To check your Google Ads conversion tracking, open Goals, then Summary, and read the status of each conversion action, the result you count, such as a purchase.
Then prove it with a test: click one of your own ads, complete the action on your site, and verify it with Tag Assistant, Google’s testing tool.
Last, check which actions are set as primary. Those are the ones Google’s bidding works toward.
Here are the four checks in order, each taken from Google’s own help pages.
Check 1, where Google Ads conversion tracking shows its status
Google’s help on conversion tracking status says to “Go to Summary within the Goals menu”. Each conversion action there has one of five overview statuses.
| Status | What Google says it means | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Active | ”everything is working as intended” | Nothing to fix. Hover over it for details. |
| Needs attention | ”there are action items to address but haven’t stopped recording conversions entirely” | Hover over it to see “additional details and any next steps to take”. |
| Misconfigured | ”Conversions have stopped recording entirely due to a setup error or a broken tag.” | Hover over it to see “the steps to restore your conversion measurement”. |
| Awaiting conversions | ”No conversions have been recorded in the last 7 days.” | Google’s usual reasons: the action is under 48 hours old, your campaigns are paused, or traffic is too low. |
| Removed | ”The conversion action has been manually deleted or archived and is no longer tracking data.” | Check that someone meant to remove it. |
Your account may not match this table yet. Google says “Some status details are gradually rolling out and may not be visible in your account yet.” Trust the label you see, and hover over it.
Other Google help pages still use older names. On Google’s page about the Unverified status, Unverified “means that the conversion tracking tag associated with this conversion action has not yet fired.”
On the same page, Tag inactive and No recent conversions mean “Google Ads hasn’t recorded any conversions attributed to ad clicks for that specific action in the last 7-14 days.”
Check 2, test it the way Google counts it
Google’s Tag Assistant guide starts from the same status: “Hover over the relevant status, then select Troubleshoot in the pop-up that appears.” Then “Select Continue to open the Tag Assistant window.”
Tag Assistant asks for a page to start from. Google’s advice: “It’s best to use a landing page or home page instead of the conversion page URL directly.”
For the test itself, Google says: “Perform a test conversion by clicking one of your ads, and completing the conversion action on your website.” Keep in mind that a click on your own ad is a paid click.
The ad click matters. Google warns that tests “using Google Tag Manager preview mode, or by directly navigating to your conversion page without an ad click, may not reflect in Google Ads.”
Then give it time. Google says actions verified in the test show as updated in your account after about 30 minutes, and that “Reporting can take 3-24 hours to update.”
Check 3, what Google counts and optimizes for
Every conversion action is primary or secondary. Google’s page on primary and secondary actions says primary actions are reported in the Conversions column “and used for bidding”. Secondary actions “are for observation only.”
Look closely at conversions you created from Google Analytics. Google says they “are secondary by default when created from Google Analytics and can only be updated to primary in Google Ads.”
Google adds that getting these settings wrong “can prevent Smart Bidding from optimizing effectively”. Smart Bidding is Google’s automated bidding.
Values can mislead too. Google’s page on data discrepancies says that if your conversion values look too high, check whether actions such as page views or add to cart carry a value. Its fix: “Switch them to Secondary or remove their value to prevent double-counting.”
Conversion values also feed ROAS, the revenue you get back for each dollar of ad spend. Our ROAS guide for ecommerce covers it.
The same page notes “You can count every conversion or only 1 conversion after an interaction.” Check which one each action uses, because it changes the number you see.
And make changes with care. Google says “Smart Bidding strategies require a standard 7-14 day learning phase”, so it pays to settle your primary actions and leave them steady.
Check 4, when Google Ads and Shopify or GA4 disagree
Google’s data discrepancies page lists several reasons the numbers can differ.
- Late conversions. “Conversions can be reported up to 90 days after the click.”
- Recent changes. “it can take up to 7 days for conversion data to fully appear in reports after significant changes or account linking”.
- Other devices. Google says “Cross-device conversions are modeled”, meaning estimated, for people who click an ad on one device and convert on another.
- Shopify settings. “Ensure that third-party platforms, such as Shopify, have the correct Google conversion ID and label integrated.”
Even the date can differ, and Google’s own pages describe it in two ways. The data discrepancies page says “Google Ads reports conversions on the ad impression date.”
Google’s troubleshooting page says “Google Ads attributes conversions to the date of the click, which may cause discrepancies with other platforms.”
If your screen shows something else
Google is still changing these statuses, and not every account sees the same ones yet. If yours shows a status this article doesn’t name, or words like “setup is incomplete”, hover over it.
The pop-up holds Google’s details for your account. Where it offers Troubleshoot, that opens Tag Assistant.
What these checks don’t tell you
These checks tell you whether conversions are counted correctly. Whether the campaigns themselves are set up well is a separate question.
If the tag itself needs work, Google’s troubleshooting page is direct: “Contact your web developer for assistance with implementing or troubleshooting the conversion tracking code.”
How we show numbers
We use the same care when presenting our own work. Our Zenchi case page gives each result its own measurement window and source view. We built Zenchi’s Google Search ads from scratch for the Australian wellness ecommerce brand.
Next step
Running Google Ads campaigns is part of our paid ads work. If you’d like to talk it through, book a call. It’s a 30-minute conversation with Simon or Phillip about your organization and whether we’re the right fit.
Sources
We checked every source in this article on October 25, 2026.
- Google Ads Help: Troubleshooting conversion tracking status
- Google Ads Help: The Unverified status has been showing for more than 24 hours
- Google Ads Help: Use Tag Assistant to troubleshoot your unverified or inactive conversion actions
- Google Ads Help: Troubleshoot your conversion tracking status
- Google Ads Help: About primary and secondary conversion actions
- Google Ads Help: Data discrepancies: Factors and troubleshooting
- Google Ads Help: About conversion measurement
- S&P Partners: Zenchi case study
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