Google Ads Conversion Tracking Setup Guide

Google Ads can only optimise toward what it can see. Conversion tracking tells it which clicks turned into enquiries, so bidding can find more people like them. Here is a setup that works for lead generation websites.

Decide what counts as a conversion

Track actions that mean a real enquiry:

• Form submission, confirmed by your website after the form is accepted
• Calls from ads, using call assets
• Calls from the website, using a Google forwarding number
• Bookings, if you take them online

Mark the most valuable ones as primary conversion actions so they drive bidding. Keep softer actions such as “clicked phone number” or “started form” as secondary, so they are reported but not optimised for.

Choose how to send conversions

You have two main options:

• Google Ads conversion tag, usually deployed through Google Tag Manager
• Import from GA4, using GA4 key events

Both work. Direct Google Ads tags tend to report faster and give more control; GA4 imports are simpler to maintain if GA4 is already well set up. Avoid counting the same action twice by importing it from GA4 *and* tagging it directly as primary.

Set it up in Google Tag Manager

1. Add a Conversion Linker tag firing on all pages.
2. Create the conversion action in Google Ads and copy the conversion ID and label.
3. In GTM, add a Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag with that ID and label.
4. Trigger it on a reliable success signal (see below).
5. Preview in Tag Assistant, submit a test enquiry, then publish.

Use a reliable trigger

The trigger is where most tracking breaks. In order of preference:

• A dataLayer event pushed by the site after a successful submission
• A thank-you page that the form always redirects to
• The form plugin’s own success event (for example Contact Form 7’s wpcf7mailsent)

Avoid triggering on clicks of the submit button. Those fire even when the form fails validation.

window.dataLayer.push({
  event: 'generate_lead',
  form_name: 'quote_request'
});

See how to build a dataLayer for a custom website if your developer needs a spec.

Track calls properly

For calls from ads, add a call asset and set a minimum call duration that reflects a real enquiry. For calls from your site, use a website call conversion with a Google forwarding number, which swaps the number shown on your page for visitors who came from an ad.

Turn on enhanced conversions

Enhanced conversions send hashed first-party data (such as email or phone number from the form) with the conversion, which helps Google match conversions that cookies miss. Read enhanced conversions for leads for the setup and common issues.

Test before you trust the numbers

• Submit a test enquiry and confirm exactly one conversion fires
• Check the conversion action status in Google Ads after a day
• Compare conversions with leads in your inbox or CRM every week

If the numbers do not line up, a tracking audit will find where they diverge.