you want to customize your event tag with value tracking, transaction IDs, or other custom parameters.

Select Manually using code and you'll receive instructions to implement the snippet through Google Tag or Google Tag Manager in the Summary and Next steps.
[Optional] If you want to adjust any of the conversion settings, select Conversion settings and adjust the following settings:
- Action optimization
- Conversion name
- Value
- Count
- Click-through conversion window
- Engaged-view conversion window
- View-through conversion window
- Attribution
- Enhanced conversions
Select Done.
Select Save and continue to create the conversion.

Method 3: Set up conversions manually using Google Tag Manager integration

Alternatively, you can use the integrated Google Tag Manager setup flow to configure your workspace

To set up your conversions using the integrated Google Tag Manager flow:

Go to the Use Google Tag Manager tab in the conversion setup summary page or in the conversion details page.
Select the Set up in Google Tag Manager button.
A new browser tab will open, directing you to Google Tag Manager to select the container you want to use. If you are not signed in, you will be directed to the login page first.
Once your container is selected, you will be able to view the suggestions to add to your Google Tag Manager workspace.
Review the suggested Google Ads Conversion Tracking Tag configurations and choose whether to add them to a new or existing workspace.
Select your workspace and click Add to workspace to import the configurations.
In Google Tag Manager, configure any required triggers and variables, and publish the changes from your workspace.

Note: Codeless conversion actions do not support the Google Tag Manager integration button. However, if you are setting up multiple manual conversion actions, you can use a single button to create multiple conversion tracking tags inside a single workspace.

Path B: Create conversions using your Google Analytics events

Method 1: Select from existing events

View a list of events available for use as conversions in Google Ads.
Check the box for the event(s) you can use as conversions for this category.
Select Select events.
Select Save and continue to create the conversion.

Method 2: Create a new conversion event with a URL

Select + Create event at the top of the table.
You can name your event or leave the default event name.
Select Create without code.
Select the data stream you want to use from the dropdown.
Choose the trigger for your event. For example, page load or form submission.
Add the URL you want to use to measure the action.
Select Save event, then Select events.
Select Save and continue to create the conversion.

Method 3: Create a new conversion event with code

This method works well if you want to track a specific button click instead of a URL.

Select + Create event at the top of the table.
You can Name your event or leave the default event name.
Select Create with code. You'll be given a code snippet in the Summary and Next steps to add to your website or app.
Select Save event, then Select events.
Select Save and continue to create the conversion.

Step 3 of 3: Next steps

Now that you’ve created your conversions, review the next steps to ensure your conversions can be measured correctly.

View the conversion categories you created.
Activate measurement with a Google tag if you don’t already have one. Select Set up on the Google tag.
To measure individual conversions, select See event snippet for instructions. Learn more about how to add an event snippet to your website.
In the enhanced conversions section, click the switch to turn on enhanced conversions for your account.
Select Agree and finish.

Check your Google tag status

If you want to make sure that your Google tag is installed and tracking conversions correctly, or you think that there may be a problem with the tag:

Navigate to Summary within the Goals menu.
In the conversion actions table, find the conversion action in the "Name" column.
Check the “Status” column in that exact same row to verify it’s working.

Set up conversions using dynamic values

If you need to capture specific transaction details such as purchase value or currencies used, you can set up dynamic values.

Before starting, ensure that:

You know the exact conversion page URL where the tag fires, like the confirmation page URL and the conversion event trigger such as a button click or page view.
The values you want to capture, such as conversion value, transaction ID, or currency, are available on the page where your conversion tracking tag fires.

Set up values using CSS selectors

To identify the CSS Selectors to input into the Event parameter fields follow these steps:

Using the Chrome browser, navigate to the page where values appear. This may be your conversion page or the page that comes before it, such as a form submission page before your purchase confirmation page.
Identify the values you want to send with conversions. This data may appear on the conversion page or may appear on another page, such as the form submission page just before the purchase confirmation page.
Use your mouse to right-click on top of that value and select Inspect. The Chrome Developer Tools will launch within your browser.
Within the source code presented in the Chrome Developer Tools page, you'll find a portion of the code highlighted. This is the page element containing your customer data.
Hover your mouse over the highlighted code and right-click it.
Scroll down to "Copy", then select Copy Selector.
In your other tab where Google Ads is open, paste that text in the “Extraction location” field.
- For reference, it should look something similar to but not exactly like this:
  tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > custEmail
Make sure “Extraction mode” is set to CSS selector.
Repeat steps 2 through 8 of this section for each different value (value transaction ID, and currency), by copying the CSS Selector into the extraction location field for each event parameter in Google Ads.
In Google Ads, select Save.

Enable Google signals and data sharing in Google Analytics

Enabling Google Signals is essential for cross-device reporting and ensuring consistent conversion data.

In Admin, under Data collection and modification, select Data collection.
In the "Google signals data collection" section, click Get started.
Click Continue, then click Activate.
Under “Account settings”, click Account to expand, then click Account details.
Review and check "Google products & services",
Click Save.

Learn more about Data sharing settings.

Troubleshooting

If you have a problem with your conversion tag status, you may refer to Troubleshooting conversion measurement status.

If you have a problem with your conversion tag:

For Google tags, download and review Google Tag Assistant.
For Google Tag Manager, review Troubleshoot issues.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?