When Google drops a new feature, the industry falls into the same pattern every time: everyone rushes to adopt it, LinkedIn fills with hot takes, and suddenly the “new thing” becomes the “must-do strategy.” The latest hype cycle? WhatsApp’s new “conversation started” goal in Google Ads. After watching post after post about it, founder of Hop Skip Media Ameet didn’t flinch — because she knows better than to let noise dictate optimisation.
Last week, after returning to Instagram and using her stories to answer audience questions, a follower asked Ameet whether she should switch her WhatsApp conversion from secondary to primary. She’d seen the hype, added the conversion, and now felt pressure to elevate it. Ameet’s answer was simple, direct, and rooted in experience: Not yet — and maybe not ever.
Optimise Around Your Best Lead, Not Trends
Ameet has audited thousands of accounts across countless industries, and one principle has never changed: every Google Ads account has its own definition of a “good” lead. Not even Google’s newest conversion type can override that. As she explained, primary conversions are sacred. They’re what the algorithm chases, what your bidding revolves around, and what dictates how your budget gets spent. Secondary conversions are supporting signals — helpful, but not meant to drive the machine.
So when someone sets the wrong action as primary, Ameet sees exactly what happens: Google goes hunting for cheaper, easier, lower-quality actions that do nothing to grow the pipeline.
Ameet’s Take on WhatsApp: Useful, but Not Automatically Worthy of “Primary”
In Ameet’s world of lead gen optimisation, the fundamentals still win: one primary conversion per campaign (two max), tied directly to revenue. Qualified form fills. High-intent calls. Booked consultations. Solid, revenue-driving signals. WhatsApp? It can qualify — but only if it proves itself. Ameet emphasises that a “conversation started” isn’t meaningful unless it delivers the same or better close rates as existing primary actions.
Before she’d ever promote WhatsApp to primary status, she’d check:
- Do WhatsApp chats turn into qualified opportunities?
- What’s the CPQL (Cost per Qualified Lead)?
- Does WhatsApp outperform or complement the existing main conversion?
If the data says yes, she’ll move it. If the data says no, she won’t — and neither should you.
Warning: Don’t Overload Google with Too Many Primary Goals
Ameet has seen smart advertisers make one big mistake: throwing every possible conversion into the “primary” bucket. Forms, calls, WhatsApp chats, micro-signals — all competing for attention. When that happens, she knows exactly what the algorithm does: it panics. It stops recognising what “good” means. It wastes budget. It chases the wrong signals.
Give Google one clear direction, Ameet says, and performance almost always tightens: cleaner signals, cheaper CPAs, stronger optimisation.
Real Talk on Google Rollouts
Google’s rollout process is chaotic and inconsistent. Updates don’t always launch in North America first, and sometimes features quietly appear in smaller regions before major ones. WhatsApp’s conversion goal is a perfect example. But as Ameer reminds her audience, rollout patterns don’t matter nearly as much as sticking to fundamentals: ignore hype, track real outcomes, optimise for what grows your pipeline.
Final Thought
Ameet sees WhatsApp as a powerful tool — when it drives qualified leads, not just more leads. But it has to earn its place. She never chases trends for the sake of chasing trends, and she won’t let her clients do it either. Set your primary conversions based on data, not excitement, and the algorithm becomes an ally instead of a budget-burner.
Dig Deeper. Ameet’s LinkedIn Post
