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Google Ads conversion actions: audit before comparing campaigns
A conversion column is a configured measurement choice, not a fact about customers. Before comparing campaign efficiency, establish which actions contribute to the column and what each action means in business terms. Mixing a low-friction interaction with a completed purchase makes any cost metric impossible to interpret.
By Adlane · Updated
A Google Ads conversion column is a configured measurement choice
Every number in the conversions column is the sum of whichever conversion actions the account has set to contribute to it. Those actions can be purchases, form submissions, phone calls, button clicks, app installs or imported offline events. The column does not know which of these is valuable to the business; it adds them up.
The practical consequence is that cost per conversion only means something when the reader knows the mix. Two accounts, or two months of the same account, can show the same ratio for completely different reasons.
List every conversion action with its business definition
Write a conversion dictionary for the account and attach it to recurring reports. For each action, record what it measures, whether it is a completed outcome or an intermediate step, how it is counted, and whether its value is real or assigned. The table is a starting template.
| Action | Business meaning | Counting and value | Contributes to primary column? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | A completed, paid order | Every conversion; order value from the site | Yes |
| Enquiry form | A submitted request for contact | One per click; no value or an assigned estimate | Yes, if the goal is leads |
| Phone call from ad | A call lasting beyond a minimum duration | One per click; no value | Review with the sales team |
| Newsletter sign-up | A low-friction email subscription | One per click; no value | No; keep as secondary |
| Imported offline sale | A sale matched back to a click by the CRM | Every conversion; value from the CRM | Yes, if import is reliable |
Check which actions feed the metric in your report
Google Ads distinguishes conversion actions that contribute to the main conversions column from those that are reported but excluded from it. Review that setting for every action, and make sure the report labels clearly whether it uses the primary column or a broader all-conversions view. A reader who cannot tell the two apart will draw the wrong conclusion.
When a report compares campaigns, confirm that each campaign is being judged on the same outcome. A campaign optimised to enquiries and a campaign optimised to purchases can be reviewed together, but not with a single cost per conversion figure.
Illustrative example: a report improves after a newsletter event is added
Illustrative example: in an invented account, cost per conversion falls from 40 to 16 in one month. The change coincides with a newsletter sign-up event being set to contribute to the conversions column. Purchases are unchanged at 50 for the month; the newsletter adds 75 recorded actions to the denominator.
More recorded actions do not mean more purchases or better acquisition efficiency. The correct response is to report purchases and sign-ups as separate outcomes and to note the date the definition changed, so that trend charts crossing that date are read with caution.
Action names are not proof of correct implementation
A well-named purchase event can still fire twice per order, fire on a page refresh, carry a value in the wrong currency or carry no value at all. Check counting and value assumptions with whoever owns the measurement implementation, and compare recorded conversions with the business system of record for a sample period.
Investigate duplicate implementations, such as a tag firing from both a tag manager container and hard-coded page script, and look for configuration changes that coincide with abrupt performance movements. Resolve measurement ambiguity before making budget recommendations from the resulting ratios.
Review conversion actions with Adlane
Connect the Google Ads account and ask a bounded question such as: “List the conversion actions in this account, which ones contribute to the conversions column, and how many of each were recorded in the last complete month.” Adlane reads the connected configuration and reporting data and shows the evidence it used, so you can build the conversion dictionary from what the account actually contains.
Changes to conversion settings, like any other live change, are proposals that you review and approve; the conversation does not apply them. New campaigns start paused. Keep the dictionary beside every recurring report so that ratios are always read with their definitions.