Unlock the Power of Accurate Google Ads Conversion Event Setup
Choosing the right conversion event depends on the type of campaign you’re running and what goals you have.
Why Setting the Right Conversion Events is Critical for Google Ads
Setting up accurate conversion events in Google Ads is one of the most critical steps to measure success and optimize ad performance. Without proper conversion tracking, you won’t have a clear understanding of what actions users take on your site after clicking your ads. This means you could be wasting ad budget on non-converting traffic or missing out on key opportunities to improve your campaigns.
Key reasons for setting the right conversion events:
- Maximize Return on Ad Spend (RoAS): You’ll understand which ads, keywords, and campaigns are driving valuable actions.
- Optimize for Business Goals: Setting conversion events aligned with your business objectives ensures your campaigns are optimized for the right actions, whether it’s purchases, lead forms, or app downloads.
- Improve Bidding Efficiency: Conversion events enable automated bidding strategies (like Target CPA or Target ROAS) to work more efficiently, allowing AI algorithms to maximize conversions.
Types of Conversion Events to Set Up Based on Campaign Objectives
Choosing the right conversion event depends on the type of campaign you’re running and what goals you have. Here are some common types of conversion events and when to use them:
Search Campaigns:
Goal: Drive leads or sales. Events to Track: - Form submissions - Phone calls (via click-to-call) - Purchases -Downloads(eBooks, PDFs, etc).
Display Campaigns:
Goal:Increase brand awareness or retarget site visitors. Events to Track: - View of key landing pages - Add to cart events(for retargeting) - Video plays or engagement.
Shopping Campaigns:
Goal: Drive eCommerce sales. Events to Track: - Purchase events - Add to cart - Product views
Video Campaigns:
Goal: Drive brand awareness or engagement.Events to Track: - Video completions - Website visits post-video - Subscriptions to newsletters or channels
Affordable Integrations:
Goal: Increase app installs or engagement. Events to Track: - App downloads-In-app purchases - key engagement actions(e.g., level completion, feature usage).
What Conversion Events Need Google Tag Manager (GTM) & Which Don’t
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a powerful tool that helps deploy marketing and analytics tags without modifying your site’s code. However, not every conversion event requires GTM.
Conversion Events Requiring GTM:
- Complex user actions such as scroll depth, page engagement, or form submissions (GTM can fire tags upon completion of these events).
- Custom events not natively trackable in Google Ads (e.g., AJAX-based form submissions).
- Events requiring additional data (like custom event parameters) beyond the basic pageview.
Conversion Events That Don’t Require GTM:
- Basic conversion actions like purchases, calls from ads, or app installs that can be tracked directly through Google Ads or Google Analytics.
- Google Ads account-level conversions such as goal completions from Analytics.
Understanding Attribution Tracking in Conversion Events
Attribution tracking is crucial to understanding how each marketing touchpoint contributes to conversions. By default, Google Ads uses a ‘last-click’ attribution model, but you can adjust this to better reflect user behavior across multiple touchpoints.
Types of Attribution Models Available :
- Last Click: Credit goes to the last interaction before the conversion. .
- First Click: Credit goes to the first interaction. .
- Linear: Equal credit to all touchpoints.
- Time Decay: More credit to interactions closer to the time of conversion.
- Position-Based: 40% credit to the first and last interactions, 20% to the ones in between.
- Data-Driven: Uses machine learning to determine which touchpoints are most impactful.
How Attribution Models Affect Campaign Optimization:
- Different models provide insights into how early-stage actions, like video views or blog visits, contribute to conversions. This helps you adjust bids or budgets to emphasize the most effective touchpoints.
Common Challenges When Setting Up Google Ads Conversion Events
While setting up conversion events is essential, it’s not always straightforward. Here are some common challenges businesses face:
- Tracking Gaps: Missing out on key conversion points because they aren’t tagged properly (e.g., misconfigured forms or missing thank you pages).
- Double Counting Conversions: Conversion events firing multiple times due to improper trigger settings, leading to inaccurate reporting.
- Cross-Device Attribution: Difficulty tracking users across devices or platforms, which can skew results if not properly addressed.
- GTM Setup Errors: Incorrect tag or trigger setup in Google Tag Manager leading to missed conversion events.
- Event Duplication in Analytics: Google Ads conversions may overlap with Google Analytics goals if they’re not de-duplicated, inflating your numbers.
Passing Parameter Values with Conversion Events for Better Insights
Passing dynamic values with your conversion events can help you track more granular data and improve optimization efforts. For example, you can pass values like order amounts, product types, or user IDs along with your conversion event.
Steps to Pass Parameter Values:
- Use Google Tag Manager: Set up custom event tracking using GTM where you can define variables such as transaction value or product category.
- URL Parameters in Campaigns: Ensure campaign URLs include UTM parameters that can be captured in your Google Analytics or Ads account.
- Link Google Analytics to Google Ads: This enables the passing of key values like revenue, transaction IDs, and product information, allowing for better reporting and bid optimization.