Conversion tracking is the foundation of every Google Ads campaign. Without it, Google's algorithm has no idea which clicks are turning into customers — so it optimises for clicks alone, burning budget on traffic that never converts.
The frustrating part is that broken conversion tracking often looks fine from the outside. The status says "Recording conversions." Numbers are coming in. But the numbers are wrong — and every day the campaign runs, it's learning from bad data.
The Two Most Common Ways It Breaks
1. The conversion goal is misconfigured and fires on nothing
I've audited accounts where a conversion action had been set up — correctly named, properly categorised — but the tag itself was installed on the wrong page, or pointed to a URL that no longer existed after a website redesign.
The result: the conversion shows "No recent conversions" in the account, but nobody noticed because the campaign still showed impressions and clicks. The business assumed the ads weren't working. The real problem was that there was no way to measure whether they were working or not.
2. Every click counts as a conversion
This one is more insidious. The conversion numbers look great — high conversion rate, lots of activity. But when you look closely, the conversion is firing on page load rather than on a specific action like a form submission or a phone call.
This happens when the conversion tag is placed on a page that every visitor sees — like the homepage or a service page — instead of a confirmation page that only appears after a real conversion. Google's algorithm sees a near-100% "conversion rate" and starts optimising toward volume rather than quality. You get more traffic. None of it converts.
How to spot it
Go to Google Ads → Campaigns. Look at your conversion rate. If it's above 30-40% for a local service business, something is wrong — realistic conversion rates are usually 2-10%. A suspiciously high conversion rate almost always means the tag is firing on the wrong trigger.
How to Check Your Conversion Tracking in 10 Minutes
Step 1 — Check the conversion status
Google Ads → Goals → Conversions. Look at the Status column for each conversion action. "Recording conversions" means it has fired recently. "No recent conversions" means it either hasn't been triggered or is broken. "Inactive" means the tag isn't installed.
Step 2 — Check what's being tracked
Click on each conversion action and look at the Category (e.g. "Submit lead form", "Phone call", "Purchase") and the Count setting. If Count is set to "Every" for a lead form, every duplicate submission counts — which inflates numbers. For leads, it should usually be set to "One."
Step 3 — Verify the tag is on the right page
Install the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension. Visit your thank-you or confirmation page — the one that only appears after a real enquiry. Tag Assistant should show the conversion tag firing. If it fires on your homepage or services page as well, the tag is in the wrong place.
Step 4 — Do a test conversion
Submit your own contact form or click your own phone number link. Wait 3-4 hours, then check Google Ads → Goals → Conversions to see if a conversion was registered. If not — the tag isn't working. If yes — you have confirmation it's tracking correctly.
Step 5 — Check Google Analytics alignment
If you have Google Analytics linked to Google Ads, compare the conversion numbers in both platforms for the same period. Large discrepancies (more than 20-30%) suggest tracking inconsistencies that need investigating.
What Good Conversion Tracking Looks Like
For a typical local service business, you should be tracking at minimum:
Form submissions — fires on the thank-you page after a contact or booking form is submitted
Phone calls — using Google's call tracking or a click-to-call conversion on mobile
Direction requests — if you have a physical location, people clicking "Get directions" is a strong intent signal
Once these are correctly set up, Google's algorithm can learn which keywords, ads, and times of day produce real enquiries — and start directing your budget toward those. Without this, you're paying for the algorithm to learn nothing useful.
Why this matters more than any other setting
Every other optimisation in Google Ads — bid strategy, keyword selection, ad copy, landing pages — depends on conversion data being accurate. If the data is wrong, every "optimisation" you make is based on a false picture.
I've seen accounts where fixing conversion tracking alone — without changing any bids, keywords, or ads — produced an immediate improvement in results, simply because the algorithm finally had accurate information to work with.
Not sure if yours is set up correctly?
Conversion tracking is one of the first things I check in every Google Ads audit. I verify the setup, test the tags, and confirm the data matches what's actually happening — so you know your campaigns are optimising toward real results.
Book a free audit call →
Zoli Sabo
Digital marketing auditor working with local service businesses across the EU, UK, and Australia.