Running Google Ads is not difficult. What is harder is knowing how your advertising budget is creating results for your business.

A campaign can bring in thousands of impressions and hundreds of clicks but still not generate orders, calls, or leads. Therefore, instead of just looking at clicks, businesses need to care about a more important metric: Conversion.

So, what is Google Ads Conversion? Why do businesses need to measure conversions? Which actions should be counted as conversions?

Let’s find out with AdStrawin from the practical perspective of Google Ads advertising activities.

1. What is Google Ads Conversion?

Simply put, a conversion is a customer action that the business determines to be valuable after the user interacts with an advertisement.

Depending on business goals, a conversion can be:

• Customer purchases.
• Filling out and submitting a consultation form.
• Calling the business.
• Registering for a service.
• Signing up for a trial.
• Booking an appointment.
• Downloading a document.
• Performing an important action on the website or application.

Example:

A business runs Google Ads with the goal of finding customers to register for a service. User searches on Google → clicks on the ad → enters the landing page → fills in information → submits form.

In this case, submitting the form can be set up as a conversion.

Thus, instead of only knowing:

“Today the ad had 500 clicks.”

The business can know:

“500 clicks generated 18 registrations, including 7 potential customers.”

That is the valuable data needed to evaluate advertising effectiveness.

How are conversions different from clicks?

Clicks show how many people clicked on the ad.

Conversions show how many people performed the action the business desired.

These two indicators are related but not identical.

A campaign with a high CTR does not necessarily bring in many customers. Conversely, a campaign with a relatively low click volume but high-quality conversions can bring better business results.

Therefore, when evaluating Google Ads, one should not just ask:

“How many clicks?”

But rather:

“How many conversions were there and do those conversions actually create value for the business?”

2. Why must businesses measure Google Ads conversions?

Without a measurement system, it is very difficult for businesses to know how effectively the advertising budget is being used.

2.1. Knowing which ads are creating results

When Conversion Tracking is set up correctly, businesses can analyze deeper:

• Which campaign generates the most conversions?
• Which keywords bring in customers?
• Which ad copy is effective?
• Which device generates more conversions?
• Which area has a good conversion rate?
• What time frames bring in quality customers?

This data helps businesses avoid optimizing ads based only on intuition.

2.2. More reasonable budget allocation

Not all keywords provide the same value.

Example:

• Keyword group A generates 20 potential customers at a cost of 2 million VND.
• Keyword group B generates 5 potential customers at a cost of 2 million VND.

If looking only at clicks, the two groups might not differ significantly.

But when looking at Cost Per Action (CPA), the business will know which group should be prioritized for the budget.

2.3. Supporting Google to optimize campaigns

Conversion data is a critical part of Google Ads’ automated bidding strategies for making decisions.

When the system has reliable data, businesses can use bidding strategies appropriate for their goals such as:

• Maximize Conversions.
• Maximize Conversion Value.
• Target CPA.
• Target ROAS.

However, turning on Smart Bidding does not automatically make advertising effective.

If conversion data is incorrectly installed, missing, or records actions that have no value, the system might optimize according to signals that do not align with business goals.

Therefore:

Correct measurement → correct data → correct optimization.

2.4. Calculating costs and business performance

When there is conversion data, businesses can answer very practical questions:

• How much does a potential customer cost?
• How much does an order from Google Ads cost?
• Which campaign has a good ROAS?
• Should the budget be increased?
• Which keywords should be kept, reduced, or removed?

This is the transition from “running ads” to “managing ad performance.”

3. Common Types of Google Ads Conversions

There is no single type of Conversion suitable for all businesses.

Conversion goals need to be built based on the business model and the actual customer journey.

3.1. Purchases / Transactions

This is the most common conversion type for sales and e-commerce websites.

When a customer completes an order, the system can record:

• Number of orders.
• Revenue.
• Value of each transaction.
• Products purchased.
• Source or campaign that generated the order.

This data is particularly important when businesses want to evaluate ROAS and optimize for conversion value.

Example:

A business spends 10 million VND on Google Ads and generates 50 million VND in revenue recorded from ads.

