Hey friends! Let’s start this article with a bit of a visualization exercise.
Imagine this: You’re an airline owner/operator. It’s the day of the flight to London. You hop onto your plane expecting to see a fully booked aircraft with 420 passengers excited about their journey, but there’s just one tiny problem – you had the wrong data. The system booked 210 passengers for the flight, even though it said it sold 420 tickets.
😬Yikes, amirite?
You double-counted passengers, and you’ve got a half-full plane. Now, you’re met with a crossroads: do you cancel the flight and anger the 210 passengers who will speak negatively about your airline along with the monetary loss when you’re forced to refund the passengers along with pay additional penalties, or do you continue with business as planned and get these folks to London and still lose a lot of money?
Similar to this costing an airline a ton of headache and money, if you double count conversions in Google Ads, your data will be incorrect, and what’s reflected in Google is double counting what’s actually happening in your business (So, instead of making $5 per $1 you spend, you’re actually making $2.5 – less impressive, right?). This could be extremely detrimental to your business.
Why Duplicate Conversions Are a Silent Campaign Killer
Here’s what I’ve realized about duplicate conversions – they’re sneaky. They creep into your account through various tracking methods, multiple conversion codes, or overlapping trigger events. And before you even realize it, you’re celebrating metrics that don’t reflect reality. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit, and explaining to a client why their actual results don’t match your beautiful reports is not a conversation anyone wants to have… trust me.
How to Keep Your Conversion Tracking Clean and Accurate
1. Conduct Regular Conversion Audits
Just as pilots do pre-flight checks, you need to audit your conversion tracking setup regularly.
Look for:
- Overlapping conversion actions (especially between GA4 and Google Ads tracking)
- Redundant tracking methods (like having both GTM tags and hardcoded events)
- Multiple tags firing for the same event (this happens more often than you’d think!)
- Conflicting trigger conditions (particularly on thank-you pages vs. form submissions)
- Duplicate conversion actions from imported sources
💡Pro tip: Set a monthly reminder to check your conversion sources. We at Hop Skip Media have found that website updates or new initiatives often introduce duplicate tracking without anyone realizing it.
2. Map Out Your Tracking Implementation
Understanding exactly how each conversion is being tracked is incredibly important. If you’re unable to explain it to someone outside of the industry, you’re likely overcomplicating it. Create a clear map of:
- All active conversion actions and their exact triggers
- Their sources (GA4, GTM, platform-specific) and how they interact
- Primary and secondary trigger conditions (including any time delays or validation)
- Conversion value settings and calculations
- Any conditional logic that might affect tracking
Here’s what I do: Create a simple spreadsheet (don’t be like me and create a mess by mapping it out on paper that you can’t reference as easily 🫠) with all conversion actions, their sources, and their trigger. Update it every time you or someone on your team makes changes. Future you will be grateful for this documentation!
3. Set Up Standard and Custom Goals
Google Ads’ Conversion Action Sets are your best friend here (and I don’t say that lightly!). Google Ads uses two types of conversion goals to help you track and optimize your campaigns:
Standard Goals: These are automatically grouped by category type and should be your default choice. They help you:
- Track similar conversions together (like purchases or lead forms)
- Streamline campaign optimization
- Work effectively with Google’s AI bidding
- Simplify reporting across your account
Custom Goals: For those special cases where you need more flexibility, custom goals let you:
- Combine specific primary and secondary conversion actions
- Create unique goal combinations for special campaign objectives
- Set up tracking for non-standard advertising needs
4. Implement Clear Naming Conventions
I genuinely want to scream this from a stage at a conference one day – proper naming conventions will save your sanity! Instead of generic names like “Form Submit” or “Lead,” use specific, descriptive names that include:
- The action type
- The location/source
- The conversion category
- Any relevant qualifiers
For example:
- “Lead Form Submit – Service Page – Qualified”
- “Phone Call – Mobile Header – 30s+ Duration”
- “Quote Request – Homepage – High Value”
- “Contact Form – Blog Sidebar – Newsletter”
Remember to document your naming convention rules so your whole team stays consistent!
5. Regular Cross-Reference Checks
This is your reality check! Do this weekly, then monthly (or bi-weekly, depending on the account size) once you’re confident in your setup. Regularly compare your Google Ads conversion data with:
- Your CRM data (especially important for lead quality assessment)
- Actual sales numbers from your finance team
- Website analytics (GA4 conversion events)
- Call tracking systems
- Form submission backend data
- Email marketing platform data
- Sales team feedback on lead quality
- Repeat Rate report
The Optimization Impact
Returning to our flight analogy, you’re properly fueled for your intended destination when working with accurate conversion data. This means:
– Your automated bidding strategies work with reliable data
– Budget allocation decisions are based on real performance
– ROAS calculations reflect actual business impact
– Campaign optimizations drive genuine improvements
Implementation Checklist
Before you take off✈️ on your next campaign:
1. Document all conversion tracking methods currently in use
2. Verify that each conversion action is counting uniquely
3. Test your conversion tracking setup in a controlled environment
4. Set up regular auditing schedules
5. Create a process for validating new conversion action implementations
Final Thoughts
I get it – conversion tracking isn’t the sexiest part of PPC (though it’s not-so-secretly my favourite). But it is absolutely fundamental to everything we do. Just like a pilot wouldn’t take off without proper flight planning, we shouldn’t run campaigns without proper conversion tracking.
Remember: It’s better to have fewer accurate conversions than inflated numbers that lead you in the wrong direction. Your campaigns are only as good as the data they’re optimized on.
Take the time to get this right. Your future self (and your clients) will thank you for it.
P.S. If you’re ever unsure about your conversion tracking setup, don’t hesitate to ask for help. It’s better to double-check than double-count!
