AdWords Conversion Tracking Not Working? Here's How to Fix It Step by Step

You've just launched a new Google Ads campaign, set up conversion tracking, and waited anxiously to see results roll in. Days pass. Your ads are getting clicks, your budget is draining, but your conversion column? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Here's the thing: broken conversion tracking is one of the most frustrating—and expensive—problems in paid search. Without accurate conversion data, you're essentially throwing darts blindfolded. You can't tell which keywords are profitable, which ads are working, or whether your campaigns are even worth running.

The good news? Most conversion tracking issues stem from a handful of common culprits, and they're usually fixable in under an hour once you know where to look. We're talking misconfigured tags, installation errors, cross-domain hiccups, or simply misunderstanding how Google's reporting delays work.

This guide walks you through six systematic steps to diagnose and fix your AdWords conversion tracking. Whether you're seeing zero conversions, duplicate counts, or mysterious delays, we'll help you get your data flowing again so you can actually optimize your campaigns with confidence.

Step 1: Verify Your Conversion Action Setup in Google Ads

Before you dive into code and tags, start with the basics. Your conversion action settings in Google Ads might be the problem—and this is the easiest place to check first.

Navigate to Tools & Settings in the top menu, then click Conversions under the Measurement section. You'll see a list of all your conversion actions. Pay close attention to the status indicators next to each one.

Recording conversions: This is what you want to see. It means Google has detected your tag and conversions are coming through.

No recent conversions: Your tag is installed correctly, but no conversions have happened yet. This might be fine if you just set things up, but if it's been more than a few days and you know conversions should be happening, keep investigating.

Tag inactive: Google hasn't detected your conversion tag recently. This is a red flag that your tag isn't firing properly or isn't installed at all.

Unverified: Google has never detected your tag. You definitely have an installation problem.

Click into each conversion action and review the settings carefully. Check the conversion category—is it set correctly? Look at the value you've assigned. If you're using a specific value per conversion, make sure it makes sense for your business.

Here's where people often mess up: the count method. If you're set to "Every" conversion but should be counting "One" per click (common for lead generation), you might be seeing inflated numbers. Or vice versa—if you're counting "One" but run an e-commerce site where customers can make multiple purchases, you're underreporting.

The attribution window is critical too. Google Ads defaults to a 30-day click-through window and 1-day view-through window. If your sales cycle is longer—say you're selling enterprise software where deals take 60+ days—you might be missing conversions that fall outside that window. Conversely, if your window is too long, you might be attributing conversions to clicks that weren't actually influential. For a complete walkthrough on proper configuration, check out our guide on how to set up conversion tracking in Google Ads.

Step 2: Inspect Your Global Site Tag and Event Snippet Installation

Now we're getting into the technical stuff. Google Ads conversion tracking requires two distinct pieces of code working together: the global site tag (gtag.js) and the event snippet.

Think of the global site tag as the foundation. It needs to be on every single page of your website—homepage, product pages, blog posts, everywhere. This tag establishes the connection between your site and Google Ads, enabling communication about user behavior.

The event snippet is the trigger. It fires only on specific pages where conversions happen—typically your thank-you page, order confirmation page, or form submission success page. When someone lands on that page, the event snippet tells Google "Hey, this person just converted."

Here's the most common mistake: people either put both tags only on the conversion page, or they put the event snippet on every page. Both scenarios break tracking. The global tag must be everywhere. The event snippet must be only where conversions happen.

To check your installation, install the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension (search for "Tag Assistant Legacy" in the Chrome Web Store—the newer version works differently but both are useful). Once installed, click the extension icon and enable it, then navigate to your website.

Browse through several pages of your site. Tag Assistant should show you a blue Google Ads tag on every page. If you see it on some pages but not others, your global site tag isn't installed correctly. It might be in your site template but not applied to all page types, or it might be missing from certain sections of your site entirely.

Now navigate to a page where the event snippet should fire—your conversion page. You should see both the global site tag AND the event snippet firing together. If you see the event snippet firing on pages where conversions don't happen (like your homepage), you've got a problem.

If you're using Google Tag Manager to deploy your tags, double-check your triggers. The global site tag trigger should be set to "All Pages." The event snippet trigger should be set to fire only on your specific conversion page URL or when a specific event occurs (like a form submission). Understanding the fundamentals of Google Ads conversion tracking will help you troubleshoot these installation issues more effectively.

Step 3: Test Tag Firing with Google Tag Assistant and Real-Time Reports

Checking that tags are present is one thing. Verifying they actually fire when they should is another. This is where you become your own test subject.

