Google Enhanced Conversions
Overview
Section titled “Overview”Google Enhanced Conversions Web is the server-side collection and hashing of first-party user data alongside your Google Ads conversions, so Google can match signed-in users and recover conversions that browser-only tracking drops.
The conversions it recovers are mostly the ones lost on Safari and iOS, where third-party tracking is restricted. Those come back into Smart Bidding rather than being modelled away, which is why reporting tracks your backend more closely once it is running.
It is worth setting up if you are seeing conversions undercounted on Safari and iOS, or if Google has told you to raise signal quality before moving to value-based bidding.
It rides on your existing Google tag or GTM setup rather than replacing it. Your container, triggers and variables stay as they are; what is added is the server-side user-data capture and hashing alongside them.
For lead conversions reported back from a CRM rather than conversions on your site, use Google Enhanced Conversions for Leads.
Supported sources
Section titled “Supported sources”Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”Before connecting Google Enhanced Conversions, make sure you have:
- A Google Ads account, and access to the manager account above it.
- Conversion actions already created in Google Ads for the conversions you intend to report. Signals maps to them; it does not create them.
- The Google account you sign in with connected to the Google Ads account where those conversion actions were created. Signals lists the conversion actions of the Customer ID you select, so an action created in a different account does not appear in the mapping and cannot be selected.
- Admin access on that Google Ads account, which is what accepting the customer data terms requires.
- A Datahash Studio account with the target project selected.
- A website source connected in the same project. Events reach Google through the source, so a connected destination on its own sends nothing.
Authentication
Section titled “Authentication”In Studio, open Destinations, find Google, and click the Enhanced Conversions tile. This connector uses single sign-on.
- Click Sign in with Google.
- Complete Google’s consent flow, choosing the account that has access to your Google Ads account.
Datahash’s use of data received through Google APIs follows Google’s API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.
Configuration
Section titled “Configuration”- Select the Customer ID and the Login Customer ID from the dropdowns.
- Click Next.
- Map each source event name to the corresponding conversion action in your Google Ads account, using the plus icon to add rows. At least two events must be mapped before you can finish.
- Click Finish.
Several source events may point at the same conversion action, which is useful where you want different triggers reported as one outcome. The conversion action must already exist in Google Ads.
Google identifies the account you are writing to with two IDs. The Customer ID is your Google Ads account, and the Login Customer ID is the manager account, sometimes called the MCC, that sits above it.
Whether events arrive through NeoTag or dhPixel is determined by how the website source was configured, not chosen here.
Enable Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads
Section titled “Enable Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads”Finishing the setup in Studio does not switch Enhanced Conversions on. Google keeps it behind the customer data terms, and the setting is per conversion action. Until both are done, Google receives what Signals sends but does not use it for matching, so nothing changes in reporting and the connection still looks healthy in Studio.
- In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, then Settings.
- Expand Customer data terms and accept them. This needs admin access on the Google Ads account.
- Open Goals, then Conversions, then Summary, and select a conversion action you mapped in Studio.
- Open Enhanced conversions, turn it on, and choose the Google Ads API as the method rather than the Google tag or Google Tag Manager.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 for every conversion action in your mapping.
Manage instance
Section titled “Manage instance”One connection covers one Google Ads account. Sending to a second ad account needs a second instance.
To add another, open Manage instances and click Add Instance. To change one, open it from Manage instances, use the menu in the top right and choose Edit, update the fields and click Finish. Cancel keeps the previous configuration running, so updates apply only after you finish.
Data & identifiers
Section titled “Data & identifiers”Signals sends the first-party user data your source captures server-side with the conversion to Google Ads for Enhanced Conversions matching. Send them already hashed where you can. Plain text also works: they are normalized and SHA-256 hashed before they reach Google.
Enhanced Conversions works by matching hashed customer data to Google accounts, so the identifiers your source captures determine how much of your conversion volume can be matched.
Required
Section titled “Required”| Field | When it is required |
|---|---|
| Conversion time | Always. The time the conversion happened, not the time of upload. |
| Conversion action | Always. Resolved from the event mapping, so an unmapped event is not sent. |
| Email address | Always. Google’s primary match key on this connector. |
| Currency | Purchase events only. The three-letter currency code. |
| Value | Purchase events only. |
Recommended
Section titled “Recommended”All of these raise the share of conversions Google can match to a signed-in account.
| Field | Format |
|---|---|
| Google click ID | Captured when a visitor arrives from a Google ad. The strongest single signal on a web conversion. |
| Phone number | E.164, including the country code. |
| First name | Letters only, lowercase, trimmed, no punctuation. |
| Last name | Letters only, lowercase, trimmed, no punctuation. |
| Street address | Lowercase, trimmed. |
| City | Letters only, lowercase, trimmed. |
| State or region | Lowercase. |
| Postcode | Required for address-based matching, alongside country. |
| Country | The two-letter country code in lowercase, for example gb or in. |
| Order ID | Deduplicates against the same conversion reported by the browser tag. |
Consent parameters
Section titled “Consent parameters”Consent Mode v2 is integrated as part of the setup rather than configured on this screen. Where a visitor declines, no identifiable data is sent, neither hashed email nor hashed phone, and Google fills the gap with modelled conversions built from consented traffic.
Best practices
Section titled “Best practices”- Create the conversion actions in Google Ads before configuring the mapping, or there will be nothing to map to.
- Check you selected the intended ad account. Conversions sent to the wrong one cannot be moved afterwards.
- Map only the events worth optimizing towards. Reporting everything dilutes the signal Google learns from.
- Keep formatting clean at source: lowercase email, no stray whitespace. A badly formatted value produces a hash that will never match.
Troubleshooting & FAQ
Section titled “Troubleshooting & FAQ”The account I need is not in the dropdown. The Google account you signed in with does not have access to it. Sign in again with one that does.
No conversion actions to map. Either they have not been created in Google Ads yet, or they were created in a different account from the Customer ID you selected. Check the account first, then create them there if they are missing.
Conversions arrive but match rates stay at zero. The customer data terms have not been accepted, or Enhanced conversions is off for that conversion action. Both live in Google Ads, not in Studio.
No conversions appearing in Google Ads. Confirm a website source is connected in the same project and that the tag is published in your tag manager.
Match rates are low. Check that email is being captured and that formatting is clean at source before hashing.