How To Implement Google Ads Conversion Tracking

How to Use Google Ads Conversion Tracking to Scale Your Business

There are plenty of options when creating pay-per-click (PPC) ad copy and selecting the keywords. But because each click costs you money, you need to focus your investment on the highest performers. Whether you are a beginner or professional, you wouldn’t know your best performers without conversion tracking.

So, if you want to see your PPC campaign’s financial impact and identify the best-performing keywords, the solution is simple:

Track the conversions!

Conversion tracking is the first step for success in pay-per-click ads. All ad manager platforms allow you to track what a user does after clicking your ads. It guides you to spend your ad budget wisely and scale your business.

In this guide, we will show you how to use conversion tracking to scale your business.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. What Is Conversion Tracking?

2. How Conversion Tracking Works

3. Reasons to Track Conversions

4. How To Set Up Conversion Tracking

5. Conversion Tracking Best Practices

6. Next Steps After Setting Up

 

What Is Conversion Tracking?

In digital marketing, conversion tracking is a tool for collecting user behavior in relation to a conversion event. For example, if you manage an e-commerce store, one clear-cut conversion event is a purchase. You want to know how and why the purchase happened. Then, use this information to finetune your marketing campaign.

What Qualifies As A Conversion?

Any user action that you consider valuable to your ad campaign purpose is a conversion. Consider a conversion as when a user completes a call-to-action. Besides a purchase, other common conversion actions are, sign up for a newsletter, E-book download, and filling a contact form. But typical of pay-per-click ads, you have to segment and narrow down to the most valuable actions.

How Conversion Tracking Works.

In conversion tracking, you create conversion goals (based on conversion actions) to gauge your PPC ads’ effectiveness.

  • For each conversion goal, the ad manager automatically generates a conversion tracking tag (a piece of code) that you install on your conversion page (like a thank you page).

  • The tracking tag places cookies on the customer’s device.

  • The cookies record the customer’s actions (clicks) on your page.

  • The conversion code delivers the cookie information to your ads manager account once a conversion happens.

The cookie information shows what the customer did after clicking your ad. You access the conversion tracking information in your PPC platform’s ad manager.

Reasons to Track Conversions & How To Scale Your Business With Conversion Tracking

You track conversions to optimize your PPC budget and the advertising campaign for the best results. So, you create conversion goals (based on your call-to-action) that best measure your PPC campaign success.

Conversion goals are essentially a data collection mission. Marketing thrives on information.

Conversion tracking helps your business to:

  • Identify which keywords bring the most revenue and those that bring little or no revenue.

  • See what your customers do after clicking your ad.

  • Better understand your ideal buyer.

  • Identify growth opportunities. E.g., you may spot a market that you had never considered.

  • Measure your ad spend return on investment (ROI).

Then, adjust accordingly.

You use conversion tracking information to optimize your ad campaigns which will lead to:

  • More conversions (or higher conversion rate).

  • Reduced ad spend.

  • Better return on investment.

What’s more, if you use automated bidding strategies, the ad platform relies on the conversion data to deliver your ads to the most appropriate audience. The more historical data they have, the easier it is to determine your ideal buyer. If your ads keep performing well (indicated by a high conversion rate), it increases the ad’s quality score. The higher quality score makes your ads rank higher and at a lower cost-per-click.

When you combine your ad manager tool with an analytic tool (like Google Analytics), you get the complete picture of the user behavior from when they click the ad to their final action. Conversion tracking shows user actions with your ads, and the analytics tool shows the user actions on your website. You can read into the user behavior to optimize the user experience in your ad campaigns and your website.

The best thing about conversion tracking is measuring your PPC’s returns on investment (ROI). Don’t wonder whether or not your ads are responsible for your increased sales. In Google Ads conversion tracking, you can even assign a dollar amount to your conversion goal. If the conversion is successful, you can clearly see your return on investment.

Even if a user clicks on an ad but completes the conversion in your office, you import this conversion into conversion tracking to complete the picture. If a customer clicks the ad on their phone and converts on their laptop, you still track the cross-device conversion properly.

If you don’t track conversions yet, here’s how to get started right now.

