Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Prerequisites

Google Ads account with API access
Access to your website codebase or Google Tag Manager

Steps

Create a conversion action via API. Use the Google Ads API to define conversion actions:

POST /customers/<id>/conversionActions:mutate
{
  "operations": [{
    "create": {
      "name": "Demo Requested",
      "type": "WEBPAGE",
      "category": "SUBMIT_LEAD_FORM",
      "value_settings": { "default_value": 200, "always_use_default_value": false },
      "counting_type": "ONE_PER_CLICK",
      "click_through_lookback_window_days": 30,
      "view_through_lookback_window_days": 1
    }
  }]
}

Set counting to ONE_PER_CLICK for lead gen, MANY_PER_CLICK for e-commerce.

Install the Google Ads tag. Add the global site tag (gtag.js) to all pages and the event snippet to your conversion pages:
```
<script>gtag('event', 'conversion', {'send_to': 'AW-XXXXXX/YYYYYY'});</script>
```
Alternatively, use Google Tag Manager with a form submission trigger.
Set conversion values. Assign dollar values based on your unit economics: $200 for demo request (based on close rate x ACV), $50 for content download. This enables ROAS-based optimization.
Implement server-side tracking. For critical conversions, send events server-side via the Google Ads API to complement browser-based tracking and avoid ad-blocker gaps.
Test the conversion. Submit a test form and verify the conversion appears in the Google Ads API within a few hours: GET /customers/<id>/conversionActions.
Verify conversion data. Query the conversion report via API to confirm conversions are recording correctly. Match conversion counts against your backend data to ensure accuracy.

Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Instructions

Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Prerequisites

Steps