How to Check That Google Ads Conversions Are Tracked

Step 1. Check the statuses in the conversions summary

In Google Ads, open Goals → Conversions → Summary. Every conversion action has a status. Google updated them in 2026:

• Active — tracking works, nothing to do.
• Needs attention — conversions are being recorded, but Google suggests fixing something.
• Misconfigured — setup errors have stopped conversions from being recorded. This is urgent.
• Awaiting conversions — no conversions in the past week. Normal for new actions and paused campaigns, worrying for active ones.
• Removed — the action has been deleted and no longer collects data.

Also check which actions are marked as primary. Only primary actions are used for bid optimisation: if your website enquiry is marked as secondary, your campaigns don’t “see” it.

Step 2. Make a test conversion

1. Open Tag Assistant and connect to your site.
2. Follow the customer journey: open the page, fill in the form, or tap the phone number if calls count as conversions.
3. In Tag Assistant, find the form submission event and check that the Google Ads conversion tag fired with the right ID and label.

If the tag doesn’t fire, check the trigger. A common cause: the form submits without reloading the page, but the conversion is set up to fire on a “Thank you” page that no longer exists.

The conversion won’t appear in Google Ads reports straight away, but with a delay of a few hours. An empty report five minutes after the test is no reason to panic.

Step 3. Compare with real enquiries

Take one week and compare three numbers: enquiries in your CRM or inbox, conversions in Google Ads and key events in Google Analytics. They won’t match exactly — the systems use different attribution models and conversion windows. But they should be in the same ballpark.

• Ads shows several times more conversions than enquiries — most likely the wrong action is being counted (for example, any page view) or the conversion is duplicated.
• Ads shows several times fewer — data is being lost. The reasons are below.

Where conversions usually get lost

• Consent mode. EU visitors who declined cookies aren’t tracked the usual way. If consent mode isn’t set up, Google can’t even model those conversions. How to check — in the article on checking Consent Mode v2.
• Double counting. The same enquiry is imported from Analytics and also counted by the Google Ads tag, and both actions are primary.
• Calls. A tap on a phone number isn’t a call yet. If calls matter, track them separately.
• The tag disappeared after a template update or site migration. It’s safer to keep tags in Tag Manager — I explained how to install it in a separate article.
• A form on another domain. The tag is on the main site, but the enquiry is submitted on a subdomain or a third-party booking service.

In short

1. Check the statuses under Goals → Conversions → Summary.
2. Make sure the right actions are marked as primary.
3. Submit a test enquiry and check the tag fires in Tag Assistant.
4. Compare weekly numbers from Ads, Analytics and your CRM.
5. Check consent mode, duplicates and forms on third-party domains.

If the numbers don’t add up and it’s unclear where enquiries are lost, we can set up Google Ads and conversion tracking: run an audit, draw up a conversion plan and set up tracking for enquiries, calls and purchases.