Want to improve your Google ads lead generation efforts? Then you MUST know how to set up conversion tracking! Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it!
Step One
First, log into your Google Ads account and click on ‘tools and settings’ then ‘conversions’ – we’re going to create a conversion action. To do this, click the little blue ‘plus’ symbol, and a range of different options will come up. Select ‘set up a conversion for a website’ (the first option) and then we move on to the fun part!
Pick what it is you want to track by selecting a category from the dropdown menu. This is up to you, but if it’s for a Google Ad, you might select the option ‘submit a form’ or add a contact. Be as specific as you can.
In the next box down, you’ll see ‘value’ and some check buttons. Choose an option and then enter whatever value you want when prompted. The next box is for ‘count’ and your choices here are ‘every’ or ‘once’ – every is the recommended option for purchases, and ‘one’ is recommended for leads and sign ups, because only the first interaction matters.
Then, click on the big blue button that reads ‘create and continue’. You can change the various options on the page if you want to, or you can leave it as the default.
Installing the Tags
You’ll then move onto a new page, and this bit is super important, because you’re going to install the tags yourself (first option). If you want to get fancy, you can use the Google Tag Manager (third option), but for now, I’m just going to explain how you can install the tag yourself.
As you scroll down the page, you’ll see a section that says ‘see code for HTML’ and then you’ll see ‘global site link’ with some check button options. It’s important to make sure that you choose the right option at this point.
You might want to select the option that says ‘not installed’ because it doesn’t appear on all of your pages. Then carefully copy the code that appears in the box below the text options.
Step Two
Once you’ve got the code, move back over to the left-hand menu and select your funnel, then make sure you add it to every page of your website. Next, go to ‘settings’ and ‘head tracking code’. You’ll see a box directly underneath, which is where you need to paste the code. Then click ‘save’.
Go back to the page where you grabbed the code, and you’ll see ‘event snippet’. The heading should read, ‘This event, if it works with the global site tag to track actions that should be counted as conversions’.
There are then two options to choose from: ‘page load’ or ‘click’. If you want to track a conversion on a page load, for example on a ‘thank you’ page, then check that box, copy the code that appears and put it on the thank you page (navigate back).
In this example, we are redirecting to our calendar, so I recommend doing a thank you page instead, and then you can embed the calendar inside the thank you page and insert the code there.
How to Insert the Code
Go to ‘settings’ then ‘tracking code’ and paste the code into the blue box that pops up. When the page loads, you can count that as a conversion. That means that the site visitor has submitted their information.
You can even build your calendar page quickly, because the process is really easy. The calendar will populate when you select ‘calendar settings’ on the left-hand menu.
Just make sure that within your form or funnel, your next step is the thank you page instead of whatever the form was doing before. Click onto the form and then ‘next step.’ It is kind of hidden, but you will find it!
Then, go back to the Google Ads page with the code and click ‘next’, and that’s it. You’ll get a notification to say ‘you’ve set up your contact for google ads conversion action.’ Click ‘done’.
At this point you’ll see your code in the dashboard and showing as unverified – that’s probably because you don’t have a domain set up for your funnel. Make sure to check back in three hours or so, as the page should be verified by then. Once it is, you can track conversions inside of Google Ads. Very cool, and a lot easier than Google makes it out to be!