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How can I validate my Google Ads data? Follow

Introduction

By following this guide, users will be able to validate that Google Ads is receiving data.

When setting up tags within Google Tag Manager, we will need to test that Google Ads is receiving the data. This means confirming that Google Ads is receiving data and is able to attribute conversions to Google Ads campaigns.

There are a variety of tools that one can use to validate tags which include a range of platform-specific tools, and also Google Chrome Extensions. For this document, we shall focus on the platform-specific tools. However, a list of Google Chrome Extensions has been provided in the Appendix of this document. 

A very detailed review of the GA4 DebugView can be found in this A Guide to DebugView in Google Analytics 4 article.

 

Time Required

1 hour

 

Tools and Equipment Required

  • Internet access
  • Google Ads account

On this page:

  Validating conversions data received within Google Ads

  Troubleshooting Inactive, No recent conversions or Unverified statuses 

  Appendix

 

Validating conversions data received within Google Ads

  • If you haven’t checked whether the Google Tag Manager tags for Google Ads are working correctly, follow How can I validate Google Tag Manager tags? first to confirm that they are indeed working well. 
  • Go to your Google Ads account.
  • In the menu at the top right, click on Tools and settings.
  • From the panel that opens up, under Measurement locate Conversions and click on it.
  • A new window will load showing a list of conversion events that are set up within the account. 
  • Locate the conversion you would like to review. Under the Status column, if everything is working well, it should say Active. This means that the conversion tag is recording activity and is also able to attribute conversions back to Google Ads campaigns. 
  • The All conv. Column shows how many conversions were attributed back to Google Ads campaigns in total, and All conv. value shows the value of the conversions that were attributed to Google Ads campaigns. 
  • If the Status column shows Inactive, No recent conversions or Unverified there may be something wrong with the tag. 
  • Below is an explanation for each of these messages as found in this How to Check your Google Ads are Tracking article.
    • Unverified: Google hasn't verified that your tag has been put on your website yet. This takes a few hours. To make sure Google sees your tag, you can visit your conversion page (for example, the thank you page after a sale or sign-up). If it's been more than 24 hours and you still see this status, try some of the options below to confirm and verify tracking.
    • No recent conversions: Google has seen your conversion tracking tag, but hasn't recorded any conversions in the last 7 days. This may be because it’s been a while since the tag was installed or campaigns were sending people to this conversion.
    • Tag inactive: For more information, hover over the tracking status. You'll get the date Google last saw your conversion tracking tag, as well as the last date we recorded any conversions, if ever.

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Troubleshooting Inactive, No recent conversions or Unverified statuses

  • Unverified
    • Context: 
      • The tag has likely not been installed, or has not been installed correctly. 
    • Actions: 
      • Check that the Google Ads tag is within the venue’s GTM container. If they are not there, please add them, and wait a day to verify again.
      • If the tag is within Google Tag Manager, confirm that the GTM container you are looking at is the one that is installed on the booking engine for the venue. 
      • If GTM is installed, and the Google Ads tags are present on the site, check and confirm that the Conversion ID and Conversion Labels found within the tags match exactly with what’s in Google Ads.
  • Tag Inactive
    • Context: 
      • This means that Google Ads had previously recorded conversions and activity, but has suddenly stopped receiving data. 
      • This often means that either GTM was removed from the site, or that the tags are no longer firing when they should. 
    • Actions: 
      • Check that the Google Ads tag is within the venue’s GTM container. If they are not there, please add them, and wait a day to verify again.
      • If the tag is within Google Tag Manager, confirm that the GTM container you are looking at is the one that is installed on the booking engine for the venue. 
      • If GTM is installed, and the Google Ads tags are present on the site, check and confirm that the Conversion ID and Conversion Labels found within the tags match exactly with what’s in Google Ads.
      • If everything is working well, check that the tags are firing correctly. Follow How can I validate Google Tag Manager tags? to check that the tags are working well. 
      • If the tags did not fire, speak to the development team to confirm that the dataLayer event is still firing. Only do this after you reviewed all previous steps. 
  • No recent conversions:
    • Context: 
      • Google Ads has received data from this tag, but hasn’t attributed any conversions to any campaigns yet. 
    • Actions: 
      • Confirm that the Google Ads account you are reviewing has Google Ads Campaigns that are active, running, and generating clicks. If no campaigns are running, there is no traffic from campaigns to attribute conversions to. 
      • Attribution may take a few days to be complete, and so even if you do have active campaigns with the account, and purchases have been made for the venue being reviewed, it may take around 24-48 hours for those conversions to appear in the platform. 
      • If even after a week no conversions have been attributed and the venue uses a vanity URL to send traffic to, it may be the case that the cross-domain tracking setup has not been set up properly.
        • Contact the Zero Latency team for assistance to support your venue's vanity website with cross-domain tracking setup.

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Appendix

  • Google Analytics Debugger
    • This extension writes all events being sent to Google-owned properties (GA4, Google Ads, other gtag implementations) within the web browser console. 
    • This tool can also be left enabled, so it's right by your side, whenever you need it.
  • GTM/GA Debugger 
    • This is another tool that can be used for GTM, GA4, or Google Ads. This tool isn't perfect, but offers a cleaner user interface, that's useful for e-commerce events.

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Article Keywords/Phrases: 
Google Ads
Google
Marketing
Google Tag Manager
GTM

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