What is conversion tracking?

Google’s conversion tracking is a free tool that shows you what happens after a customer interacts with your ads. A conversion is any user action you find valuable - for your ecommerce store (and the focus of this course) you’ll set up to track sales.

Why does conversion tracking matter?

With Google Ads conversion tracking set up, you can see which one of your Google ads generates the most sales on your online store. Without the conversion tracking set-up to measure sales, you can’t make informed decisions about which ads are working best.

Overall benefits of the Google conversion tracking:

• See which keywords, ads and campaigns drive the most sales
• Understand your ROI to make better informed decisions with your ad spend
• Take advantage of Google’s ‘smart bidding’ which helps your ads be seen in front of the right person at the right time, at the best possible price
• See how customers are interacting with your ads on mobile vs. desktop

How to Set-Up Conversion Tracking:

If you are setting up conversion tracking for the first time, choose Option 1: Brand New to Google Ads. If you have set up conversion tracking in the past (or are unsure if you have) choose Option 2: Setting up Conversion Tracking with Existing Account.

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Option 1: Brand New to Google Ads

Requirements:

• Gmail address. You can either use a free gmail account (i.e. yourbusinessname@gmail.com), or you can use G Suite get a business email (i.e. yourname@yourbusiness.com)
• Refer to ‘Store Requirements’ on this support doc to ensure you meet all requirements
  

Step 1: Sign in to your Shopify dashboard

Step 2: Click ‘Apps’ on the left-hand side

Step 3: Click ‘Visit the Shopify App store’

Step 4: In the search bar type ‘Google Shopping’

Step 5: Click the Google Shopping icon, and the ‘Add App’ button

Step 6: Click ‘Install App’

Step 7: Once you have connected your app accept the Google Ads invite sent to your gmail address. By installing the Google Shopping app, a Google Merchant Center Account and Google Ads account will automatically be created for you (refer to next lesson for definitions of Google Merchant Center and Google Ads Account). 

Step 8: Add billing information in your Google Ads Account setting

Done! 🎉🎉🎉

You will see a checklist update within the Shopify dashboard to let you know you have completed set-up.

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Option 2: Setting up Conversion Tracking with an Existing Account

When you install the Google Shopping App it automatically adds conversion tracking to your Google Ads account.

If you have already manually set up conversion tracking in your Google Ads account, you will duplicate conversion tracking if you install the Google Shopping app. This will lead to inaccurate report data and problems with ad optimization.

Follow the steps to ensure you can set up the Google Shopping app without duplicating  data.

Requirements:

• Gmail address. You can either use a free gmail account (i.e. yourbusinessname@gmail.com), or you can use G Suite get a business email (i.e. yourname@yourbusiness.com)
• Refer to ‘Store Requirements’ on this support doc to ensure you meet all requirements

Step 1: Follow the steps in Option 1 above to install the Google Shopping App.

Step 2: Login to your Google Ads account with the same gmail address you used for your business.

Step 3: In the upper right corner, click the tools icon and under “Measurement”, click “Conversions”. (Note: If you don’t see Measurement/Conversions, click tools and switch to ‘Expert Mode’).

Step 4: Look at the ‘Conversion actions’ you’ve created. Check to see if you have more than one conversion event that tracks revenue and has ‘Yes’ checked off for Include in “conversions.” You’ll repeat the below steps for each conversion action to ensure you don’t duplicate conversions with the Google Shopping app.

Step 5: Click the name of the conversion action you want to edit.

Step 6: Click Edit settings.

Step 7: Click Include in “Conversions.”

• Uncheck the box if you don’t want to include these conversions in your “Conversions” column. We recommend unchecking if you install the Google Shopping app.
  

Step 8: Click Save, and then click Done.

For more information, refer to the Google Ads Help Centre. Note that if you’ve been running ads when the platform was called Google AdWords, click here and click on the ‘Previous’ tab to follow the instructions to avoid duplicate tracking.