Knowing how to measure and track conversions is critical to understanding your return on investment. A conversion is when a customer completes an action you’ve defined as valuable, such as a website click or email sign-up. By using conversion measurements, you can gain a deeper understanding of the keywords, ads, and campaigns helping your business grow. Read on to find out how ad conversions are tracked in Google Ads.
What is conversion measurement?
You will likely know the actions that deliver the most value for your business, whether that’s a person making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or downloading your app. Conversion measurement is a useful tool that enables you to observe and monitor the meaningful actions (as defined by you) that a customer takes after interacting with your ads.
If you use online ads to funnel users to your website, conversion measurement will be a top priority. To do this, start by defining the customer actions you want to see more of on your site, then head to your Google Ads account and create a “conversion action”. Once set up, you’ll be able to gain insight into how your ads’ activity on Search and selected Display Network sites is helping your business grow.
Having valuable ad conversion insights close at hand will help you make smarter advertising decisions to grow your business.
How are conversions reported?
Once you’ve got conversion measurement set up, it’s time to put the resulting data to good use. In your Google Ads account, you can read focused reports to see how your campaigns, ad groups, and keywords impact customer actions on your website. This is an essential part of understanding how to track conversions.
These reports are based on a range of metrics, which you can choose depending on what
matters most to your business. They include:
- Cost per conversion — tells you how much, on average, each of your conversions cost
- Conversion rate — shows how often, on average, an ad click or other ad interaction leads to a conversion
- Conversion value per cost — estimates your return on investment
You’ll also have access to attribution reports, which show you both the paths customers take to complete conversions and how your various advertising touchpoints work together in the build-up to (but not including) the “last click conversion”.
For example:
- The Path Metrics Report — tells you how long, and how many interactions, it takes for users to convert
- The Conversion Paths Report — reveals the most common paths your customers take before completing a conversion
- The Assisted Conversions Report — quickly shows exactly which of your touchpoints are helping to drive the most conversions
With conversion measurement now set up on your website, you’re ready to analyze the impact your advertising has on customer actions. Google Ads’ conversion reports will provide detailed insights into what’s working and what isn’t, so you can adjust and improve your conversion rate accordingly.
Having such valuable performance insights close at hand will help you make smarter advertising decisions to grow your business.