The manual way comes first, in Google Ads itself. Then the same problem as Goldbeater finds it, every day, without anyone asking.
Conversions counts what a campaign optimizes toward. All conversions counts everything.
Google Ads reports conversions in two columns, and they answer different questions. Conversions counts the primary conversion actions in the goals a campaign optimizes toward. All conv., short for All conversions, counts every conversion action, primary and secondary, whether or not the campaign optimizes toward its goal.
So everything in Conversions is in All conv. too, and the gap between them is what your tags and imports recorded that this campaign doesn’t count. Two settings decide which side of the gap a conversion lands on, and Google gives both as conditions: the action must be set as Primary, and the campaign must use the goal the action belongs to.
| The action is | Its goal is | In Conversions | In All conv. | Bid on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Used by the campaign | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secondary | Used by the campaign | No | Yes | No |
| Primary | Not used by the campaign | No | Yes | No |
| Secondary | Not used by the campaign | No | Yes | No |
That is Google’s own table, a row for each case. It adds one note, that a primary action a campaign doesn’t optimize toward “may be used to enhance predictions”, and one exception: an action in a custom goal is counted and bid on by a campaign using that goal, whether it’s primary or secondary.
In everything else the two columns work alike. Both report a conversion on the day of the click that led to it, and both follow each action’s Count setting. Both show two decimal places, because an attribution model can share one conversion’s credit across several clicks, which the attribution models guide covers.
Google Ads conversion goals decide which actions a campaign counts
Google groups your conversion actions into conversion goals by category, so every purchase action sits in a Purchases goal. What a campaign counts comes from four settings, each in a different place:
- Account-default, on the goal. A goal marked account-default is used by every campaign that hasn’t been set to goals of its own. App campaigns always set their own.
- Primary or secondary, on the action. A primary action is counted in Conversions and used for bidding wherever its goal is used. A secondary action is for observation only: Google reports it in All conv., and bidding ignores it.
- Campaign-specific goals, on the campaign. A campaign can override the account’s defaults and name the goals it reports and bids toward. Google recommends keeping campaigns on the account’s goals, and warns that a later change to those goals won’t reach a campaign that isn’t.
- A custom goal. A goal you build from any mix of primary and secondary actions. A campaign can use one custom goal, and every action in it is counted and bid on. Google calls custom goals advanced, and says they aren’t recommended in most cases.
The defaults count a lot. Google says most conversion actions are included in the Conversions column by default, so an action you added only to watch, a page view or a cart, can be counted from the day you create it unless you set it to secondary. One kind starts the other way: a conversion created from a Google Analytics event is secondary until you make it primary in Google Ads.
The conversion tracking guide has the steps to set an action to primary or secondary.
Where view-through and cross-device conversions are counted
All conv. also holds three kinds of conversion that no goal of yours put there:
- View-through conversions. Someone sees your ad, doesn’t interact with it, and converts later. Google reports these in All conv. and in a View-through conv. column of their own, and keeps them out of Conversions. It names three exceptions: Performance Max for store goals, App campaigns and Demand Gen campaigns. The Demand Gen guide covers the setting that lets a campaign bid on them.
- Store visits. Where an account qualifies for store visit reporting, Google adds those conversions to All conv. They reach Conversions when the store visits goal is among the goals a campaign bids toward.
- Calls from a tablet or a computer. With call assets or call-only ads on a Google forwarding number, a call from a mobile search ad is counted in Conversions. A call placed after seeing the ad on a tablet or a computer is counted in All conv.
Cross-device conversions are different, because they sit in both columns. One starts with a click on an ad on one device and ends with a conversion on another, or in a different browser on the same device. Google’s help pages list them under All conversions, and in July 2016 Google announced that they would be included in the Conversions column automatically, starting September 6 of that year.
A Cross-device conv. column shows them on their own, across all your conversion actions. Google models the ones it can’t observe directly, so the figure combines observed and modeled conversions. When you segment a table by device, a cross-device conversion is counted under the device the click happened on.
Bidding uses the Conversions column, so get that one right.