In that case, the business has a basis to evaluate campaign effectiveness instead of just looking at the number of clicks.

3.2. Submitting Registration / Consultation Forms

This type of conversion is common for businesses providing services, B2B, real estate, education, construction, furniture, healthcare, and many other fields.

A conversion could be:

• Consultation registration.
• Quote request.
• Demo registration.
• Course registration.
• Service registration.
• Leaving contact information.

However, businesses need to distinguish:

Lead ≠ Customer.

A submitted form is not necessarily a high-quality potential customer.

Therefore, with sales models involving a consultation process, businesses should take one step further: feed actual customer data back into the advertising system to evaluate lead quality and optimize better.

3.3. Phone Calls

For many service industries, a phone call is worth much more than a website visit.

Example:

• Repairs.
• Furniture.
• Real estate.
• Automobiles.
• Education.
• Professional services.
• Business consulting.

Businesses can track actions such as customers calling from the ad or clicking on a phone number on the website, depending on the measurement implementation.

More importantly, businesses need to determine which calls actually have value.

Example:

100 calls do not mean 100 customers.

Hence, if call data can be connected with the sales/CRM system, the business will have a better basis to evaluate ad quality.

3.4. Registration / Booking

For businesses providing services, actions such as:

• Booking a consultation.
• Booking an appointment.
• Registering for an experience.
• Signing up for a trial.
• Event registration.

can be set up as conversions.

These are often actions with higher intent to buy than simple interactions like viewing a page or clicking a button.

3.5. Downloading Documents

For B2B businesses or products with long consideration processes, the action of downloading documents can also hold a certain value.

Example:

• Company profile.
• Catalogue.
• Price list.
• Technical documentation.
• Brochure.
• E-book.

However, it should not be assumed that every download is a primary conversion.

In many cases, a file download should be viewed as a micro-conversion – a signal that the user is interested, while the ultimate goal remains submitting a quote request or signing a contract.

3.6. Important actions on the website

Depending on the website model, businesses can track actions such as:

• Adding products to the cart.
• Starting the checkout process.
• Signing up for a trial.
• Clicking the consultation button.
• Viewing important content.
• Completing a step in the registration process.

Not every action should be set as a Primary Conversion.

This is a common issue with Google Ads accounts: putting too many small actions into optimization goals, causing conversion data to be “diluted.”

4. What are Primary Conversion and Secondary Conversion?

This is a section businesses often overlook when setting up Google Ads.

It can be understood simply:

Primary Conversion

Are the main conversions that the business wants Google Ads to use to optimize the campaign.

Example:

• Purchasing.
• Submitting a quality form.
• Booking.
• Qualified call.

Secondary Conversion

Are actions that still have analytical value but are not necessarily the primary goals for the system to optimize.

Example:

• Page views.
• Downloading a catalogue.
• Watching a video.
• Clicking a secondary button.

Correct classification helps the account have clearer data and avoids situations where the system optimizes for actions that do not truly generate revenue.

5. How does Google Ads measure conversions?

To record a conversion, Google Ads needs a measurement system implemented that fits the website, application, and customer journey.

Basically, the process can be understood as follows:

User sees the ad → clicks on the ad → accesses the website → performs action → system records conversion → data is fed into reports and used to optimize ads.

Depending on the implementation method, recording data can use Google tag, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, data from the website/app, and advanced measurement solutions.

An important note

It should not be understood that Google Ads relies only on a GCLID and a cookie to determine all conversions.

Nowadays, Google’s ad measurement system is more complex, including various signals and mechanisms, such as enhanced conversions and modeled conversions in appropriate cases.

Therefore, what businesses need to care about is not memorizing every technical mechanism, but rather:

The measurement system must be set up correctly according to the customer journey and business goals.

6. Common Conversion Measurement Methods

6.1. Google tag

Google tag helps websites send data to Google platforms for measurement and advertising purposes.

This is an important component in many Conversion Tracking implementation options.

6.2. Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager (GTM) helps businesses manage multiple tags and measurement events without having to constantly edit the website’s source code.

GTM is often used to implement:

• Google Ads Conversion Tracking.
• Google Analytics.
• Website events.
• Remarketing.
• Other measurement tools.

