Adwords Conversion Tracking – A Step by Step Guide for Beginners

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If you’re into analytics, which you obviously are, you’ve probably heard of Google Adwords and Conversion tracking before, however, not necessarily in the same sentence. In this article, we will talk about conversion tracking in Adwords, and I’ll walk you through the four ways to set up conversion in Google Adwords.

First things first, why would anyone set up conversion tracking in Google Adwords? Good question.

Quick answer: Mostly because it helps you measure the performance of your marketing campaigns. Without tracking conversions, one wouldn’t know which campaigns are doing well and which ones are not doing so great.

Moving on. Let’s talk some more about Adwords Conversion Tracking.

Getting Comfy With Adwords Conversion Tracking

Adwords conversion tracking involves generating an HTML code that is placed on your website depending on the type of conversion you are tracking. Generally there are four types of conversions in Adwords and we will talk  about setting up each type in this article..

To access conversions in Adwords, log in to your Adwords account, click on the settings icon and click conversions under measurement.

Found it?

Now, Click on the plus icon(+) to create a new conversion.

 create a new conversion

On the next screen, you should see the option to select the conversion type, much like the screenshot below.

 type of conversions

Done? Perfect! Now we can talk about when to set up each conversion and how.

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1. Website

To set up a conversion on your website, select ‘website’ as the conversion type. . Your website conversion can be a form submission, a purchase, a sign-up or even a page view. Basically anything within this circle that suits, your fancy.

For the purpose of explaining how this is done, let’s head on towards a quick example.

We’re creating a conversion for a form submission on your website, assuming that there is a unique thank you page after the form submission.

Follow the steps below:

After selecting the conversion type as ‘website’, a conversion action needs to be created.

’ Set the name of your conversion to be Contact Us/Sign up’ depending on the type of form you are using

Select the category as ‘Lead’

Add a value for your conversion i.e how much a single conversion is worth for your business.

Depending on your conversion type assign a value for your conversion

Select the count as ‘every’

Conversion window equals ‘30 days’

View-through conversion window equals ‘1 day’

Include in conversions equal ‘yes’

Attribution model equals last-click

Look at the image below for an overview

 form submission conversion

Now if you’re satisfied with how this has turned out, hit the  ‘CREATE AND CONTINUE’ button.

On we go!

Next, you will see options for how you want to set up the conversion code. For the sake of this article, I am choosing the ‘install the tag yourself’ option. However, if you’re more comfortable with the idea of adding the code using Google Tag Manager, that can definitely be done too, in that case, feel free to hop on over to this article.

 tag setup

Now according to the most recent changes in Adwords, you now need to add the global site tag to your website before your add the conversion code.

Now what is Global Site Tag?

For a short and sweet answer: Global Site Tag is the latest version of the analytics tracking code after universal analytics.

If you already have gTag added to your site, you may proceed directly to adding the conversion code. If the case is otherwise, however, you will need to replace the old universal analytics, with the gTag code, and then add the conversion code right after.

 conversion code

Now, the next step will depend on your site’s possession of a specific thank you page.

If you do have a separate, dedicated thank you page, go ahead and select the code to fire on page load.

In case you don’t have one, you can still fire the code on a submit button-click.

Now, hit ‘next’ to finish the set up.

The next step is to verify if the conversion code is working and the conversions are being recorded in Adwords. To do this you can use Google Tag Assistant.

2. App

This one tracks conversions on mobile apps. Now, this could be an app installation or a purchase within your app. If you wish to create an app conversion, go ahead and select ‘app’ as the conversion type.

Now would be the time to select how you want to track your app conversions i.e firebase, google play, third-party etc, do go through the conversion action steps according to the conversion type you selected.

A conversion code isn’t an absolute necessity when it comes to app type conversions. You can pretty much get away with simply connecting your Adwords account with the app store, firebase, or any third party store according to the conversion type you selected.

3. Phone Calls

Phone calls are very important to your business, especially when you display a phone number on your website or on the ad. If the purpose of your ad or landing page is to generate phone calls, it is important to also track them.

Google Adwords provides a simple way to track phone calls. All you need to do is set up a phone call conversion. There are three ways to track phone calls in Adwords. Create a new conversion and select the conversion type as phone calls to view these options.

 phone calls conversion tracking

1. Calls from ads using call extension or call-only ads

If you are placing a phone number on any of your ads, you can select this option to measure conversions. To do this, check the first option in the image above and click continue..

Now, enter the conversion name

Select the category as ‘Lead’

If you want to track the revenue, assign a value to the conversion otherwise, select ‘do not use value’

Select the call length. Not every call leads to a conversion but you can select any time frame less than 60 seconds to be a conversion. For example, if you select the call length as 45 seconds, any call greater than 45 seconds will be considered a conversion.

Select conversion window as 30 days

Include in conversions equals ‘yes’

Attribution model equals last click

 phone calls from ad

Once you have done this, click “create and continue’.

Now this type of conversion doesn’t need a tracking code added to your website. It will automatically record a conversion when a phone call number is clicked on your ad.

2. Calls to a phone number on your website

This type of conversion is used when you place a phone number on your website. It records a conversion when the phone number on your website is clicked.

 conversion tracking for website

Once you fill up the conversion details, click ‘create and continue’.

With the new Adwords updates, there are two codes you need to add to  your website in order to track this conversion. First is the Global Site Tag and second is the conversion code.

In the second step, choose from the options for Global Site Tag and update it according to your current implementation.

 global site tag

Once you are done, click next’ to complete the conversion.

3. Clicks on the number on your mobile website

This records a conversion when someone clicks on a phone number link on your mobile website.

To create this one, follow the same steps as the previous conversion.

Make sure to install the Global Site Tag first and then add the conversion code in order to track them correctly.

4. Import

The final way to setup Adwords conversion tracking is by importing from data sources like Google Analytics, Firebase, Salesforce, third-party apps, or CRMs.

If you have already set up goals in Google Analytics or any other tool you prefer to work with, you don’t need to create conversions in Adwords. You can simply import those conversions to Adwords.

One of the best practices  is to import Google Analytics goals in Adwords. To do this, you will have to connect Adwords with Google Analytics. Then using the import method you can import any goal you have created in Analytics.

To learn more about importing Google Analytics goals, click here.

Over to you!

If i’ve done my job well, you now know a thing or two about Adwords conversion tracking, than you did before. Almost all of your marketing decisions are based on conversions, which means they should be tracked correctly to make sure you are getting the right data. I hope this article helps you better optimize your ads and figure out which campaigns are giving you results and which ones need some tweaking. If there is anything you’d like to ask about conversions or tracking or Adwords, I’ll be found in the comments section below. Cheers!

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