How to Check your Google Ads are Tracking

Once you’ve set up your Google Ads conversion tracking, there are a few ways to check that your conversions are being recorded properly. We don’t want to get everything going then realise we’ve not been tracking anything!

Check the tracking status on the Conversions page in your Google Ads account

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
  2. Click the tools icon (this looks like a little spanner) in the upper right corner of your account
  3. Under “Measurement,” click Conversions
  4. In the conversion actions table, find the conversion action you want to check in the "Name" column, then look at the "Status" column in that same row

We want this to say: “Recording conversions” - this means Google has seen your conversion tag and recorded actions in the last 7 days.

below is an example of a Perfect Setup. All of the Conversion Actions are set to “Recording conversions”. If you site is an eCommerce store you need to have a purchase tag setup in order to track your ads. This Setup was Automatically genereated using the Shopify Google Sales Channel plugin. google ads example of good tracking

Here are other tracking status’ you might see:

  • Unverified: Google hasn't verified that your tag has been put on your website yet. This takes a few hours. To make sure Google sees your tag, you can visit your conversion page (for example, the thank you page after a sale or sign up). If it's been more than 24 hours and you still see this status, try some of the options below to confirm and verify tracking.

  • No recent conversions: Google has seen your conversion tracking tag, but haven't recorded any conversions in the last 7 days. This may be because it’s been a while since the tag was installed or campaigns were sending people to this conversion.

  • Tag inactive: For more information, hover over the tracking status. You'll get the date Google last saw your conversion tracking tag, as well as the last date we recorded any conversions, if ever.

Confirm and verify your Google conversion tracking tag

After you (or your website manager) have installed the conversion tracking tag on your site, you can confirm that it's on the correct page and verify your tag by following the instructions below.

Confirm that the tag is on the correct page

  1. Go to the website and visit the conversion confirmation page. (This is the page customers see after they've completed a conversion, like a "thank you" page after they make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter).

  2. Check the source code for the page. (In Google Chrome, click View, then click Developer, then View Source. Steps will be different in other browsers).

  3. Now look for the conversion tag code. If the tag was successfully placed, you'll see a comment tag that looks like this: <!-- Event snippet for {Action name} conversion page -->. The {Action name} should be the one you entered earlier in the field "Action name."

  4. If the tag isn't on the page, you or whoever maintains your website will need to go through the conversion tracking setup process and add the tag.

Verify the tag

Use Tag Assistant Tag Assistant is a free Chrome Extension that automatically checks Google code snippets on any page in real time. It’ll show you the tags and errors found, help you resolve the problem, and make suggestions for improvements, including updates to old code. Download and install Tag Assistant via the Chrome Web Store or visit the Tag Assistant Help Center for more information.

Wait for a conversion to show up in 24 hours If you know that a click on your ad resulted in a conversion, and you know the click occurred after you activated conversion tracking, wait for the conversion to appear in your Google Ads account.

Complete a test conversion on your site and wait for the conversion to appear on Google Ads. Run a search for one of your active keywords on Google and click on your ad. You can then complete a test conversion on your site. After completing the conversion, it should appear in your Google Ads account within the next 24 hours.