Find out how your PPC is performing by setting up PPC conversion tracking

So, you’re running some paid advertising through Google? Fantastic!

But are you making sure to track your conversions? Can you, with 100% confidence, tell me that the sale you made this morning came through your PPC?

If you can’t tell yourself, then how will you tell your managers, your directors… how will you see what’s working and what’s not?

How to set up PPC conversion tracking

In order to start measuring your PPCs performance, you need to start tracking your conversions – whether that’s direct sales, newsletter signups or more. So to get started;

1. Head on over to your Google Ads Account
2. Click the tools icon (top right) > Measurement > Conversions
3. Click the + button
4. Click ‘website’
5. Select the type of action you want to track (i.e. sales, leads)
6. Enter the conversion name
7. Select a category
8. Select the value
9. Select how to count
10. Select how long you want to track a conversion (1 to 90 days for ‘click-through’ conversion and 1-30 days for ‘view-through’ conversions)
11. Click create & continue
12. Install your tag on every page of your website yourself, or use Google Tag Manager

And, if all of this sounds too much… then we’ve got award-winning PPC and data tracking services!

How to check if PPC conversion tracking is working in Google Ads

To check your conversion tracking is active and working, you should;

1. Sign into your Google Ads account
2. Click the tools icon (top right) > Measurement > Conversions
3. Find the conversion you’re checking and check the status

Conversion tracking is ‘unverified’

If your conversion tracking is showing a status of ‘unverified’ and it’s been less than 24 hours, then that’s probably because it takes a couple hours to verify. Try visiting your conversion page (the thank you page, for example) to try and manually fire it.

If it’s been more than 24 hours though, you might want to check that you’ve put the tag on the right page, or that you implemented it in the right part of your website’s code.

Conversion tracking is ‘tag inactive’

If your PPC conversion tracking is showing a status of ‘tag inactive’ then this could be because Google can’t see your tag or that it hasn’t seen any conversions in the last 7 days. If you hover over the tracking status, it should tell you the last date it saw a conversion, which, if you have knowledge of a conversion, should mean you can tell if its working or not.

Keeping a check on your conversion tracking status should form part of your regular PPC account maintenance and checks – because if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

If you’d like to learn more about PPC then check out our video series where we look at topics such as:

• How Google Ads Bidding & Auction Works
• Targeting Low Monthly Search Volume Keywords
• Display Advertising Best Practises
• Bidding On Brand Terms With PPC
• Remarketing & Retargeting Explained
• The Google Display Network Explained
• Smart Bidding in Google Ads
• Setting Up Smart Campaigns
• Using Ad Extensions With Your PPC

And if you fancy someone taking it off your plate completely, then Sleeping Giant Media is home to many PPC experts who can help your business grow through paid digital advertising – just get in touch!