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In Google Ads, a conversion is when a user completes a desired action defined by the advertiser after clicking on the ad. Conversion Tracking, on the other hand, is the process of monitoring the actions of potential and existing customers that are valuable to your business.
It helps to understand the buyer behavior and optimize the campaign for higher efficiency.
There are different types of conversions, depending on what kind of online presence your website has.
Google Ads allows advertisers to track when users visit individual product pages, providing valuable data for optimizing ad performance.
By recording product views as conversions, advertisers gain insight into which campaigns, keywords, and ads drive engagement with specific products.
This helps refine targeting and improve the relevance of ad content, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of paid campaigns.
Using product view conversions also enables more accurate performance measurement and better data for innovative bidding strategies.
When included in conversion tracking, Google Ads can use this data to optimize bidding in real time, prioritizing placements that are more likely to lead to product interest. This results in improved ad efficiency, increased return on ad spend (ROAS), and more informed decisions about budget allocation across campaigns.
When a user becomes a subscriber to your E-mail newsletter, this can be counted as a conversion.
This is achieved by setting up a conversion goal in Google Ads and implementing conversion tracking code on your website’s “thank you” or confirmation page that users land on after signing up.
A key benefit is improved campaign performance, as Google Ads can optimize for users likely to subscribe.
This decreases long-term customer acquisition cost.
Adding products to wishlist tracks when a user adds products to their Wishlist or in Saved items.
You’ll need to use Google Tag Manager to track adding products to wishlist. Create conversion action in Google Ads Account, and implement a conversion tracking tag on your website’s wishlist confirmation page.
This action indicates the desire for specific products but not made the purchase offering businesses a valuable opportunity to re-engage.
Contacting these customers personally exponentially increases the conversions.
It also helps to acknowledge the demand of particular products so that you can manage your inventory, create better marketing plans and conversion based funnels.
Purchase conversion tracks when a user completes a transaction, the final step of a conversion.
To set up purchase conversion tracking, select “conversion,” and create a new conversion for purchase. Place the Google Ads conversion tracking on the “Thank You” or confirmation page.
Setting up “Purchase” conversions allows you to understand the most important business metric – sales. It will enable you to refine your campaign strategy with better bidding and targeting. You can measure the effectiveness of your ads.
Experienced Marketers track every data of the customers and keep them in their log manually. This is how giant companies save millions from surveying and data collecting.
“Chat on Whatsapp” tracks the data of potential customers who initiate conversations with your business through social media, redirected from your website.
Using Google Tag Manager or embedding the tracking script from the social media platform, you can set up event tracking from your website. For that, create a new “Chat on Whatsapp” conversion action.
Tracking this conversion enables you to improve both Google Ads and Social Media Ads. Also, you can find real-time engagements, set up re-targeting ads, and optimize overall marketing campaigns.
A direct Phone call to customer support signals that the ad has successfully prompted the user to seek more information, and it tracks the data of users calling the support number of your business.
Calls can be tracked when users click on a phone number link on your website or mobile app.
In Google Ads, create a new conversion action for Phone Calls with Phone Calls as the source. Set up call tracking with Google Tag Manager with call tracking tags call extension or a third-party call tracking system.
Tracking Phone Calls can help you capture high-quality leads, especially if you’re selling high-ticket products. You can track the ROI more effectively because you’ll have data on customers who are more likely to convert. Otherwise, you would have missed the important traction your business is gaining.
“Promo Code use” conversion tracks when a user applies a promo code during checkout, which indicates that the promotion, like discounts or special offers, has worked.
To enable this tracking system, create a new conversion for “Promo Code Use” with Website as the source. Then set up an event on the checkout confirmation page to capture when the promo code is applied. It can be done through Google Tag Manager or a custom tracking code.
Tracking promo codes makes us understand the effectiveness of discounts and special offers tied to the ad campaign. It helps to refine further offering strategies and increase conversions.
Tracking the “Download Resources” conversion refers to tracking when users download valuable content (AKA, lead magnets) from your website. Such as, E-books, Masterclass, Templates, etc.
In Google Ads, create a conversion action named, “Download Resources.” Add the provided conversion action tag to the confirmation page that appears after the users download using Google Tag Manager.
Tracking this conversion allows you to understand your audience and their desires. You can test and iterate your lead magnet, Ad copy, and page content and keep making it better while managing your marketing strategy with real-time user engagement.
A Form Submission conversion tracks a user’s filling out a contact or inquiry form on your website.
To track it, create a form completion page first. In Google Ads, create a new conversion action for “Form Submission” Implement the tracking code by adding the conversion tag to the completion page.
It helps you track the effectiveness of form fill-out copy and how many form fill-outs you can expect from average monthly traffic. It also helps with precise lead management, better bidding strategies, and overall higher ROAS.
Live Chat conversion is a critical indicator that tracks how many users talk with your team in real time.
Create a new conversion action for Live Chat to enable this tracking system. Next, integrate the tracking code into your website’s Live Chat widget using Google Tag Manager or manually into your site’s code.
Tracking this conversion type has significant importance. It helps you measure the engagement rate that you’re deriving from your ads campaign. Also, you’re getting you measure how well you can search them. It enables you further optimize your targeting strategy.
We must ensure that the cookie consent banner appears site-wide, categorizing and controlling tracking based on user choices.
There are 2 players that we can recommend.
Installing CookieYes on a WordPress website is a straightforward process.
Plugin:
The most common approach is through a dedicated plugin: you add the CookieYes plugin directly from the WordPress dashboard, activate it, and connect it to your CookieYes account to automatically generate a consent banner that manages cookie categories for compliance.
Script:
For those preferring a code-based method, you can embed the CookieYes script directly into the head section of your site’s HTML, often using a simple WordPress plugin for header insertions or by editing theme files, which integrates the consent functionality without additional add-ons.
Google Tag Manager:
If you’re already using Google Tag Manager (via GTM4WP), you can deploy CookieYes as a tag within GTM, configuring it to load the script and handle consent signals, allowing for seamless integration with other tracking setups, such as WooCommerce or SureCart e-commerce events, Google Ads, and Social Media Ads.
Installing CookieBot on a WordPress website is a simple and flexible process.
Plugin:
Install the “Cookiebot | GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Consent and Control” plugin from the WordPress dashboard, activate it, and connect it to your CookieBot account by entering your Domain Group ID. This automatically generates a consent banner that scans and categorizes cookies for compliance.
Script:
Copy the CookieBot script from your CookieBot account and insert it into the <head> section of your site’s HTML using a plugin like “Insert Headers and Footers” or by editing your theme’s header.php file (preferably via a child theme), embedding the consent functionality directly.
Google Tag Manager:
Add the CookieBot script as a Custom HTML tag in Google Tag Manager (integrated via GTM4WP), setting it to fire on all pages with consent-based triggers (e.g., cookiebot-consent–statistics).
Cookie consent is crucial for success with Google Ads on your WordPress website, as it ensures compliance with privacy laws such as GDPR and PECR, enabling you to track user interactions legally, including clicks, conversions, and purchases.
Without a proper consent mechanism, such as CookieBot, non-essential tracking cookies for Google Ads could be blocked, limiting your ability to optimize campaigns, target audiences effectively, or measure performance accurately.
By using a tool like CookieBot to obtain explicit user consent, you maintain trust, avoid legal penalties, and ensure reliable data collection for successful ad strategies.
This post was published on 1 June 2025 by Zahid Hassan, and was last updated by u/WebsiteCatalyst on 21 September 2025
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