Google’s page on campaign goals says it in one sentence: Smart Bidding “considers only conversions reported in the ‘Conversions’ column when optimizing towards your target”. The Conv. value column is the value of those same conversions, and the value-based bidding guide covers what each one should carry.
That makes the two columns unequal. A mistake in All conv. misleads a report. A mistake in Conversions misleads every bid: a sale that’s missing is one bidding can’t learn from, and a page view that’s counted is one bidding buys more of.
The columns built on each follow it, so each has its use:
- Conversions, with Cost / conv., Conv. rate and Value / conv., which are worked out from it: to judge a campaign against its target, since that is what its bidding aims at.
- All conv., with its own set such as Cost / all conv. and All conv. value: to see everything your ads led to, whether or not you bid on it.
- All conv. (by conv. time): to compare Google Ads with another system’s records. Google suggests it for that, because it dates each conversion to the day it happened and not the day of the click.
How to read the two columns side by side
- Go to Campaigns › Campaigns and set the date range to the last 30 days. Note each campaign’s Clicks and Cost.
- Select the columns icon above the table, then Modify columns. Under Conversions, add All conv. beside Conversions.
- Select Segment above the table, then Conversions › Conversion action. Each campaign gets a row for each action its clicks recorded. Clicks, Impr. and Cost show “--” under this segment, which is why you noted them first.
- Go down each campaign’s rows. An action with the same figure in both columns is counted. An action with a figure under All conv. and zero under Conversions was recorded, and this campaign doesn’t count it.
| Conversion action | Category | Action optimization | Conversions | All conv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showroom — Phrase | All actions | — | 0.00 | 374.00 |
| Showroom booking | Book appointment | Primary | 0.00 | 19.00 |
| Add to cart | Add to cart | Secondary | 0.00 | 3.00 |
| Store locator view | Page view | Secondary | 0.00 | 352.00 |
The segment says what isn’t counted. Three more places say why:
- Go to Goals › Conversions › Summary and find the goal that holds the action. Beside its name it says whether it’s an account-default goal, and hovering over its number of campaigns lists the ones that use it. Select Edit goal to read each action’s setting under Conversion action optimization: Primary or Secondary (observe only).
- Back on Campaigns › Campaigns, select the columns icon, then Modify columns, then Attributes, and add Conversion goals. The column shows the goals in each campaign’s own setting. To change them, open the campaign’s Settings and expand Conversion goals.
- In the same menu, under Results, add the Results column. It shows conversions from your primary actions goal by goal: in normal type for the goals the campaign optimizes toward, and grayed out for the goals it doesn’t. A grayed-out figure is a primary action this campaign leaves out. The column appears at the campaign level only, and never shows a secondary action.
Is your account counting too little?
Look for a sale or a lead that shows under All conv. and not under Conversions. A step before the sale that sits there, a cart or a page view, is usually where it belongs. A purchase, a booking or a lead form that sits there is a result the campaign brought and its bidding never saw.
Then ask how much of the campaign’s results that is. Add up the sales and leads it counts, and set them beside the ones it leaves out. Reading the same action in your other campaigns tells you whether one campaign’s goals leave it out or nothing counts it at all.
| Campaign | Conversion goals | Conversions | All conv. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Max — All products | Account defaults | 7.00 | 7.00 |
| Sofas — Phrase | Account defaults | 8.00 | 8.00 |
| Brand — Exact | Account defaults | 6.00 | 6.00 |
| Rugs — Broad | Account defaults | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Showroom — Phrase | Its own: Purchases | 0.00 | 19.00 |
Which fix depends on why the action is left out:
- The campaign’s goals leave it out. Open the campaign’s Settings, expand Conversion goals and add the goal, or set the campaign back to the account’s defaults.
- The action is secondary. Set it to Primary on the conversions summary. That counts it in every campaign that uses its goal, not only this one.
- One campaign alone should count a secondary action. Give that campaign a custom goal holding the action beside what it counts now.
Each of these changes what bidding aims at. Google says changing conversion goals resets a standard learning period of 7 to 14 days, and that after changing a campaign’s goals you should move its target gradually while the bidding adjusts to the newly reported conversions. And leaving an action out can be right: a campaign that sells sofas has no reason to bid for newsletter sign-ups.
Is your account counting too much?
Overcounting is harder to see, because a bigger number looks like good news. Check four things, all in the Conversions column, since that is the one bidding reads:
- An action that follows the clicks. With the Conversion action segment on, divide an action’s Conversions by the campaign’s clicks. A sale or a lead follows a small share of clicks. An action recorded on most of them is counting visits: a tag on a page every visitor reaches, or a page view set to primary. Where the action was set up by URL, check its match. Google offers URL is, URL contains and URL starts with, and a partial match can take in more pages than the one after the sale.
- Steps counted beside the sale. A cart or a checkout set to primary, in a goal your campaigns use, adds to Conversions on top of the purchase it leads to. Google’s advice is to set only bottom-of-funnel actions as primary. The conversion tracking guide shows how to find a sale counted twice.
- One event recorded twice. A confirmation page reloaded, a site tagged twice (Google warns that a plugin managing your tags can do it), or Count set to Every on a lead form. Google recommends One for leads, and a transaction ID on each sale, so a second conversion with the same ID isn’t counted. An action’s repeat rate, in its settings on the conversions summary, is the average number of conversions from an interaction that led to at least one.
- A jump with no cause. Select Segment, then Time, then Week over the last three months, and read Conversions beside Clicks. If the latest weeks stand above every earlier one and nothing you did explains it, find the action that rose: segment by Conversion action for those weeks, then for the same number of weeks before them, and compare each action’s count.
Showroom — Phrase’s table has the first of these in it. Store locator view recorded 352 times on 412 clicks, 85% as often as the campaign was clicked, because the page its ads land on holds the store locator. It’s secondary, so Conversions holds none of them, which is right. Set to primary in a goal the campaign uses, it would put 352 conversions in the column at $1.76 each, and Maximize conversions would go looking for more page views.
What it looks like when Goldbeater finds it
Every day Goldbeater reads each enabled campaign’s last 30 days by conversion action: what the campaign counted, and what its clicks recorded besides, less any view-through conversions. It raises a sale or lead action that a campaign’s clicks recorded 3 times or more and its Conversions leave out, where the campaign spent $200 or more, counts nothing in that action’s category, and counts nothing further along than it. What the campaign does count has to be under 20% of its sales and leads once the ones left out are added in.
A sale here is a purchase, a paid subscription or a store sale. A lead is a sign-up, a lead form, a booked appointment, a quote request, or a phone call, imported, qualified or converted lead. A cart or a checkout is never raised this way, since a step before the sale is often left out on purpose. Nor is an action no campaign counts where another action of its category is counted: the account has already chosen between them.
Each finding is about one action, with the campaigns leaving it out in a table. How serious it reads follows the value left out, or the spend behind it where the action carries no value, and it never reads high where none of those campaigns bids on conversions.
Showroom — Phrase doesn't count Showroom booking, which its clicks recorded 19 times as an appointment
Showroom booking
4 other campaigns count Showroom booking, so this campaign's goals leave it out.
- Left out
- 19
- Value left out
- $19
- Spend
- $618
| Showroom — Phrase | Maximize conversions | 19 | $19 | 0 | $618 |
A campaign whose clicks make purchases, sign-ups or leads that its own conversions leave out, because the action is secondary or isn't among the campaign's goals, while what it does count is next to nothing. A conversion bid strategy optimizes toward the little it counts, and its reports judge the spend by it. Leaving an action out can be deliberate, so whether to count it is your call.
Maximize conversions bids toward what it counts, so it can't learn from these. If Showroom — Phrase is meant to win Showroom booking, add appointments to its goals (below), as 4 other campaigns have. Its bidding relearns when its goals change, so change them when you mean it to chase these. A target set on the old count needs moving too: Google's advice is to update it gradually as the bidding adjusts to the newly reported conversions. If they're left out on purpose, ignore this finding.
Add appointments to its goals
It then counts every primary action in appointments: Showroom booking. Its bidding relearns, and it keeps its own goals from then on: a change to the account's default goals won't reach it. Update a target set on the old count gradually, as the bidding adjusts to the newly reported conversions.