How To Set Up Conversion Tracking With Google AdWords

Create Your Conversion Action

The first step is determining your most valuable conversions. These will be your conversion actions (or goals). Do you want to track newsletter sign-ups, purchases, or page views? Track each action separately.

For Google ads conversion tracking, your conversion actions either fit into:

  • Website conversions (purchases, sign-ups, leads, page views).

  • App conversions (downloads, in-app actions).

  • Call conversions (calls from ads)

  • Or imported conversions (from analytic tools and offline conversions that began with an ad click).

Get The Conversion Tracking Code

Generally, you select the action’s category, name it, give it a dollar value, count cycles, window period, and attribution model. Then save the information and proceed. Here’s an in-depth article explaining the conversion action creation process for your website.

After setting up your conversion action, you will get an automatically generated conversion tracking tag (or code). In Facebook Pixel, you get a conversion pixel.

Install The Conversion Tracking Code

You can install the generated conversion tracking code into your conversion page’s HTML. The most common conversion page is the thank you page.

The conversion tracking code will track the user action on the ‘thank you’ page and report back to your AdWords account. You will see this information in the ‘Conversions’ column.

It is crucial to set up the conversion tracking correctly; else, you will collect the wrong data.

For Google AdWords, the simplest way to install the conversion tracking code is using Google Tag Manager. It places the tracking code directly into your conversion pages. Alternatively, you can hire a skilled professional to set up conversion tracking.

How To Know If Google Ads Conversion Tracking Is Working Properly?

First, install the Google Tag Assistant extension in your browser.

Then trigger a conversion like making an order through an ad click (it will cost you a click’s worth).

Then check the results of tag analysis. It should show a change in the Google Ads conversion tracking.

Setting Up Conversion Tracking In Other PPC Platforms

Each platform gives you a step-by-step process to set up conversion tracking. Here are some great guides for the most common PPC platforms.

Website builders allow you to add conversion tracking plugins instead. But be careful not to overload your site with plugins. It will become slow and discourage users from interacting with it. 

Conversion Tracking Best Practices

Correct Set-Up

The number one rule with conversion tracking (and other data-driven strategies) is setting up your tools correctly. Mistakes lead to inaccurate data. And inaccurate data leads to wasted money.

Avoid False Positives!

For example, if you are tracking calls, only include the calls that led to conversions. Hire someone to sort through your calls if you must. Including calls that didn’t bring revenue feeds the wrong data to the most powerful tool in ad campaigns.

Get User Consent!

As per the GDPR, you should get user consent before tracking and give them the option to opt-out.

After tracking conversions, the next step is optimizing your campaigns for conversions. Analyze the conversion information to target best-performing keywords to ideal customers. Also, run different tests to identify any problems with the user experience on your pages, causing lower conversions. Also, test different ad copy and test different strategies. Improve, then test: that’s the marketing cycle.

If you need help optimizing your conversions or have any questions, reach out to us here! 

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Camilla | Marketing Specialist

Camilla works hard to ensure that the Marketing strategies and executions are on point and data-driven, not only for our clients but internally at Profitable Media as well. She’s been coming up with innovative ways to reach and engage audiences for over 8 years.

Picture of Camilla B. <br><span>Digital Marketing Specialist </span>

Camilla B.
Digital Marketing Specialist

Camilla works hard to ensure that the Marketing strategies and executions are on point and data-driven, not only for our clients but internally at Profitable Media as well. She’s been coming up with innovative ways to reach and engage audiences for over 8 years.

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Vlad P. Marketing Specialist at Profitable Media, LLC

Vlad Popirda

MARKETING SPECIALIST

If you’ve been swayed, convinced, or otherwise persuaded by the writing on our page or in some of our emails, chances are Vlad was the man behind it.

Be it Social Media Management, Marketing Strategy, PPC Ads, or Copywriting, you can rely on him to get the job done.

With a Bachelor’s in Marketing and a Master’s in Advertising, his life’s work is to leave this world better than he found it, and he aims to achieve that by putting his talents in the service of the right people and helping businesses make a difference in the world.

