The Complete Guide to Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress (2024)

Hey there, WordPress marketer! Are you running Google Ads to drive more traffic and sales to your website? That‘s great! But are you tracking which campaigns and keywords actually generate leads and customers?

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If not, you‘re missing out on valuable data to optimize your ad performance and maximize ROI. In fact, businesses that use conversion tracking tools have a 73% higher conversion rate on average than those that don‘t, according to HubSpot.

Don‘t worry though—setting up Google Ads conversion tracking on your WordPress site is easier than you might think. In this ultimate guide, I‘ll walk you through the process step-by-step, so you can start making data-driven decisions to boost your ad results. Let‘s dive in!

Why Google Ads Conversion Tracking Matters

First, let‘s talk about why conversion tracking is so critical for Google Ads success. Simply put, conversion tracking lets you measure what happens after someone clicks your ad. It tells you which ads, keywords, and campaigns drive meaningful actions on your site, like:

Purchasing a product
Filling out a lead form
Subscribing to a newsletter
Adding an item to a cart
Engaging with key content

Without conversion tracking, you only see surface-level PPC metrics like clicks, impressions, and click-through rate (CTR). But what good are clicks if none of those visitors are converting into actual leads and customers for your business?

Conversion data helps you:

Identify top-performing ads and keywords to focus your budget on
Calculate return on ad spend (ROAS) to prove the value of your campaigns
Get insight to craft more compelling ad copy and landing pages
Optimize bids and targeting to attract your ideal customers
Test different offers and CTAs to convert more visitors

Bottom line, marketers who measure conversion rates are over 3X more likely to increase their marketing budgets year-over-year, according to Google. So if you want to secure more resources for your Google Ads campaigns, you need hard conversion data to make your case.

Creating Goals in Google Analytics

There are a couple ways to set up Google Ads conversion tracking on WordPress. The easiest method is to use the free MonsterInsights plugin, which we‘ll cover next.

But first, you need to create Goals in Google Analytics to define which site actions you want to track as conversions. Here‘s how:

Sign in to Google Analytics and open the view for your WordPress site
Click Admin in the left sidebar, then choose Goals under the View column
Click the + New Goal button
Select Custom as the goal type, then click Continue
Name your goal something clear and descriptive, like "Newsletter Signup"
Set the goal slot ID or leave it as the default value
Under Type, choose whether the goal completion is based on a Destination (specific page), Duration, Pages/Screens per session, or Event
Fill in the goal details based on the type you selected. For example, if you chose Destination, enter the URL of your thank you or confirmation page
Toggle the Value and Funnel options on if you want to assign a monetary value to the goal and track the funnel steps leading up to the conversion
Click Save

Repeat these steps to create a new goal for each conversion action you want to track, like an ebook download or demo request. Make sure the goal name clearly indicates the action so you can easily find it in your reports later.

Connecting Google Analytics with MonsterInsights

Now that you‘ve defined your goals, it‘s time to connect Google Analytics to WordPress so you can start collecting that sweet, sweet conversion data. The easiest way is using the MonsterInsights plugin, which lets you enable advanced tracking features with just a few clicks—no coding needed!

Over 3 million website owners use MonsterInsights to get the stats that matter most. Plus, the plugin is designed for speed and performance, so it won‘t slow down your WordPress site.

Ready to get started? Follow these steps:

Download the MonsterInsights plugin and install it on your WordPress site
Activate the plugin and open the MonsterInsights setup wizard
Click Connect MonsterInsights and sign in with the Google account you use for Analytics
Select the Analytics property you want to connect with and click Complete Connection
On the next screen, choose the category that best describes your website
Click the Connect Google Analytics button
Use the Recommended Settings for the most accurate tracking data
Click Save and Continue to finish the setup process

That‘s it! Google Analytics is now successfully linked with your WordPress site. To confirm everything‘s working, navigate to Insights > Reports and check that you see your Analytics data populated in the MonsterInsights dashboard.

Setting Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking

With Google Analytics connected, you can now configure the Google Ads conversion tracking you came for. First, make sure you‘ve set up at least one conversion action in your Google Ads account (instructions here).

