Conversion tracking setup for SteakStones

Recently, the agency I regularly help with web analytics landed a new client for Google Ads management — SteakStones, an e-commerce company with five websites operating in different regions. The agency asked me to establish accurate conversion tracking for their Google Ads.

Before reaching out to me, they were using imported conversion data from GA4. However, I discovered that one of their websites was using a separate GA4 property, resulting in incomplete overall imported conversion data.

Based on my observations, it has been noted that Google Analytics captures and attributes fewer conversions to Google Ads compared to native Google Ads tracking. There is a debate on whether Google Ads conversion data or GA4 data should be used for reporting purposes. However, it is fair to say that since Google Ads captures more data, it would be more beneficial to use it instead of GA4. The logic behind this is simple: the more data we accumulate, the more effective smart bidding will work.

Process

All of the client’s websites use WordPress and WooCommerce as their platform, which is a common combination that I often work with. When it comes to tracking conversions for WooCommerce, there are two options I typically use:

  1. GTM approach with the GTM4WP plugin (free);
  2. non-GTM approach with the Pixel Manager plugin (free / paid);

Both options are solid. I love GTM and try to use it on all of my projects, but its power isn’t always needed. For this project, the primary goal is to track Google Ads conversions, so we decided to stick with the second option.

Pixel Manager is appealing to me because it provides a simple interface to configure complicated things. Essentially, it’s like Google Tag Manager for WordPress. It lacks a lot of flexibility, but the configuration is extremely straightforward:

Besides basic conversion tracking, Pixel Manager also supports enhanced conversions (pro feature):

The sweet cherry on top is that it indicates whether the order data was captured by Google Ads / Google Analytics in the order list:

That’s quite handy when a data discrepancy comes up and you need to find what causes it.

Google Ads conversion tracking

As I mentioned earlier, the primary goal was to set up conversion tracking to see purchases and revenue in Google Ads. I always debug conversion tracking setup by making several purchases (usually with a 99% discount code) in Tag Assistant. It showed that data is being captured.

Validating ECs (enhanced conversions) is a bit trickier. After the order is completed, I check network requests in the browser web developer tools to see whether the hashed conversion data was actually sent to Google.

In a couple of days after the edits were done, as an additional measure, I check the platform to verify that conversion data is being received properly. As you can see, it does:

And the ECs are being recorded as they should:

Cross-domain configuration

I mentioned in the beginning that the client runs five different websites for different regions. Though they were pretty sure that customers won’t travel through the websites, I did set up cross-domain linking in order to have proper attribution:

This tweak appends a tracking parameter every time a person goes from one domain to another. Without this configuration, when a visitor travels to another domain and converts there, Google Ads will capture that conversion but won’t bind it to the initial ad click, resulting in untracked conversions. This allowed, for instance, our UK conversion action to record a purchase on the CA domain:

Google Analytics 4 implementation

After successfully setting up conversion tracking in Google Ads, our next step was to organize and improve our Google Analytics. Initially, we encountered issues with our GA4 property, as one of the domains was using a separate data stream, disrupting the all-in-one property concept. Additionally, I noticed that the automated migration guide had created redundant UA events, which did not follow the recommended GA4 convention. To address these problems, we decided to start fresh and create a new property, utilizing the Pixel Manager plugin for a more cohesive measurement strategy.

Now, with everything in place, we have consolidated all data into one GA4 property, providing comprehensive results for all of our websites at once:

Custom report displaying transactions and revenue by host name

Conclusion

Our client now has advanced conversion tracking in Google Ads. By utilizing enhanced conversions, we can gather more data to leverage Google’s AI and smart bidding.

The revamped GA4 is also beneficial, as it provides a complete picture and allows us to see the performance of all traffic sources for every domain. This enables us to compare how each source contributes to sales and revenue. Additionally, having tracking handled by a single plugin eliminates any potential data discrepancies.