Ensure your offline conversions are accurately reflected in Google Ads by following these best practices for importing your data.
Time your uploads
Offline conversions that were uploaded more than 90 days after the associated last click won't be imported into Google Ads and, therefore, won't show up in your conversion statistics.
Upload multiple conversions for the same click
The same conversion won't be imported more than once. So, if you try to upload a conversion with the same combination of unique identifier (GCLID or lead form user-provided data), "ConversionName", date, and time, or duplicate conversion adjustment, it'll only be counted once, and you'll receive an error message for any duplicate uploads.
If you want to upload multiple conversions of the same type (several offline purchase conversions, for example) for the same click, you can. Google Ads will record them as separate conversions as long as they have different times (the unique identifiers and conversion names can be identical), and provided you have your conversion counting setting set to 'every'.
View your imported conversions in Google Ads
It takes about 3 hours for your imported conversion statistics to show up in your Google Ads account. When they do, they'll appear in your "Conversions" columns. You can learn about the "Conversions" columns and how to add them to your reports in Understand your conversion tracking data. To view how performance varies by conversion action, you can segment the “Conversions” column by “Conversion action name”.
To validate whether your conversion imports are working, use the "All conv. (by conv. time)" column. Unlike the other conversion columns, this column reports total conversions by the date of the conversion because your upload file records a conversion time.
Keep in mind, the longer the delay between your clicks and your conversions (online or imported conversions), the longer you'll have to wait to view the most complete conversion metrics.
Example
If you want to view conversion statistics for Monday, your clicks take 3 days to convert, and you upload your conversions nightly, then you'll have to wait until Friday morning before you can view Monday's accurate conversion statistics.
Configure your SFTP URL
"File not found. Please check that your URL, name, and/or password are correct."
If you encounter this upload error, and you've already determined that the username and password are entered correctly, then you most likely need to modify your URL to clarify if the file is located in your home directory.
Every user (for example, Jon) on an SFTP server (for example, ftp.example.com) has a home directory (for example, /home/Jon/). Some SFTP servers assume that the file you're requesting (for example, upload.csv) will always reside somewhere within your home directory. In these cases, if you include your home directory in the URL, the FTP server will look for the file in the wrong location.
Fix upload errors
If the file is saved to your home directory (/home/Jon/)
| Status | URL | Reason |
| Bad | ftp.example.com/home/Jon/upload.csv |
This seems like the logical URL to use, but the FTP server assumes that the file is stored in your home directory. So it interprets this file path to be /home/Jon/home/Jon/ |
| Good | ftp.example.com/upload.csv |
Removing the path to your home directory (/home/Jon/) will eliminate the confusion. |
| Good | ftp.example.com//home/Jon/upload.csv |
Placing a double-hash ("//") between the domain and the file path tells the FTP server not to assume that the file is in your home directory. |
If the file is saved to a directory within your home directory(/home/Jon/data/)
| Status | URL | Reason |
| Bad | ftp.example.com/home/Jon/data/upload.csv |
Again, because the FTP server assumes that the file is stored in you home directory, it interprets this file path to be /home/Jon/home/Jon/data/ |
| Good | ftp.example.com/data/upload.csv |
Removing the path to your home directory (/home/Jon/) will eliminate the confusion. |
| Good | ftp.example.com//home/Jon/upload.csv |
Placing a double-hash ("//") between the domain and the file path tells the FTP server not to assume that the file is in your home directory. |
If the file isn't saved to your home directory (instead it in /foo/bar/)
| Status | URL | Reason |
| Bad | ftp.example.com/foo/bar/upload.csv |
This seems like the logical URL to use, but the FTP server assumes that the file is stored in your home directory. So it interprets this file path to be /home/Jon/foo/bar/ |
| Good | ftp.example.com//foo/bar/upload.csv |
Placing a double-hash ("//") between the domain and the file path tells the FTP server not to assume that the file is in your home directory. |
