Through my experience managing numerous Google Ads accounts, I’ve noticed a recurring and significant issue: improper conversion tracking. This makes it incredibly challenging to determine campaign effectiveness.

Let’s examine common Google Ads conversion tracking problems and how to address them.

6 Frequent Google Ads Conversion Tracking Errors to Avoid

While resources like our Google Ads conversion tracking guide and troubleshooting post exist, the following focuses on mistakes advertisers encounter post-setup. These errors, often subtle and lacking error messages, can lead to inaccurate reporting.

1. Absent Conversion Tracking

While seemingly obvious, the lack of any conversion tracking is a critical issue with a simple solution: set it up. However, continue reading this post first for potential pitfalls to avoid.

2. Incomplete Conversion Action Tracking

Deviating from the best practice of a single conversion action per page, I frequently observe multiple conversion points on landing pages, encompassing actions such as:

• Demo request forms
• Contact forms
• Gated content downloads
• Purchases
• Chatbot interactions
• Appointment scheduling
• Callback requests
• Calls

Beyond landing pages, consider the various calls to action on your website. Are you tracking them all?

When creating conversion actions in Google Ads, utilize the available categories as prompts to ensure comprehensive tracking of user engagement. While end goals like purchases or demo requests are important, overlooking other valuable actions would be remiss.

Speaking of calls to action …

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3. Mistaking Non-Conversion Events for Conversions

Conversely, tracking excessive metrics as conversions is also problematic. Avoid tracking actions with limited value, such as:

• Page views
• Social media icon clicks
• Video views
• Time-on-site triggers
• Ungated content downloads
• Help ticket submissions
• Customer service contacts

While these statistics might be helpful, they don’t necessarily signify valuable conversions as they rarely provide personal or payment information.

This often happens when a perceived high-value page or action, believed to indicate user quality, gets misconstrued as a conversion. This can lead to tracking actions like viewing an FAQ page with the same weight as demo requests.

Such false positives are detrimental. Before designating an action as a conversion, carefully evaluate its value to your business.

If facing resistance against excluding a specific action, consider setting it up as a secondary conversion. This achieves two things:

• The conversion contributes to the “All Conv.” column, not the primary “Conversions” column.
• Smart Bidding strategies won’t consider it a primary success metric and won’t directly optimize for it.

4. Equal Treatment of Unequal Conversion Events

Having narrowed down and prioritized your true conversion events, avoid treating them equally without considering their varying value.

Consider the previous list of actions. While all are conversions, their quality and value differ. A demo request signifies higher intent compared to a simple call. An appointment booking isn’t equivalent to a purchase. Even two purchases can have varying order values and margins, impacting ROAS differently.

For e-commerce, tracking revenue alongside conversions allows for ROAS calculation and campaign optimization.

Lead generation might be trickier but still manageable. If dynamic value tracking is not feasible, leverage default values during conversion setup. Establish a scale to differentiate values – for instance, a content download at $10 and a demo request at $250.

This enables comprehensive action tracking within the “Conversions” column, utilizing “Conv. Value” and “Cost / Conv. Value” for assessing lead generation value.

5. Tracking Every Lead Generation Conversion

Unlike e-commerce, where multiple purchases by a user increase lifetime value due to associated revenue, lead generation differs. Fifteen form submissions by the same person don’t translate to 15 times the return. You essentially have one lead, and your data should reflect that.

During conversion setup, you can choose between “One” or “Every” tracking frequency. Opt for “Every” for e-commerce. For lead generation, select “One” to track a single submission per user, preventing inflated lead counts and false positives.

6. Tracking All Phone Calls, Including Brief Ones

Google Ads allows direct call tracking using Google forwarding numbers, useful for monitoring calls from Call Assets and attributing them to specific campaigns. However, tracking every call indiscriminately is problematic.

As the image above illustrates, call durations vary. Should a six-second call hold the same weight as a 28-minute one? Unlikely.

For most, a sale or qualified lead constitutes a conversion. Achieving those typically requires a minimum call duration to convey payment or contact information.

Therefore, I recommend two steps, with at least one being crucial:

First, consult your sales/call center teams to understand if any calls directly translate to business. If not, reconsider tracking phone calls as conversions altogether.

If they do, inquire about the average time needed to gather payment or contact information via phone. Use this information (e.g., 30, 60, 90 seconds) to set a minimum call duration for tracking conversions.

Concluding Thoughts on Conversion Tracking Mistakes

“Some conversion tracking is better than none” doesn’t always hold true. While commendable, inaccurate tracking can be misleading and potentially more detrimental than none. Utilize this list to audit your conversion tracking, ensuring data accuracy for informed decision-making and algorithm optimization.

Here’s a recap of the mistakes:

1. Absent conversion tracking
2. Incomplete conversion action tracking
3. Equal treatment of unequal conversion events
4. Mistaking non-conversion events for conversions
5. Tracking every lead generation conversion
6. Tracking all phone calls, including brief ones