Goldbeater offers this change without recommending it, so nothing is drafted until you pick it. It reaches your account when you approve it in the change set and press Apply.
This is “Sales and leads a campaign doesn't count” on a sample account. Goldbeater runs it on yours every 24 hours, and your AI analyst answers what you ask about any finding.
Get a free first lookThat is Showroom — Phrase as worked above. The 19 left out are the booking row’s All conv. less its Conversions, the 0 counted is what the campaign counts of its sales and leads, and the 4 other campaigns are the second table’s. The $19 is 19 bookings at the $1 each they are still valued at, which the value-based bidding guide takes up.
Showroom booking is primary, so Goldbeater offers to add its category to the campaign’s goals and doesn’t recommend it: whether a campaign should chase what it leaves out is yours to decide. For a secondary action there is no such change to offer, and the advice is a custom goal.
A campaign like this one is kept out of a different finding. Goldbeater raises a campaign that spent several conversions’ worth and counted nothing only where its clicks recorded no sale or lead of any kind, counted or not. The not-converting guide shows that one.
Two more checks read the count the other way:
- An action counted on nearly every click. An enabled Search, Shopping or Performance Max campaign with 100 or more clicks in 30 days that counted one conversion action at least 80% as many times as it was clicked. It reads high where the campaign bids to conversions and medium where it doesn’t. Counted, Store locator view’s 85% would be past that line. The fix is where the tag fires, the URL an action set up without code matches, or setting a page view to secondary, so Goldbeater drafts no change for it.
- Conversions jumping for weeks. Goldbeater reads your enabled campaigns’ last 13 whole weeks by the day of each conversion, from the actions they count now. It raises the account where each of the last 3 weeks or more is above every earlier week, in conversions per click and in total, a run that long being under 5% likely by luck. A real rise looks the same, so the finding is low, is never emailed, and names the action that rose most. It isn’t raised where that action is the one counted on nearly every click, or one a campaign counts beside another of its category, or as a cart or checkout beside a purchase.
The neighbouring faults have guides of their own. Two actions counting one sale, and an action that stopped recording, are in the conversion tracking guide. A step valued like the sale it leads to is in the value-based bidding guide, and actions measured two ways under one bid strategy are in the attribution models guide. Conversions come first in the audit checklist, because every other finding is judged by them.
Questions
- What’s the difference between Conversions and All conversions in Google Ads?
- Conversions counts the primary conversion actions in the goals a campaign optimizes toward, and it’s the column bidding uses. All conv. counts every action, primary and secondary, whether or not the campaign uses its goal, and adds view-through conversions, store visits and calls placed after seeing an ad on a tablet or computer.
- Which conversion column does Smart Bidding use?
- The Conversions column. Google says Smart Bidding considers only conversions reported in the Conversions column when optimizing toward your target. All conv. is for reporting.
- Why is All conversions higher than Conversions?
- Because it holds what Conversions leaves out: secondary actions such as a cart or a page view, primary actions in goals the campaign doesn’t use, view-through conversions, store visits and some calls. A gap is normal. It’s a problem only when a sale or lead you want the campaign to win sits in it.
- Can I bid on All conversions?
- No. Bid strategies optimize toward the Conversions column. To have bidding count something that sits under All conv. alone, set the action to primary, add its goal to the campaign’s goals, or put it in a custom goal the campaign uses.
- Are view-through conversions included in Conversions?
- Not as a rule. Google reports them in the View-through conv. and All conv. columns and keeps them out of Conversions, with three exceptions it names: Performance Max for store goals, App campaigns and Demand Gen campaigns.
- Are cross-device conversions in the Conversions column?
- Yes. Google announced in July 2016 that cross-device conversions would be included in the Conversions column automatically, and its help pages list them under All conversions as well. The Cross-device conv. column shows them on their own.
- Why do my conversions show decimals?
- Because data-driven attribution, and other attribution models, share one conversion’s credit across several clicks. Google shows the Conversions, All conv. and Cross-device conv. columns to two decimal places for that reason.