Enhanced conversions in Google Ads

Google Ads is one of the most popular advertising tools that enables businesses to reach the right audience at the right time. However, advertising alone is not enough – the key to campaign effectiveness is accurate conversion tracking.

In recent years, Google Ads has introduced a new approach to tracking campaign results, known as Enhanced Conversions. This feature aims to improve the accuracy of conversion tracking, especially in the face of changing market conditions, such as growing concerns about user privacy and changes in browser technology (e.g. cookie blocking).
Augmented Conversions is an advanced tracking feature that improves the accuracy of conversion measurement in Google Ads campaigns by filling in missing data about user actions. Google Ads uses encrypted first-party data (such as email addresses, phone numbers or names) to link them to existing users on the Google platform. This allows Google to more accurately track which advertising interactions lead to conversions, even with limited access to cookies or tracking data. The key point is that this data is anonymised and encrypted, and the processing of this data complies with privacy requirements such as RODO (GDPR) and the CCPA.

Traditional conversion tracking methods relied heavily on cookies, which allowed advertisers to identify users across devices and sessions. However, over the past few years, there have been a number of changes to data protection laws and browser technology, which have significantly reduced the effectiveness of cookie-based tracking. Examples of such changes include the introduction of Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in Safari or the restriction of cookies in Google Chrome.
Augmented conversions thus help advertisers maintain tracking accuracy even in a changing technological landscape by integrating first-party data (e.g. email addresses that users voluntarily provide on the advertiser’s site). This allows marketers to better understand the effectiveness of their campaigns, improving results and optimising advertising strategies.

Key benefits of augmented conversions:

• Improved tracking accuracy: Increased precision in conversion tracking, especially in the event of cookie data loss.
• Greater privacy protection: Data is processed according to strict security and data protection standards.
• Improved optimisation results: More accurate data enables better strategy and budget adjustments in Google Ads campaigns.
• Compatibility with modern browsers: Enhanced conversions work even in browser environments with cookie restrictions.

How do augmented conversions work?

The process of how augmented conversions work is based on the integration of user data collected by the advertiser and Google Ads. Here is how it works step by step:

1. Collection of user data: When a user takes an action on the advertiser’s website (e.g. fills out a form, makes a purchase), the advertiser collects personal data such as name, email address or phone number. This data is used in later tracking stages.
2. Transmission of data to Google Ads: The encrypted data is transmitted to Google Ads via integration with the conversion tracking tag or via the API.
3. Data encryption: All personal data is hashed (SHA256) before being sent to Google. This keeps the data secure and makes it impossible to identify users.
4. Data matching: Google Ads compares the encrypted data with Google’s user data (e.g. the email addresses that users use when logging into Google accounts). When a match is found, Google records this as a conversion.
5. Conversion reporting: Google reports conversions on the Google Ads dashboard, allowing advertisers to analyse campaign performance more accurately and adjust advertising strategies.

Data types used in augmented conversions

To realise the full potential of augmented conversions, advertisers can upload a variety of data types that help identify users:

• Email address
• Phone number
• First and last name
• Residential address

Google converts this data into encrypted identifiers, which it then matches to Google users.

Step 1: Enable the enhanced conversions feature
To use this feature, you first need to ensure that you have the conversion tracking tag properly configured in Google Ads. You then need to go to the conversion tracking section and enable the ‘Enhanced Conversions’ option. This can be done under ‘Tools and settings’ -> ‘Measurement’ -> ‘Conversions’.

Step 2: Apply the code to the page
This requires the implementation of the relevant code snippets that allow user data to be sent to Google Ads. Advertisers can use either Google Tag Manager or a direct implementation in the page code. When using Google Tag Manager, the process is simplified with ready-made tag templates. All you need to do is add a new conversion tracking tag and enable extended conversions, then assign variables with user data to be sent to Google.

Step 3: Testing and monitoring
Once augmented conversions have been enabled, it is important to run tests in Google Tag Manager or developer tools to ensure that data is being uploaded correctly. This can be checked by reviewing the conversion reports in Google Ads and tracking whether the number of recorded conversions has increased.

Optimising campaigns with augmented conversions

Once augmented conversions have been implemented, it is worth making a few changes to your Google Ads campaign strategy to fully exploit the potential of this feature:

• Automatic rate-setting strategies: augmented conversions enable Google Ads algorithms to better understand user actions, which in turn improves the effectiveness of automatic rate-setting strategies such as ‘Maximise conversions’ or ‘Target ROAS’.
• Data segmentation: Using augmented conversions allows for more accurate analysis of different user segments (e.g. based on traffic source, devices, demographics), which enables precise campaign optimisation.
• Post-time conversion reporting: Augmented conversions help you better understand

Augmented conversions in Google Ads are a tool that, in an age of increasing concern for user privacy and technological limitations in tracking online activities, are an invaluable aid for advertisers. They make it possible not only to increase the precision of conversion measurement, but also to better understand which advertising activities are actually delivering results. Incorporating this function into campaigns not only improves the efficiency of the advertising budget, but also supports compliance with legal regulations on data privacy. Effective implementation of augmented conversions is key to staying competitive in a rapidly changing digital marketplace.