Pick the right Shopify setup (so you don’t fight your tracking forever)
On Shopify, the cleanest way to track Google Ads conversions is to use the Google & YouTube app to install and manage your Google tag and your Google Ads conversion actions. In practice, this approach reduces the two biggest problems I see after 15+ years of account audits: duplicate conversions (multiple tags firing) and broken checkout tracking (tags placed where Shopify can’t reliably run them).
The app-based setup is also designed to map core ecommerce moments—like purchase, add to cart, and checkout started—to conversion actions in your Google Ads account, and it can support more modern measurement features (like enhanced conversions) without you manually stitching code together.
That said, you may need a more manual approach if your business has complex account structures. A common example is when you need to send conversions to more than one Google Ads account (for instance, multiple CIDs under a manager account). The Shopify integration typically expects a single primary Ads account connection, but you can still add additional destinations by entering conversion identifiers directly (more on that below).
Quick decision guide
- Use the Google & YouTube app if you want the most reliable Shopify-native conversion tracking for purchases and funnel events, and you’re working primarily with one Google Ads account.
- Use “custom conversion ID/label” mapping inside the app if you need to send specific Shopify events to specific conversion actions you already created in Google Ads.
- Avoid “URL-only/codeless” conversion setups for purchases if you care about revenue accuracy, deduplication, enhanced conversions, or passing richer parameters. They can be useful for simple lead/thank-you page tracking, but they’re limiting for ecommerce.
Step-by-step: Set up Google Ads conversion tracking on Shopify (recommended method)
1) Connect Shopify to Google and open conversion measurement
In Shopify, install the Google & YouTube app and connect the Google account that has access to your Google Ads account. Once connected, look for the section that focuses on Google Ads conversion measurement and start the setup.
When prompted, connect your Google Ads account. If you don’t connect it (or can’t due to access), you can still proceed, but you’ll typically rely more on manually entering conversion identifiers and you’ll lose some of the “automatic wiring” that makes this setup painless.
2) Choose which Shopify events you want to measure as Google Ads conversions
During setup, you’ll see Shopify events listed (commonly purchase, add to cart, checkout started). Treat this as your measurement blueprint: you’re deciding what gets created (or used) as conversion actions inside Google Ads, and which events you’re simply observing versus optimizing to.
My best-practice recommendation for most stores is: set Purchase as the key optimization conversion, and keep mid-funnel events (like add to cart and checkout started) as secondary/observation conversions unless you have very low purchase volume or a special funnel strategy.
3) Map Shopify events to Google Ads conversion actions (including custom IDs/labels)
If you connected your Google Ads account, Shopify can create conversion actions automatically and map them to the corresponding Shopify events. You’ll typically be able to edit each mapping, which is crucial when you already have conversion actions in place and want continuity (for reporting, bidding history, or naming conventions).
If you need to send events to an existing Google Ads conversion action, use the option to select from your linked account. If you need to send events to a conversion action without fully linking (or you’re working around account limitations), use the option to add a custom conversion ID/label and enter the combined identifier in the format:
AW-CONVERSION_ID/CONVERSION_LABEL
This is the same “send_to” destination your tag would use in a standard Google Ads event snippet, and it’s the most direct way to ensure the Shopify event routes into the exact conversion action you intend.
4) Confirm Google tags (and don’t accidentally double-install them)
The setup will include a step to confirm which Google tags are being installed. This part matters more than most people realize: if you already have legacy Google Ads tags, a separate Google tag installed through another integration, or tags firing via a storefront pixel setup, you can easily create duplicate purchase conversions.
As a rule: one purchase should produce one purchase conversion in Google Ads. If you see more than that, don’t “average it out” mentally—fix it immediately, because Smart Bidding will learn from the inflated conversion rate and distorted ROAS.
5) Confirm enhanced conversions settings (recommended for most Shopify advertisers)
Enhanced conversions for web improve measurement by allowing first-party customer data (like email or phone) to be securely hashed and used to improve match rates when standard cookie-based measurement misses conversions. In plain terms, it helps recover conversions you likely would have lost, and it typically improves bidding performance because your campaigns are optimizing off cleaner signals.
If the setup flow prompts you to confirm enhanced conversions, do it—especially if you’re running performance-focused campaigns (Search, Shopping, Performance Max) where conversion data quality directly impacts automation outcomes.