With Google Tag Assistant enabled, clear your browser cookies and cache. This ensures you're starting fresh, just like a real customer clicking your ad for the first time.

Now, complete an actual test conversion. If you're tracking form submissions, fill out and submit the form. If you're tracking purchases, complete a test order (use a test product or test payment method if possible—you don't want to actually charge yourself).

Watch Tag Assistant as you go through this process. When you land on your conversion page, you should see the event snippet fire. Tag Assistant will show you a green checkmark if everything's working correctly, yellow if there are warnings, and red if there are errors.

Click on the tag details in Tag Assistant to see exactly what data is being sent. You should see your conversion ID and label. If these don't match what's in your Google Ads account, you've got a mismatch problem—maybe you copied the wrong snippet or you're using an old conversion action that's no longer active.

If you have Google Analytics connected to your site, cross-reference with GA's real-time reports. Navigate to Real-Time > Events in Google Analytics. Complete your test conversion again. You should see the conversion event appear in the real-time report within seconds. Learning to leverage paid search analytics alongside your conversion data gives you a more complete picture of campaign performance.

Here's a pro tip: if Tag Assistant shows your tags firing correctly but conversions still aren't appearing in Google Ads, the issue is probably on Google's side—either reporting delays or account-level settings. If Tag Assistant shows errors or doesn't detect your tags at all, the problem is definitely on your website.

Document what you see. Take screenshots if needed. If you end up needing to contact Google Ads support, this debug data will be invaluable.

Step 4: Check for Cross-Domain and Redirect Issues

Your conversion path might be more complicated than you think. If your checkout process, payment gateway, or form submission involves redirects or multiple domains, tracking can break in subtle ways.

Picture this: A customer clicks your ad, lands on yoursite.com, adds a product to cart, then gets redirected to secure-checkout.thirdpartyprocessor.com to complete payment. After payment, they land back on yoursite.com/thank-you. That's three different domains in one conversion path.

Without proper cross-domain tracking, the connection between the original ad click and the final conversion gets lost. Google can't tie the pieces together, so no conversion gets recorded even though your tag fires correctly. Understanding cross channel attribution becomes essential when your customer journey spans multiple touchpoints and domains.

To fix this, you need to configure cross-domain tracking in your global site tag. This involves adding the domains to your tag configuration so Google knows to maintain the tracking across domain boundaries. In gtag.js, this means adding a 'linker' parameter with all your domains listed.

Redirects are another silent killer. When someone clicks your ad, Google appends tracking parameters to the URL—specifically the gclid (Google Click Identifier). This parameter is crucial for attribution. If a redirect strips this parameter, Google can't connect the conversion back to the original ad click.

Test your full conversion path manually. Click one of your actual ads (don't worry, you can exclude your own IP address from billing if needed). Watch the URL as you move through your conversion process. The gclid parameter should persist through every step until you reach the conversion page.

If the gclid disappears at any point, you've found your problem. Common culprits include server-side redirects, payment processors that don't preserve URL parameters, and form handlers that strip query strings. You'll need to configure these systems to preserve the gclid parameter.

Some content management systems and e-commerce platforms have built-in settings for this. Look for options related to "preserve URL parameters" or "pass-through query strings." If you're using a third-party payment processor, check their documentation for cross-domain tracking setup instructions.

Step 5: Review Attribution Settings and Conversion Windows

Sometimes your conversion tracking isn't broken—you're just looking at the data wrong, or your settings don't match your actual business reality.

Google Ads uses attribution windows to determine which conversions to credit to which ads. The default click-through conversion window is 30 days. This means if someone clicks your ad today and converts within the next 30 days, that conversion gets attributed to your ad. If they convert on day 31? No attribution.

For many businesses, 30 days is fine. But if you're selling high-consideration products or services—enterprise software, luxury goods, professional services—your sales cycle might be much longer. A prospect might click your ad, research for two months, then convert. With a 30-day window, you're missing that conversion entirely.

View-through conversions add another layer of complexity. These occur when someone sees your display or video ad but doesn't click, then later converts. The default view-through window is just 1 day. If you're running display campaigns and not seeing conversions, your view-through window might be too short to capture the full impact.

Go back to your conversion action settings and review these windows. If your sales cycle is longer than your attribution window, extend it. Google Ads allows click-through windows up to 90 days and view-through windows up to 30 days.

Here's the catch: when you change these settings, you're changing how Google reports historical data too. Don't panic if your conversion numbers suddenly shift after adjusting your windows. This is normal—you're just seeing a more complete picture now. Knowing how to read Google Ads reports properly helps you interpret these changes without making hasty decisions.

