Conversion tracking is a crucial component of any successful pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign. It allows you to measure the effectiveness of your ads by tracking specific actions that users take on your website after clicking on your ad. These actions, known as conversions, can include purchases, form submissions, newsletter sign-ups, or any other valuable interaction with your business. By setting up conversion tracking, you can gain valuable insights into your campaign’s performance and make data-driven decisions to optimise your advertising efforts.
At Gorilla Marketing, we specialise in helping businesses maximise their search marketing efforts, including PPC advertising. Our team of experts has extensive experience in setting up and managing conversion tracking for a wide range of businesses across various industries. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up conversion tracking for your PPC campaigns, providing you with the knowledge and tools you need to measure and improve your advertising ROI.
Why is Conversion Tracking Important?
Before we dive into the technical aspects of setting up conversion tracking, let’s explore why it’s so crucial for your PPC campaigns:
- Measure ROI: Conversion tracking allows you to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your advertising spend by linking ad clicks to specific actions on your website.
- Optimise campaigns: By understanding which ads, keywords, and campaigns are driving conversions, you can allocate your budget more effectively and improve overall performance.
- Identify valuable customer segments: Conversion data can help you identify which types of customers are most likely to convert, allowing you to refine your targeting strategies.
- Inform bidding strategies: With conversion data, you can make more informed decisions about your bidding strategies, such as setting target cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goals.
- Prove advertising value: Conversion tracking provides concrete evidence of your PPC campaigns’ impact on your business, which is valuable for reporting to stakeholders or clients.
Types of Conversions You Can Track
Before setting up conversion tracking, it’s important to identify which actions on your website are most valuable to your business. Here are some common types of conversions you might want to track:
- Purchases: Track when a customer completes a transaction on your e-commerce site.
- Lead form submissions: Monitor when a potential customer fills out a contact or enquiry form.
- Newsletter sign-ups: Track when users subscribe to your email newsletter.
- Phone calls: Measure the number of phone calls generated from your ads.
- App downloads: If you have a mobile app, track when users download it.
- Video views: Monitor when users watch a specific video on your site.
- Button clicks: Track when users click on important buttons, such as “Request a Quote” or “Book a Demo”.
How to Set Up Conversion Tracking: Step-by-Step Guide
Now that we’ve covered the importance of conversion tracking and the types of conversions you can monitor, let’s walk through the process of setting it up for your PPC campaigns. We’ll focus on Google Ads, as it’s the most widely used PPC platform, but the principles are similar for other platforms like Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads).
Step 1: Create a Conversion Action in Google Ads
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click on the “Tools & Settings” icon in the upper right corner.
- Under “Measurement”, click on “Conversions”.
- Click the blue “+” button to add a new conversion action.
- Choose the type of conversion you want to track (e.g., “Website”, “App”, “Phone calls”, etc.).
- For website conversions, enter the details of your conversion action:
- Name: Give your conversion a descriptive name.
- Category: Select the category that best describes your conversion.
- Value: Decide whether to use the same value for each conversion or a different value.
- Count: Choose whether to count every conversion or just one per ad click.
- Click “Create and continue”.
Step 2: Set Up the Conversion Tracking Tag
After creating your conversion action, you’ll need to implement the tracking tag on your website. Google Ads offers two methods for this:
Option A: Google Tag Manager (Recommended)
- If you haven’t already, set up a Google Tag Manager account and install the container code on your website.
- In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag:
- Choose “Google Ads Conversion Tracking” as the tag type.
- Enter the conversion ID and conversion label provided by Google Ads.
- Set the trigger to fire on the appropriate page (e.g., order confirmation page).
- Publish your Google Tag Manager container.
Option B: Manual Installation
- In Google Ads, after creating your conversion action, select “Install the tag yourself”.
- Copy the provided conversion tracking code.
- Paste the code into the HTML of your website, just before the closing </body> tag.
- For page-specific conversions (e.g., purchase confirmation), add the event snippet to the relevant page.
Step 3: Test Your Conversion Tracking
After implementing the tracking tag, it’s crucial to test it to ensure it’s working correctly:
- Use Google Tag Assistant (a Chrome extension) to verify that the tag is firing correctly on your website.
- Complete a test conversion on your website.
- Check your Google Ads account after 24-48 hours to see if the conversion has been recorded.