Make Google Ads optimize correctly: primary vs secondary conversions (the part most stores miss)
Why this matters
Google Ads doesn’t treat every conversion action equally. Only the conversion actions set up as primary (and included in the goals your campaigns optimize toward) will typically feed the main Conversions and Conversion value columns and be used for bidding. Secondary conversions still record, but they’re generally meant for observation (and show up in “All conversions”).
On Shopify, it’s common for purchase to be created and set as the primary/default conversion, while other funnel actions may be created as secondary. That’s usually correct—just make sure your campaigns are actually optimizing to the goal that contains your purchase action.
My practical defaults for ecommerce
For most stores, I recommend setting:
- Purchase = Primary (used for bidding and core reporting)
- Add to cart = Secondary (observation/diagnostics)
- Checkout started = Secondary (observation/diagnostics)
If you’re not getting enough purchase volume for Smart Bidding to stabilize, you can test temporarily optimizing toward a stronger mid-funnel action—but do it intentionally, and switch back once purchase volume improves (otherwise you’ll “train” bidding to chase carts instead of revenue).
How to verify it’s working (and diagnose problems fast)
1) Check conversion action status inside Google Ads
After setup, go to your conversion actions list and review the tracking status. If you see statuses like Unverified or Inactive, don’t wait days hoping it resolves itself—verify by testing.
2) Use Tag Assistant to test a real conversion path
The fastest reliable workflow is to start a troubleshooting session from within Google Ads and connect Tag Assistant to your storefront URL. Begin on a landing page or home page (not the order confirmation page), then navigate like a shopper would: product page → cart → checkout → purchase. Tag Assistant will show you which conversion actions fired and whether the requests include the right parameters.
If Tag Assistant shows your conversion fired but Google Ads still shows “Unverified,” give it a bit of time after testing and then refresh your conversion actions page. Verification status updates aren’t always instant.
3) Fix the most common Shopify conversion tracking issues
- Duplicate tracking: This usually happens when you have both the Shopify app setup and older Google Ads/GTM/manual snippets still firing. Remove legacy implementations so only one purchase event sends one purchase conversion.
- Wrong conversion action in campaigns: You may have the new Shopify-generated purchase action, but campaigns are still optimizing to an old purchase action (or a secondary action). Confirm the campaign goal setup and primary/secondary settings.
- Value issues: If conversion value isn’t populating correctly, it’s often due to formatting problems (for example, currency symbols in the value field) or using a setup method that can’t pass value.
- Tag inactivity: If the tag is installed but not executing properly, you’ll see symptoms like detected code but no outgoing conversion request. In these cases, reinstalling/cleaning the implementation and removing conflicting scripts is usually the fix.
Pro upgrades: get more accurate revenue and better bidding
Enhanced conversions (why they’re worth it)
Enhanced conversions for web are one of the highest-ROI “invisible” improvements you can make. Because the data is hashed and used for matching, you’re improving measurement in a privacy-conscious way, and you’re giving Smart Bidding better signals—especially valuable when browsers and consent choices reduce traditional measurement.
New customer acquisition reporting (advanced, but powerful)
If your growth strategy depends on acquiring new customers (not just repeat buyers), you can pass a parameter indicating whether the purchaser is new or returning. This improves new customer reporting and supports strategies aimed at incremental growth. For Shopify advertisers who are fully migrated to the Google & YouTube app approach, this is often handled automatically, but it’s still worth validating because it can materially change how you evaluate campaign performance.
Don’t rely on URL-only conversions for purchases
It’s tempting to track “/thank-you” page views as a purchase conversion because it’s quick. The downside is you typically lose key ecommerce necessities: revenue value, transaction identifiers, and the ability to use richer measurement features. For ecommerce, treat URL-only conversions as a last resort, not your default.
Final reality check (what “good” looks like)
When everything is set correctly, your Shopify purchase event results in a single purchase conversion in Google Ads, with accurate conversion value and consistent attribution behavior. Your purchase action is set as primary (and included in the goal your campaigns optimize toward), while mid-funnel events remain available for analysis without polluting bidding. From there, optimization becomes dramatically easier—because you’re no longer guessing whether performance changes came from marketing decisions or broken measurement.