Then follow these quick steps in MonsterInsights:

Go to Insights > Addons and install the Google Ads addon
Navigate to Insights > Settings > Conversions
Scroll down to the Google Ads section
Paste in your Google Ads conversion ID and conversion label (where to find them)
Select the Analytics goals and events you want to track as Google Ads conversions
Click Save Changes

Easy peasy! Now when someone clicks a Google Ad and converts on your WordPress site, that conversion data will automatically sync with Google Ads for analysis and optimization.

Viewing Google Ads Conversion Data

Give it a day or so for conversion data to start rolling in. Then you can view your Google Ads conversion reports right in the Google Ads interface:

Sign in to your Google Ads account
Click Campaigns in the left page menu
Look for the Conversions column to quickly check the conversion volume for each ad campaign

Want more detailed data? Click the Columns icon and select Modify columns to add conversion metrics like Conv. rate, Cost / conv., Conversion value, ROAS, and more to your report. This helps you easily identify campaigns and keywords with the highest conversion rates and lowest costs.

You can also see conversion data for individual ad groups and ads by clicking into a specific campaign:

Source: HubSpot

To view your Google Ads conversion data in Google Analytics, navigate to Acquisition > Google Ads. Here you can analyze your campaigns‘ conversion performance alongside engagement metrics like bounce rate, pages per session, and average session duration to get the full picture of how ad traffic behaves on your site.

The Campaigns, Ad Groups, Ads, and Keywords reports under Acquisition > Google Ads provide conversion breakdowns at every level. You can even use Secondary dimensions to slice and dice the data by criteria like geographic location, device category, and more:

Source: Bounteous

Advanced Google Ads Conversion Tracking Tips

Want to take your Google Ads conversion tracking to the next level? Here are a few pro tips:

Track micro and macro conversions

Yes, you should absolutely track primary conversions like purchases, signups, and lead form completions. But don‘t sleep on smaller (but still valuable) actions like add to carts, button clicks, and post engagements.

Why? Micro-conversions help you optimize the path to purchase and identify potential blockers that need fixing. For example, if you see a big drop-off between views of a key sales page and the conversion, you know that page needs work to better convey your value prop and overcome objections.

Use multiple attribution models

By default, Google Ads uses a last-click attribution model to credit conversions. That means if someone clicks your ad, browses around, leaves, then comes back a week later to buy via organic search—the ad gets zero conversion credit.

In Google Analytics, you can compare how each Google Ads campaign contributes to conversions using different attribution models:

Attribution Model	Description
Last Interaction	100% conversion credit to the last channel clicked before converting
Last Non-Direct Click	Ignores direct traffic and credits 100% to the last channel that drove the visitor to your site
Last Google Ads Click	100% credit to the last Google Ads campaign clicked prior to converting
First Interaction	100% credit to the first channel the customer interacted with
Linear	Spreads conversion credit evenly across all channels in the conversion path
Time Decay	Most credit to channels interacted with closer to the time of conversion
Position Based	40% credit each to the first and last interaction, remaining 20% spread out evenly to the middle interactions

Comparing different models lets you identify campaigns that play an important "assist" role in the conversion process and avoid undervaluing them. Learn more in Google‘s guide to attribution for Google Ads.

Run Google Ads Remarketing

Ever noticed how some ads seem to follow you around the internet after visiting a particular website? That‘s called remarketing (aka retargeting), and it‘s a powerful way to bring back visitors who left your site without converting.

With the MonsterInsights Google Ads addon, you can automatically create remarketing audiences in Google Analytics based on the specific pages they visited. Then you can target them with highly relevant Google Ads campaigns to draw them back to convert, like an abandoned cart offer or demo of the product they were checking out.

On average, website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert, according to HubSpot. Learn more about setting up Google Ads remarketing in this step-by-step guide.

Wrapping Up

Whew, that was a lot! But you made it through and are now equipped to set up Google Ads conversion tracking in WordPress like a pro.

Remember, every dollar counts when it comes to your ad budget. Conversion data lets you invest confidently in the keywords and campaigns that drive real results for your business, whether that‘s more leads, sales, or any other meaningful action.

Getting started is easy with MonsterInsights: