If you run Google Ads or social campaigns, the single most important thing you can do is measure what they actually deliver. Yet many small business websites track page views and little else. Without conversion tracking, you cannot tell which campaigns bring in enquiries, and ad platforms cannot optimise towards the results you care about.

Here is a practical guide to setting up conversion tracking in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), based on the issues we see most often when auditing client accounts.

1. Decide what a conversion is for your business

Start with the actions that matter commercially. For most service businesses that means:

• Contact form submissions
• Phone number clicks
• Email address clicks
• Quote or booking requests
• Online purchases, if you sell directly

Keep the list short. Five meaningful actions are far more useful than twenty minor ones.

2. Track successful submissions, not button clicks

A common mistake is tracking clicks on the submit button. That counts every attempt, including forms with errors or spam, and it can also miss submissions completely. Instead, track the confirmation that a form was sent successfully. With Contact Form 7, for example, listen for the wpcf7mailsent event in Google Tag Manager and send a GA4 event only when it fires.

3. Mark your events as key events

In GA4, go to Admin, then Events and mark your lead events as key events. This tells GA4 which actions count as conversions and makes them available to import into Google Ads.

4. Import into Google Ads

In Google Ads, go to Goals, then Conversions, then Import and choose Google Analytics 4. Set your most valuable action, such as a form submission or purchase, as the primary conversion so smart bidding optimises towards it.

5. Test everything

Submit a test enquiry and check it appears in GA4 DebugView or Realtime. Then check it again a week later. Forms break, plugins update and security settings change, and tracking can stop without anyone noticing.

6. Check your consent setup

If your site uses a cookie banner, make sure Google Consent Mode is set up correctly. Without it, visitors who decline cookies may disappear from your data entirely.

Need a hand?

Accurate tracking is the foundation of every campaign we run. If you are not sure your conversions are being measured properly, get in touch for a tracking review.