Library·SOP·Analytics
Choose what to count in Google Ads, check how your website shows that it happened, and find the setup guide that matches your form, link, or store.
Last reviewed: · Editorial review
Clarity, structure and references reviewed in this version. This is not a test in a live account.
Choose what to count in Google Ads, check how your website shows that it happened, and find the setup guide that matches your form, link, or store.
This SOP covers:
This does not cover:
A conversion is an action you want Google Ads to count, such as a completed enquiry or an order. First choose the result; then choose how the website can tell Google it happened.
Open a blank note and name it Conversion tracking plan. Add these five headings: Website, Result to count, How the website confirms it, Chosen method, and Next step. Enter the website address under Website.
Ask the business owner: What would you like a visitor to do after clicking your ad? Write one result under Result to count, such as send a quote request, place an order, or click the link to our partner's website.
Choose a successful submission or completed order when that is the business goal. A click on Submit, Buy, or Book happens before the result and can still end in an error. Choose click tracking when knowing that the person clicked is itself useful—for example, measuring visits to an external partner whose booking system you cannot access.
Ask whoever manages the website's tracking: Is this exact result already a conversion action in Google Ads? If it is, enter the existing conversion's name under Chosen method and ask that person to check it before adding another setup. A result seen in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) counts in Google Ads only after the GA4 property is linked and the event is marked as a key event and imported.
Use the section that matches your result. The setup guides below use Google Tag Manager, a tool that controls when your website sends tracking information. You do not need to install anything during this decision step.
For a completed enquiry or lead form, find out what happens after a successful submission. Use a recent submission you made, or ask the website maintainer to show you. Write the answer under How the website confirms it.
A separate thank-you page opens: choose this method when that page is used only after successful submissions. Write Lead form → dedicated thank-you page under Chosen method and open the linked setup guide. Reloading or directly opening that page can send the tracking signal again, so this is a practical page-based method rather than a unique record of each form entry.
A success message appears on the same page: ask which form tool the website uses. For Contact Form 7, write Contact Form 7 → successful submission under Chosen method and open the linked guide. It listens for the form tool's success signal instead of counting clicks on Submit.
Another form tool or an embedded form: write its name under How the website confirms it. Under Chosen method, write Form submission tracking — waiting for the website maintainer's advice. Under Next step, write Ask the website maintainer how this form reports a successful submission. Send that question with the form's page address. The answer needs to describe success, not just a button click; the Contact Form 7 instructions do not apply to other form tools.
For orders, ask the website maintainer which store platform is used, such as WooCommerce or Shopify. Enter it under How the website confirms it. Choose a purchase setup that sends the order amount, its currency, and a unique order number. The order number helps Google avoid counting the same order twice.
WooCommerce: write WooCommerce → purchase with order details under Chosen method and open the linked guide. Even if checkout ends on a thank-you page, use the purchase guide so the order amount and number are included. The guide asks you to decide which order statuses count as purchases, including whether an order awaiting payment should count.
Another store platform: write its name followed by purchase tracking with order details under Chosen method. Ask the store maintainer whether its existing Google Ads integration already sends the order amount, currency, and order number. Put that check under Next step; the WooCommerce plugin instructions are specific to WooCommerce.
For a click, find the exact link on your website. Right-click it and choose Copy link address. Paste that address under How the website confirms it, together with the address of the page containing the link. Compare the website names at the start of both addresses: choose an internal link only when the names match exactly. For example, shop.example.com to example.com is outbound even if the same business owns both; www.example.com/services/ to www.example.com/pricing/ is internal. A button-shaped link still belongs in this section if it offers Copy link address.
The link opens another website: choose the linked outbound-click guide. For example, a link from yourbusiness.com to partner.com is outbound. Write Outbound link click under Chosen method. This counts the click; it cannot confirm what the visitor later does on the other website.
The link opens another page on the same website: choose the linked internal-click guide. For example, a link from yourbusiness.com/services/ to yourbusiness.com/pricing/ is internal. Write Internal link click under Chosen method.
There is no link address, or the click opens a phone or email app: write what the control does under How the website confirms it. Under Chosen method, write Button, phone, or email tracking — waiting for the website maintainer's advice, using the description that matches your case. Ask the website maintainer for tracking designed for that button, phone link, or email link, and put that request under Next step. A phone-link click tells you that someone tried to call; measuring an actual call needs call tracking.
Read your Result to count and Chosen method together. The method should count the result you actually want. For example, place an order belongs with purchase tracking, while visit our partner can belong with outbound-click tracking.
If you selected a setup guide, read its Requirements before starting. Under Next step, write the guide's title and anything you still need, such as Tag Manager access. Once those requirements are ready, follow that guide.
If your case needs help from the website maintainer, send them your Conversion tracking plan. Ask them to confirm the success signal or integration named in Next step. Add their answer to the plan before choosing an implementation.
