For the most accurate measurement of your Google Ads campaigns, make sure that you're using a 'sitewide' tag, which will be able to set cookies in the same domain as your site (known as first-party cookies). If you have auto-tagging enabled, those first-party cookies will be able to store the GCLID (Google click identifier) and AUID (advertiser user ID) parameter after a click happens. These cookies store a unique identifier for a user or the ad click that brought the user to your site. Then, when the same tags fire on the conversion page, it will use the stored GCLID and AUID to properly measure conversions.
If you’ve already implemented one of our sitewide tag solutions (such as, Google tag, or Google Tag Manager) and your account is still being flagged, follow the steps below to guarantee that your conversions are being measured accurately.
Resolve your unverified or tag inactive conversions
If your conversion shows 'unverified' or 'tag inactive' in the tracking status column of the conversions table, you can use Tag Assistant to verify your conversions. Tag Assistant is a tool that lets you verify your conversion actions directly on your website from your Google Ads account. As you click through each page of your website, debug information will appear in the Tag Assistant badge and give you instructions to resolve the unverified or inactive tag conversions. For instructions, go to Use Tag Assistant to troubleshoot your unverified or inactive conversion actions.
Check the status of your tags
To further enhance your site's data accuracy and streamline the troubleshooting process, consider using the Tag Diagnostics tool in the Google tag section in Google Ads, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Tag Diagnostics scans the tags on your website and provides a detailed report of their quality, categorised by statuses such as excellent, good, needs attention and urgent. Each status includes detected issues and step-by-step solutions to resolve them. When an issue is fixed, the tool updates the tag’s status. Through Tag Diagnostics, you can quickly identify and address potential issues.
Check whether you have enabled auto-tagging
In order to accurately measure conversions, you'll need to enable auto-tagging in your Google Ads account. This will allow Google to automatically add the GCLID and AUID parameters to your landing page after an ad click happens, which will then be stored in a first-party cookie that is being deployed by one of our site-wide tagging solutions. For instructions, go to About auto-tagging. You can also check if Google Ads auto-tagging works.
Auto-tagging is compatible with ValueTrack parameters. If you need to add additional parameters to your URL, check Set up tracking with ValueTrack parameters.
Check whether all of your pages have a site-wide tag being fired
A sitewide tracking solution is needed on all pages in order to collect the GCLID and store it in a first-party cookie. If some landing pages don't contain a site-wide tag, some clicks leading to them can't be tracked. In order to check which landing pages are being used in your ads, click 'Landing pages' from the page menu on the left.
You can look at your 'conversion tracking compatibility rate' to see the estimated percentage of clicks where conversions can be tracked with a first-party cookie on the landing page, which is the most accurate way to track conversions. A rate less than 100% means that some of your conversions aren't being tracked on some browsers. Also if you are using Legacy Tags, the report may indicate that you should upgrade your tags to the Google tag or use Google Tag Manager. Learn more about understanding your conversion tracking compatibility rate
Enable conversion linker if you’re using Google Tag Manager
The conversion linker tag is used to store click data in first-party cookies associated with your domain. This functionality helps ensure that conversions are measured effectively. Deploy a conversion linker tag on any page where visitors may land after they click an ad or promotion. It's recommended that you have the Conversion Linker tag fire on all pages.
Check for legacy tags or duplicate tags on your conversion pages
Make sure that you have removed any legacy tags (such as old Google Ads conversion tracking or old Floodlight tags) from your converting pages to avoid double counting. Also, ensure that you don't have multiple Google tags or Google Tag Manager containers installed on the same page, as this can also lead to issues. In order to check that, you can use Google Tag Assistant.
If you have implemented the Google tag using Google Tag Manager, remove any event snippet code implementations from your website's content management system (CMS).
- In your Google Ads account, click the Goals icon
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- Click the Conversions drop-down in the section menu and then click Summary.
- Select a conversion.
- In the top page menu, select Web pages and check if there are old tags in place. If there are, remove them and only keep the site-wide tag (for example, the Google tag or Google Tag Manager).
.- If you’re using the Google Analytics linked to Google Ads option, you can keep your legacy Analytics.js tag, but you need to set up Google Analytics using the Google tag.
If using Google Analytics, make sure properties are linked to Google Ads correctly
When linking Analytics properties to your Google Ads account, make sure that the Analytics properties are linked to the Google Ads account where the conversions are created. If conversions are created within a Google Ads manager account (MCC), the Analytics properties must be linked to that account, rather than to the child accounts using those MCC conversion actions.
Check for multiple domains or multiple Google Ads accounts
If you're tracking conversions across multiple domains or Google Ads accounts, ensure the following:
- Multiple domains:
- Site-wide tagging: Implement a sitewide tagging solution (Google tag or Google Tag Manager) on all domains.
- Cross-domain tracking: Set up cross-domain tracking if conversions happen on a different domain than the ad's landing page.
- Multiple Google Ads accounts:
- Site-wide tagging: Ensure that all accounts have conversions covered by a site-wide tagging solution.
- Google Analytics linking: Verify that all relevant Google and Analytics accounts/views are linked to the appropriate Google Ads accounts, especially if using Google Analytics for conversion tracking.
- Conversion ownership: If using Google Ads manager account (MCC), link the Analytics properties to the MCC account, not individual client accounts using MCC conversion actions.
Note: If your ad campaigns target multiple districts or regions, make sure that your conversion tracking setup aligns with any specific data privacy and regulations in those districts.
Check the domain of conversion pages
The converting page needs to be the same domain as the landing page of the ad, or you'll need to implement cross-domain tracking (the Google tag, Google Analytics Instructions, Google Tag Manager Instructions). Try to see if there's a pattern – for example, a different domain, path or subdomain. We can differentiate three cases:
- Same domain as landing pages: no need to change
- Customer domain, but not the same as landing page: customer needs a cross-domain solution
- Third-party domain: This will not work in the long-term, unless that third party is willing to implement site-wide tags
Check whether cookies are still available in conversion pages
In order to measure conversions accurately, the GCLIDs and AUIDs captured in first-party cookies on your landing pages have to be available in the browser on your conversion pages as well. For this, cookies need to be available in the browser when a customer converts. Check with your developer team to make sure that cookies are not being deleted by your site before customers get to conversion pages (you can use the Developer tools to test conversions and check if the GCLID will be passed through the URL and stored in a cookie.)
Make sure that you didn't remove the JavaScript portion of your tag
Using the <img> tag (aka pixel-only implementation) might impact tracking on certain browsers, so make sure that you use the full JavaScript sitewide tag on your website.
Don't fire the conversion tracking from within an iframe
Do not implement your tags within iframes, as this can lead to challenges with accurate measurement. Iframes may be used when there are embedded forms or payment/login portals on your page. Tags deployed within iframes may also require the updated SameSite settings as described in the Chrome blog post announcing new requirements rolling out in 2020.
Do not use existing tags (for example, Floodlight tags or other tracking solutions) to deploy your conversion tracking tag (aka piggybacking). These tags will fire from another domain and therefore their deployed cookies won't be considered first-party cookies.
Make sure that you check all steps above in all of your sites (including mobile site)
If your Google Ads campaigns are sending traffic to different site domains and/or you have mobile versions of those sites, it's important to install sitewide tags correctly across all of yours. Also, make sure to check all steps described in these articles to ensure that all conversions are being measured accurately.