Outside of working hours, you may find him singing Britney Spears songs at karaoke nights, or exercising his creativity in varied ways, such as playing chess, designing board games, playing guitar, or playing Dungeons & Dragons with his mates.

Alisa Villanueva Account Manager at Profitable Media, LLC

Alisa Villanueva

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Alisa is the glue that brings all the parts of our operation together. The one always keeping an eye on the bigger picture. The person that makes sure that it all works smoothly and on schedule, giving everything an artistic spin and flourish with her keen eye for design.

With her background in sales, customer service and art, it’s no wonder her strength is in communicating with people, be they our customers or us, her team.

While juggling her different tasks (Project Management, Web Design, Quality Control, Customer Service), one thing never changes: she will use her artistic sense to make a project unique and she will hear out the person she is working with, understanding their needs and wishes while integrating and tying them all together to create an outstanding final product.

When she’s not tuned in to her work, you’ll find Alisa taking ordinary things and making them beautiful. In her artistic endeavors she explores many different mediums of expression, like painting, ceramics, dance, and cooking. Among these, her dancing stands out, as she is part of a salsa dance performance team, doing gigs both locally and nationally.

Her dream is to travel and explore different cultures, which she is always doing from home by cooking and trying out various cuisines from around the world.
Short Excerpt:
Alisa is the one that makes things work smoothly and on schedule, giving everything she does an artistic spin and flourish with her keen eye for design.

With her background in sales, customer service and art, it’s no wonder her strength is in communicating with people, be they our customers or us, her team.

Zach Warshawsky Chief Operations Officer at Profitable Media, LLC

Zach Warshawsky

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Zach manages the operational side of our business and coordinates all the work done by our team. He designs technical architecture and always keeps an eye towards the future, making sure his solutions are scalable. He applies his skills in all sorts of fields, such as Project and Team Management, Sales Funnels, Web Technology, Split Testing, Automation and CRM.

If there’s one trait he shares with Henry, it’s passionate problem-solving. Although he has been working for over 25 years in Sales, Marketing, Management, Team Building and Customer Service, perhaps his relevant business credentials start even earlier. At 15, he started a business selling and installing car stereo systems before he even had a driver’s license. Armed with a reseller’s permit and a passion for business, he started down the path of entrepreneurship and hasn’t looked back since.

With four amazing children and a wonderful wife in his life, his goal is set: provide the best possible life for them that he can. To that end, he works hard on helping clients scale their businesses through the use of cutting edge digital marketing tools.

His weapon of choice on this quest is not a coincidence, for his knowledge of technology is certainly top-notch. This can sometimes be a blessing and a curse however, when the Apple Genius Bar can’t solve a friend’s problem, it’s Zach’s phone that gets lit up.

To unwind, he spends time with his children, goes on weekly dates with his wife and is passionate about crafting culinary art… he unwinds and loves creating amazing home-cooked meals for his friends and family!

Henry Hamamjy Chief Executive Officer at Profitable Media, LLC

Henry Hamamjy

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

One of the two men that started it all, Henry has a knack for judging character and managing the internal structure of our team. The go-to guy for when business owners hit a roadblock, he is well known for offering unique, scalable solutions to any issue that presents itself. 

With a background in Sales, Marketing, Management, People Development and Leadership, he puts it all to good use in the service of his clients and fellow team members, helping them better themselves. 

He’s a born problem-solver, breaking any seemingly impossible task into achievable actionable items.  He has successfully helped dozens of businesses expand to the 7-8 figure level, by designing and implementing extensible, supportive and responsive infrastructure that his clients could then leverage to their fullest advantage. 

At work, he loves helping our customers make their dreams a reality, taking businesses to the next step of success, guiding them all the while. Outside of work, he enjoys a good meal with friends and a nice Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He also likes travelling with his family and exploring different cultures and finding out more about our world. Having dreamt of becoming a soccer player when he grew up, he has since traded that sport for another, namely golf, which he partakes in whenever he gets the chance.

Little known fact, he won the Atomic Spicy Food Competition when most of the people quit after just a couple of bites. Scientists have yet to come up with an explanation.