The important point is that GTM does not automatically create accurate data if the internal configuration is incorrect. The tool is only effective when set up and tested properly.

6.3. Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 helps businesses analyze user behavior on websites and applications.

When combining appropriate data between GA4 and Google Ads, businesses can have a broader view of the customer journey.

Example:

Ad → Website → View Product → Interaction → Submit Form → Customer

Instead of just knowing that a customer clicked on an ad, businesses can analyze what happened after the click.

6.4. Enhanced Conversions

Enhanced Conversions is a solution that helps improve measurement capability by using customer data collected by the business in a method consistent with privacy policies and requirements.

This is an implementation direction worth considering for businesses wanting to improve the quality of conversion data.

6.5. Modeled Conversions

In some cases, conversion data cannot be fully observed due to limits on privacy, browsers, or user consent.

Google can use statistical models to estimate part of the missing data, thus helping reports better reflect advertising effectiveness.

Businesses need to understand that this is modeled data, not the number of directly observed conversions.

7. Common Errors When Setting Up Conversion Tracking

This is an issue AdStrawin encounters quite often when auditing Google Ads accounts.

Error 1: Counting actions that have no value

Example:

• Clicking on a button.
• Page viewing.
• Page scrolling.
• Opening a popup.

If all are considered primary conversions, the report numbers might look beautiful but will not reflect true business results.

Error 2: A customer is recorded multiple times

Incorrectly configuring tracking events or tags can cause one action to be recorded multiple times.

This distorts:

• Conversions.
• CPA.
• ROAS.
• Campaign reports.
• Data used for optimization algorithms.

Error 3: Having conversions but not knowing if they are quality

Example:

Google Ads reports 100 leads.

But the sales department only confirms 15 customers with actual demand.

If looking only at 100 leads, the business might evaluate the campaign incorrectly.

Therefore, for businesses with a sales process, conversion quality is as important as conversion quantity.

Error 4: Not checking Conversion Tracking after installation

After setup, it is necessary to check again:

• Are conversions being recorded correctly?
• Are there duplicate recordings?
• Is the conversion value correct?
• Are orders transmitting revenue correctly?
• Are real forms being recorded?
• Are phone calls being recorded correctly?

An account running for many months with a faulty measurement system will lead to many wrong optimization decisions.

8. How AdStrawin Perceives Google Ads Conversions?

At AdStrawin, we do not view Conversion just as a number in the Google Ads interface.

A conversion only truly has meaning when it is linked to business goals.

Example:

E-commerce Website

Main Goal:

Purchase → Revenue → ROAS

Service Business

Goal:

Form/Call → Lead → Customer → Revenue

B2B Business

Goal:

Lead → Qualified Lead → Sales Opportunity → Contract

So, before asking:

“How to increase Conversion?”

Businesses should ask:

“Which Conversion is actually valuable to the business?”

This is the starting point for a Google Ads system optimized in the right direction.

9. Effective Google Ads Conversion Measurement Process

A good measurement system should follow the process:

Identify business goals
↓
Identify valuable actions
↓
Setup Conversion Tracking
↓
Verify data
↓
Classify Primary / Secondary Conversion
↓
Connect data to Google Ads
↓
Track CPA / ROAS / Lead Quality
↓
Optimize campaign
↓
Compare with actual business results

Don’t start by “running ads first and measuring later.”

If possible, design the measurement system before increasing the budget.

CONCLUSION

Google Ads is not just a story about impressions or clicks.

What businesses ultimately care about is:

Does the ad create customers and revenue?

Conversion Tracking helps businesses answer that question with data.

When set up correctly, businesses can know which campaigns are effective, which keywords bring customers, how the budget is being allocated, and where the optimization points are.

But more importantly, more conversions are not necessarily better.

What matters is the right conversion, the right data, and the right business goals.

AdStrawin – Google Ads & Digital Marketing

We focus on a simple principle:

Right Customer – Right Data – Right Goal.

From keyword research, campaign building, landing pages, measurement setup to ad optimization, AdStrawin aims to help businesses turn Google Ads budgets into measurable business results.