Set up Google Ads conversion tracking — how do I know if it's tracking properly?

Phone clicks and actual calls won't match either. You probably counted mobile click-to-call links as direct conversions. A user clicks the number, but once the phone dialer pops up, they might decide not to call. For call tracking, you should either use call assets that only count calls lasting at least 30 seconds, or set up dynamic call tracking.

Go into your Google Ads conversion settings right now and set Count to "One". At least half of those 28 conversions are the same people refreshing the page or hitting the back button. Just tweaking this setting will clean up your data immediately.

This happened to us on a campaign with a 3,000 € budget. It showed 80 conversions in a week, but we only got 20 inquiries. Once we switched from "Every" to "One" and tied the trigger to the form submission instead of the thank-you page, the conversion rate leveled out, and the bidding strategy stopped wasting money.

just open tag preview mode and submit the form man. it shows you live which tag fires and how many times anyway. if you put it on the thank you page anyone hitting f5 gets counted as a conversion.

edit: typed from phone, sorry for typos.

Here should be your checklist: 1) Is the conversion category correct (purchase, form, phone call)? 2) Is the count setting set to "One"? 3) What's the conversion window (usually kept at 30 days)? 4) Are direct URL visits to the thank-you page blocked?

Correction: I misremembered the figure, it was a bit lower.

Google Ads always pushes the "Every" option in its recommended settings because once the algorithm sees plenty of conversion data it gets much more eager to spend your budget. Focus on actual invoiced work coming in not vanity metrics on the dashboard.

Inconsistencies in your conversion tracking setup cause AI-driven bidding strategies to target the wrong audiences. Verifying your data is therefore critical not just for reporting, but for overall budget efficiency. I suggest running through the outlined testing steps without delay.

To get into the details: Any comment made without a control group is just a guess.

Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Exactly, and not many people know this. A page with low traffic might be reaching the right people. Look at where sales come from.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

I feel the same way. Dont hesitate to ask; those who dont ask always pay more.

I've been down this road, let me tell you. Ranking is the result search intent is the input. Look at intent first.

Just leaving this note it might be useful.

Same here.

Let me clarify the technical side. Mistakes made on the google ads conversion tracking setup side are usually reversible but expensive.

A competitor's ranking might come from years of accumulation, not just their content. That's all sorry if I went on too long.

Let me summarize the topic since several different answers were given. People defend habits not processes. Resistance comes from there.

my questions are cleared up thanks then internal linking is the cheapest and most neglected task.

hasty decisions become decisions you have to fix six months later then if you post the result here, it will help others too.

I agree, and I'd like to emphasize that. If rankings stay the same but clicks drop, the issue isn't your page, but the search result appearance.

Good luck with that.

This approach has a cost, which isn't discussed. People defend habits, not processes. Resistance comes from there.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

Let me write how it's done in practice. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.