Google Ads setup and conversion tracking

Create the account (in Expert mode)

Sign-up may steer you into a simplified flow (Smart campaigns). It's easy, but you can't see which searches triggered your ads or use most bidding strategies. Look for Switch to Expert mode, and if possible create the account without a campaign, then build the first campaign once tracking is in place.

Payment options vary by country. In India, accounts usually run on manual payments (prepay): you add money first and ads stop when the balance runs out.

Working with an agency? Create the account yourself and invite their manager account (MCC). You keep ownership and history if you change agencies.

Track conversions with the Google tag

A conversion is an action you care about: a purchase, a form submission, a call, a chat click. Without tracking, Google only knows you got clicks, and smart bidding has nothing to learn from.

The Google tag is a snippet that goes on every page. Google Tag Manager holds all your tags in one container you install once. Many store platforms have an official integration that does this for you.

Primary conversion

Counted in the Conversions column and used for bidding. Keep only real business goals here.

Secondary conversion

Reported for observation only. Page views and button clicks belong here, or Google will optimize for cheap, useless actions.

Enhanced conversions

Sends a hashed (one-way encoded) email or phone from the conversion so Google can match more conversions despite cookie limits.

Offline conversions and linking

If your sales team closes deals days after the form fill, Google only sees the form. Offline conversion import tells it which leads actually paid, so it looks for more people like those, not the ones who never picked up.

Each ad click adds a gclid to the landing page URL. Save it with the lead in your CRM, then upload which gclids became customers. If that's hard, enhanced conversions for leads matches on hashed email or phone instead.

Also link Google Analytics and (if you sell products) Merchant Center under Linked accounts or Data manager. You need admin access on both sides.