Let AI handle
the Google Ads grunt work
Let AI handle
the Google Ads grunt work
Once you’ve set up Google Ads conversion tracking on Shopify—ideally via the Google & YouTube app, with a single primary Purchase conversion, enhanced conversions enabled, and any legacy tags removed to avoid double counting—the next step is making sure the data stays clean as your campaigns and store evolve. Blobr connects to your Google Ads account and runs specialized AI agents that continuously review performance and account setup to surface clear, prioritized actions, so you can spend less time troubleshooting tracking side effects and more time optimizing what the numbers are actually telling you.
Pick the right Shopify setup (so you don’t fight your tracking forever)
On Shopify, the cleanest way to track Google Ads conversions is to use the Google & YouTube app to install and manage your Google tag and your Google Ads conversion actions. In practice, this approach reduces the two biggest problems I see after 15+ years of account audits: duplicate conversions (multiple tags firing) and broken checkout tracking (tags placed where Shopify can’t reliably run them).
The app-based setup is also designed to map core ecommerce moments—like purchase, add to cart, and checkout started—to conversion actions in your Google Ads account, and it can support more modern measurement features (like enhanced conversions) without you manually stitching code together.
That said, you may need a more manual approach if your business has complex account structures. A common example is when you need to send conversions to more than one Google Ads account (for instance, multiple CIDs under a manager account). The Shopify integration typically expects a single primary Ads account connection, but you can still add additional destinations by entering conversion identifiers directly (more on that below).
Quick decision guide
- Use the Google & YouTube app if you want the most reliable Shopify-native conversion tracking for purchases and funnel events, and you’re working primarily with one Google Ads account.
- Use “custom conversion ID/label” mapping inside the app if you need to send specific Shopify events to specific conversion actions you already created in Google Ads.
- Avoid “URL-only/codeless” conversion setups for purchases if you care about revenue accuracy, deduplication, enhanced conversions, or passing richer parameters. They can be useful for simple lead/thank-you page tracking, but they’re limiting for ecommerce.
Step-by-step: Set up Google Ads conversion tracking on Shopify (recommended method)
1) Connect Shopify to Google and open conversion measurement
In Shopify, install the Google & YouTube app and connect the Google account that has access to your Google Ads account. Once connected, look for the section that focuses on Google Ads conversion measurement and start the setup.
When prompted, connect your Google Ads account. If you don’t connect it (or can’t due to access), you can still proceed, but you’ll typically rely more on manually entering conversion identifiers and you’ll lose some of the “automatic wiring” that makes this setup painless.
2) Choose which Shopify events you want to measure as Google Ads conversions
During setup, you’ll see Shopify events listed (commonly purchase, add to cart, checkout started). Treat this as your measurement blueprint: you’re deciding what gets created (or used) as conversion actions inside Google Ads, and which events you’re simply observing versus optimizing to.
My best-practice recommendation for most stores is: set Purchase as the key optimization conversion, and keep mid-funnel events (like add to cart and checkout started) as secondary/observation conversions unless you have very low purchase volume or a special funnel strategy.
3) Map Shopify events to Google Ads conversion actions (including custom IDs/labels)
If you connected your Google Ads account, Shopify can create conversion actions automatically and map them to the corresponding Shopify events. You’ll typically be able to edit each mapping, which is crucial when you already have conversion actions in place and want continuity (for reporting, bidding history, or naming conventions).
If you need to send events to an existing Google Ads conversion action, use the option to select from your linked account. If you need to send events to a conversion action without fully linking (or you’re working around account limitations), use the option to add a custom conversion ID/label and enter the combined identifier in the format:
AW-CONVERSION_ID/CONVERSION_LABEL
This is the same “send_to” destination your tag would use in a standard Google Ads event snippet, and it’s the most direct way to ensure the Shopify event routes into the exact conversion action you intend.
4) Confirm Google tags (and don’t accidentally double-install them)
The setup will include a step to confirm which Google tags are being installed. This part matters more than most people realize: if you already have legacy Google Ads tags, a separate Google tag installed through another integration, or tags firing via a storefront pixel setup, you can easily create duplicate purchase conversions.
As a rule: one purchase should produce one purchase conversion in Google Ads. If you see more than that, don’t “average it out” mentally—fix it immediately, because Smart Bidding will learn from the inflated conversion rate and distorted ROAS.
5) Confirm enhanced conversions settings (recommended for most Shopify advertisers)
Enhanced conversions for web improve measurement by allowing first-party customer data (like email or phone) to be securely hashed and used to improve match rates when standard cookie-based measurement misses conversions. In plain terms, it helps recover conversions you likely would have lost, and it typically improves bidding performance because your campaigns are optimizing off cleaner signals.