Attribution models matter too. Google Ads offers several options: last click, first click, linear, time decay, position-based, and data-driven. Last click (the default) gives all credit to the final ad click before conversion. But if your customer journey involves multiple touchpoints—they click a search ad, see a display ad, then click another search ad before converting—last click only credits that final search ad.

Data-driven attribution distributes credit across touchpoints based on their actual impact. If you have enough conversion volume (typically 3,000+ clicks and 300+ conversions in 30 days), switching to data-driven attribution can give you a more accurate picture of what's really driving conversions.

One more thing: reporting delays. Google Ads conversions can take 24 to 72 hours to fully populate in your reports. If you set up tracking yesterday and you're freaking out about zero conversions today, you might just need to wait. Google processes conversion data in batches, not real-time.

Step 6: Troubleshoot Common Edge Cases and Platform Conflicts

You've checked all the obvious stuff, but conversions still aren't tracking correctly. Time to dig into the weird edge cases that trip people up.

Ad blockers and privacy tools are increasingly common. Browser extensions like uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and even built-in browser privacy features can block Google Ads tags from firing. There's not much you can do about this—it's the user's choice—but it helps explain why your conversion numbers might be lower than your actual conversions.

Test your site with ad blockers enabled. You'll likely see Tag Assistant report that your tags are blocked. This is normal and affects everyone. Just be aware that your reported conversions represent a minimum—actual conversions are probably higher.

Cookie consent banners are another headache. If you're operating in regions with GDPR or similar privacy regulations, you probably have a consent banner. If your tags fire before users consent, or if users decline consent, tracking breaks.

Google's Consent Mode is designed to handle this gracefully. It allows tags to fire in a limited, privacy-safe way even without full consent, then upgrades to full tracking once consent is granted. But Consent Mode requires proper implementation. Check with your consent management platform to ensure it's configured correctly for Google Ads.

JavaScript errors on your site can silently break tag execution. Open your browser's developer console (F12 in Chrome) and look for red error messages. If there's a JavaScript error that occurs before your Google Ads tags try to fire, those tags might never execute.

Common culprits include conflicts between different scripts, outdated libraries, or poorly coded custom JavaScript. If you see errors, work with your developer to fix them. Even if the errors seem unrelated to tracking, they can have cascading effects.

Duplicate conversion actions are sneaky. If you've created multiple conversion actions for the same event—maybe you set up a new one without deleting the old one, or you're using both Google Ads conversion tracking AND importing conversions from Google Analytics—you might be double-counting.

Review all your conversion actions and conversion sources. Make sure each actual conversion event is only tracked once. If you're importing from Analytics, you generally don't need separate Google Ads conversion actions for the same events.

Server-side tracking issues can occur if you're using Google Tag Manager server-side containers or custom server-side conversion tracking. These setups are more complex and have additional failure points. Verify that your server-side container is receiving data correctly and that it's forwarding conversions to Google Ads with all required parameters.

Your Conversion Tracking Rescue Checklist

Let's bring it all together. Here's your quick diagnostic checklist to run through whenever conversion tracking acts up:

✓ Conversion action status shows 'Recording conversions' in Google Ads

✓ Global site tag present on all pages of your website

✓ Event snippet fires only on conversion pages, not everywhere

✓ Tag Assistant shows green status with no errors when you test

✓ Cross-domain tracking configured if your conversion path crosses domains

✓ Attribution window matches your actual sales cycle length

✓ No JavaScript errors blocking tag execution on your site

✓ Consent mode properly implemented if you use cookie consent banners

✓ No duplicate conversion actions counting the same event twice

✓ You've waited at least 48-72 hours for data to populate after setup

If you've worked through all six steps and conversions still aren't tracking, it's time to escalate. Reach out to Google Ads support with your Tag Assistant debug data, screenshots of your conversion action settings, and a clear description of what you've already tried. They can dig into account-level issues that aren't visible to you.

The frustrating truth is that conversion tracking is finicky. Websites change, tags break, platforms update, and suddenly what worked last month doesn't work today. But once you understand the core components—the global tag, the event snippet, attribution windows, and cross-domain considerations—troubleshooting becomes systematic rather than random guessing.

With solid conversion tracking in place, you can finally see what's actually working in your campaigns. You can identify which keywords drive real business results, which ad copy resonates with converters, and where to allocate more budget for maximum ROI. Once your data is flowing, focus on how to improve conversion rate in Google Ads to maximize the value of every click.

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