Check Google Ads
Google Ads is one of the most popular online marketing platforms due to its versatility. Through Google Ads, you can advertise in Google search results, during YouTube videos, via display ads on third-party websites, and on Google’s Shopping platform.
Google has vast amounts of data about you and your visitors, as nearly everyone on the internet uses one or more Google products. However, as an advertiser, you cannot directly access Google’s extensive data for your ads. Instead, you must provide your own first-party data to Google, which they can use to optimize your campaigns and identify your target audience.
This data is sent to Google Ads as an event containing multiple parameters. Tags set up on your Google Tag Manager server container take these specific events and forward them to corresponding conversion actions. These events include parameters such as glcid, wbraid, and gbraid, which allow Google to determine if the event originated from a visitor or session driven by a Google Ads campaign.
What to Check in Google Ads?
After launching your Server-Side Tagging setup, you should check two key elements in Google Ads: potential warnings and differences between primary and secondary conversions.
Warnings and Alerts
Log in to your Google Ads account and navigate to your conversions. Go to Goals in the left menu and open your conversion overview.
Under Status, you can view any warnings associated with your conversion actions. Google Ads displays four types of status updates:
• Active
This status indicates that Google Ads is receiving events for the conversion action and can attribute these to campaigns.
• Inactive
This status means Google Ads has not received any events for this conversion action, rendering it inactive.
• No Recent Conversions
This warning appears if Google Ads has received events for the conversion action but none of them have been attributed to campaigns recently.
• Needs Attention
This warning signifies that Google Ads is receiving events for this conversion action and attributing them to campaigns, but there are issues that need to be addressed. Common issues include:
• Improperly configured consent mode
• Enhanced conversions not enabled
• Enhanced conversions enabled but missing user-provided data
• Enhanced conversions enabled but with incorrect formatting
Primary vs. Secondary Conversions
Primary conversions are the conversion actions used to guide Google Ads’ automated bidding strategy, provided the associated goal is set for bidding. Secondary conversions, on the other hand, are purely for reporting purposes. They are not factored into bidding strategies, even if the associated goal is configured to do so.
After implementing Server-Side Tagging, new conversion actions will likely be created based on tags configured in your Google Tag Manager server container. These new conversion actions are set to Secondary by default to avoid disrupting the bidding strategies of your current campaigns. It is up to you to determine which conversion action should be set as Primary for use in automated bidding strategies.
You need to evaluate which conversion action provides the most accurate or valuable data for your campaigns. Depending on your setup, the Server-Side conversion, Client-Side conversion, or GA4 import conversion may offer better metrics. Keep in mind that the Server-Side Tagging conversion is not necessarily the best-performing conversion action. Its effectiveness depends on Google’s modeling and the conversion attribution methods applied by Google.
Google has vast amounts of data about you and your visitors, as nearly everyone on the internet uses one or more Google products. However, as an advertiser, you cannot directly access Google’s extensive data for your ads. Instead, you must provide your own first-party data to Google, which they can use to optimize your campaigns and identify your target audience.
This data is sent to Google Ads as an event containing multiple parameters. Tags set up on your Google Tag Manager server container take these specific events and forward them to corresponding conversion actions. These events include parameters such as glcid, wbraid, and gbraid, which allow Google to determine if the event originated from a visitor or session driven by a Google Ads campaign.
What to Check in Google Ads?
After launching your Server-Side Tagging setup, you should check two key elements in Google Ads: potential warnings and differences between primary and secondary conversions.
Warnings and Alerts
Log in to your Google Ads account and navigate to your conversions. Go to Goals in the left menu and open your conversion overview.
Under Status, you can view any warnings associated with your conversion actions. Google Ads displays four types of status updates:• ActiveThis status indicates that Google Ads is receiving events for the conversion action and can attribute these to campaigns.
• Inactive
This status means Google Ads has not received any events for this conversion action, rendering it inactive.
• No Recent Conversions
This warning appears if Google Ads has received events for the conversion action but none of them have been attributed to campaigns recently.
• Needs Attention
This warning signifies that Google Ads is receiving events for this conversion action and attributing them to campaigns, but there are issues that need to be addressed. Common issues include:
• Improperly configured consent mode
• Enhanced conversions not enabled
• Enhanced conversions enabled but missing user-provided data
• Enhanced conversions enabled but with incorrect formatting
Primary vs. Secondary Conversions
Primary conversions are the conversion actions used to guide Google Ads’ automated bidding strategy, provided the associated goal is set for bidding. Secondary conversions, on the other hand, are purely for reporting purposes. They are not factored into bidding strategies, even if the associated goal is configured to do so.
After implementing Server-Side Tagging, new conversion actions will likely be created based on tags configured in your Google Tag Manager server container. These new conversion actions are set to Secondary by default to avoid disrupting the bidding strategies of your current campaigns. It is up to you to determine which conversion action should be set as Primary for use in automated bidding strategies.
You need to evaluate which conversion action provides the most accurate or valuable data for your campaigns. Depending on your setup, the Server-Side conversion, Client-Side conversion, or GA4 import conversion may offer better metrics. Keep in mind that the Server-Side Tagging conversion is not necessarily the best-performing conversion action. Its effectiveness depends on Google’s modeling and the conversion attribution methods applied by Google.
Updated on: 22/11/2024
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