If the setup flow prompts you to confirm enhanced conversions, do it—especially if you’re running performance-focused campaigns (Search, Shopping, Performance Max) where conversion data quality directly impacts automation outcomes.
Make Google Ads optimize correctly: primary vs secondary conversions (the part most stores miss)
Why this matters
Google Ads doesn’t treat every conversion action equally. Only the conversion actions set up as primary (and included in the goals your campaigns optimize toward) will typically feed the main Conversions and Conversion value columns and be used for bidding. Secondary conversions still record, but they’re generally meant for observation (and show up in “All conversions”).
On Shopify, it’s common for purchase to be created and set as the primary/default conversion, while other funnel actions may be created as secondary. That’s usually correct—just make sure your campaigns are actually optimizing to the goal that contains your purchase action.
My practical defaults for ecommerce
For most stores, I recommend setting:
- Purchase = Primary (used for bidding and core reporting)
- Add to cart = Secondary (observation/diagnostics)
- Checkout started = Secondary (observation/diagnostics)
If you’re not getting enough purchase volume for Smart Bidding to stabilize, you can test temporarily optimizing toward a stronger mid-funnel action—but do it intentionally, and switch back once purchase volume improves (otherwise you’ll “train” bidding to chase carts instead of revenue).
How to verify it’s working (and diagnose problems fast)
1) Check conversion action status inside Google Ads
After setup, go to your conversion actions list and review the tracking status. If you see statuses like Unverified or Inactive, don’t wait days hoping it resolves itself—verify by testing.
2) Use Tag Assistant to test a real conversion path
The fastest reliable workflow is to start a troubleshooting session from within Google Ads and connect Tag Assistant to your storefront URL. Begin on a landing page or home page (not the order confirmation page), then navigate like a shopper would: product page → cart → checkout → purchase. Tag Assistant will show you which conversion actions fired and whether the requests include the right parameters.
If Tag Assistant shows your conversion fired but Google Ads still shows “Unverified,” give it a bit of time after testing and then refresh your conversion actions page. Verification status updates aren’t always instant.
3) Fix the most common Shopify conversion tracking issues
- Duplicate tracking: This usually happens when you have both the Shopify app setup and older Google Ads/GTM/manual snippets still firing. Remove legacy implementations so only one purchase event sends one purchase conversion.
- Wrong conversion action in campaigns: You may have the new Shopify-generated purchase action, but campaigns are still optimizing to an old purchase action (or a secondary action). Confirm the campaign goal setup and primary/secondary settings.
- Value issues: If conversion value isn’t populating correctly, it’s often due to formatting problems (for example, currency symbols in the value field) or using a setup method that can’t pass value.
- Tag inactivity: If the tag is installed but not executing properly, you’ll see symptoms like detected code but no outgoing conversion request. In these cases, reinstalling/cleaning the implementation and removing conflicting scripts is usually the fix.
Pro upgrades: get more accurate revenue and better bidding
Enhanced conversions (why they’re worth it)
Enhanced conversions for web are one of the highest-ROI “invisible” improvements you can make. Because the data is hashed and used for matching, you’re improving measurement in a privacy-conscious way, and you’re giving Smart Bidding better signals—especially valuable when browsers and consent choices reduce traditional measurement.
New customer acquisition reporting (advanced, but powerful)
If your growth strategy depends on acquiring new customers (not just repeat buyers), you can pass a parameter indicating whether the purchaser is new or returning. This improves new customer reporting and supports strategies aimed at incremental growth. For Shopify advertisers who are fully migrated to the Google & YouTube app approach, this is often handled automatically, but it’s still worth validating because it can materially change how you evaluate campaign performance.
Don’t rely on URL-only conversions for purchases
It’s tempting to track “/thank-you” page views as a purchase conversion because it’s quick. The downside is you typically lose key ecommerce necessities: revenue value, transaction identifiers, and the ability to use richer measurement features. For ecommerce, treat URL-only conversions as a last resort, not your default.
Final reality check (what “good” looks like)
When everything is set correctly, your Shopify purchase event results in a single purchase conversion in Google Ads, with accurate conversion value and consistent attribution behavior. Your purchase action is set as primary (and included in the goal your campaigns optimize toward), while mid-funnel events remain available for analysis without polluting bidding. From there, optimization becomes dramatically easier—because you’re no longer guessing whether performance changes came from marketing decisions or broken measurement.