Step 4: Set Up Conversion Tracking for Other Platforms
If you’re running PPC campaigns on other platforms, you’ll need to set up conversion tracking for each of them separately. Here’s a quick overview of how to do this for some popular platforms:
Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads)
- Sign in to your Microsoft Advertising account.
- Go to “Tools” > “Conversion tracking”.
- Click “Create conversion goal” and follow the prompts to set up your conversion action.
- Implement the provided UET (Universal Event Tracking) tag on your website.
Facebook Ads
- Open Facebook Ads Manager.
- Go to “Events Manager” > “Pixel”.
- Set up your Facebook Pixel and add it to your website.
- Create custom conversions based on specific URL rules or events.
Best Practices for Conversion Tracking
To get the most out of your conversion tracking efforts, consider these best practices:
- Track multiple conversion types: Don’t limit yourself to just one type of conversion. Track various actions that are valuable to your business to get a comprehensive view of your campaign’s performance.
- Use value-based conversion tracking: Assign monetary values to your conversions where possible. This will help you calculate ROI more accurately and make better budgeting decisions.
- Implement cross-device conversion tracking: Enable cross-device conversion tracking in Google Ads to capture conversions that occur on different devices from the original ad click.
- Regularly audit your conversion tracking: Periodically review your conversion tracking setup to ensure it’s still accurate and capturing all relevant actions.
- Use conversion tracking data to inform your strategy: Regularly analyse your conversion data and use the insights to refine your targeting, adjust your bids, and optimise your ad copy and landing pages.
- Consider using Google Analytics goals: In addition to Google Ads conversion tracking, set up goals in Google Analytics for a more comprehensive view of your website’s performance.
- Respect user privacy: Ensure that your conversion tracking practices comply with data protection regulations like GDPR and inform users about your use of cookies and tracking technologies.
Common Challenges and Troubleshooting
Even with careful setup, you may encounter some challenges with conversion tracking. Here are some common issues and how to address them:
| Challenge | Solution |
| Conversions not showing in Google Ads | Check that your tracking tag is implemented correctly and firing on the right pages. Use Google Tag Assistant to verify. |
| Discrepancies between Google Ads and Analytics data | Some discrepancies are normal due to different attribution models. Ensure your Google Ads account is linked to Analytics for more accurate data. |
| Tracking conversions with long sales cycles | Use Google Ads’ “View-through conversion” feature to track conversions that happen after an ad view, even without a click. |
| Duplicate conversions | Review your “Count” settings in Google Ads to ensure you’re not counting the same conversion multiple times if that’s not appropriate for your business. |
Leveraging Conversion Data for Campaign Optimisation
Once you have conversion tracking set up and collecting data, it’s time to put that information to use. Here are some ways you can leverage your conversion data to optimise your PPC campaigns:
- Adjust bids based on performance: Use conversion data to inform your bidding strategy. Increase bids on keywords and ad groups that are driving conversions, and decrease bids on underperforming ones.
- Refine targeting: Analyse which demographics, locations, or devices are driving the most conversions and adjust your targeting accordingly.
- Optimise ad copy: Test different ad variations and use conversion data to determine which messages resonate best with your audience.
- Improve landing pages: Use conversion data in conjunction with Google Analytics to identify which landing pages are most effective at driving conversions and apply those insights to other pages.
- Set up automated bidding strategies: Once you have sufficient conversion data, consider using Google Ads’ automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS to optimise your bids automatically.
Final Thoughts: The Power of Data-Driven PPC Campaigns
Setting up conversion tracking for your PPC campaigns is a crucial step towards achieving better results and maximising your advertising ROI. By accurately measuring the impact of your ads on your business goals, you can make informed decisions about where to allocate your budget and how to optimise your campaigns for better performance.
At Gorilla Marketing, we understand that setting up and managing conversion tracking can be complex, especially for busy business owners. Our team of PPC experts is here to help you navigate the intricacies of conversion tracking and leverage the data to drive real results for your business. Whether you need assistance with setup, troubleshooting, or ongoing campaign optimisation, we’re here to support your PPC success.
Remember, conversion tracking is not a one-time setup; it’s an ongoing process of measurement, analysis, and optimisation. By consistently monitoring your conversion data and applying the insights you gain, you can continually improve your PPC campaigns and drive more value for your business.
If you’re ready to take your PPC campaigns to the next level with expert conversion tracking and optimisation, contact us today. Let’s work together to unlock the full potential of your digital advertising efforts.
