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Set up conversion actions for leads and sales

Tell Google Ads which action on your site is a lead — a form, a sign-up or a purchase — so the agent can bid on leads and report cost per lead instead of clicks.

Checked 6 Sep 2026

15 minutes, then 24–48 hours for the first counts.

Madder creates the conversion actions for you after your Google account is connected: one primary action per lead type in your brief, on top of your Google tag. This doc is the manual path and the way to check the result; actions Madder creates show up in Goals → Conversions → Summary like your own.

Before you start#

  • The Google tag installed and showing a healthy status (Install the Google tag).
  • The URL of the thank-you page, or the button, that means "we got a lead".
  • Admin access to the Google Ads account.

1. Create a website conversion action#

In Google Ads go to Goals → Conversions → Summary (as of September 2026) and click + Create conversion action. Choose Website, enter your domain and click Scan. Google offers categories; click see all for the full list. As of September 2026 the lead categories are Submit lead form, Sign-up, Contact, Book appointment, Request quote and, for shops, Purchase. Pick one category per action and name it plainly.

2. Choose how the action fires#

URL conversions fire when a thank-you page loads — simplest and most reliable. Event conversions fire on a click or a form submit that never leaves the page and need a small snippet or a GTM trigger. Set Count to One for leads and Every for purchases. Set a Value only for sales.

3. Make it primary#

Under Conversion action optimization choose Primary. Primary actions are "reported in the 'Conversions' column in your reports and used for bidding"; Secondary (observe only) actions land in All conversions and are ignored for bidding. Keep one primary per goal — a page view marked primary makes Google optimise for page views and Madder's cost per lead meaningless. Change an existing action with Edit goal on the Summary page.

4. Turn on enhanced conversions#

Go to Goals → Conversions → Settings, expand Enhanced conversions, tick Turn on enhanced conversions, agree to the customer data terms and choose Google tag as the method. This sends a hashed email or phone from your form so Google matches a lead even when cookies are blocked. Since April 2026 web and leads share one setting.

5. Optional: import Google Analytics 4 key events#

If you already measure a lead as a GA4 key event, link the accounts, then in Summary → + Create conversion action select the Analytics property and the event. Google says it "can take up to 24 hours" before data appears, and 24–48 hours after linking before the import option shows at all. Analytics imports arrive as Secondary; switch the one you bid on to primary.

If it doesn't work#

  • Status "Inactive" or "No recent conversions" — the thank-you URL differs from what you typed (trailing slash, www, query string). Submit a test lead and watch Summary.
  • Conversions appear twice — a URL action and a GA4 import for the same form. Keep one primary; make the other secondary.
  • Purchases have no value — pass value and currency in the tag event.
  • Enhanced conversions show "Needs attention" — the tag reads the wrong form field; fix the selector in Settings.
  • Madder still shows 0 leads — Google's conversion column lags clicks by up to 72 hours; compare after two days.