Is Google Ads counting real enquiries? A 10-minute check

Why this matters

Google Ads uses your conversion actions in two ways: to report results, and, for the actions marked as Primary, to decide how to bid.[4] If a page view or a scroll is counted as a Primary conversion, the account is being trained to find people who view pages, not people who enquire.

This is easy to miss, because the dashboard looks healthy. In our sample report for a fictional aircon business, Google Ads showed 312 conversions in a month while the business's own records showed 41 real enquiries; most of the “conversions” were page views imported from Google Analytics.[2] The figures in that sample are illustrative, but the pattern is one we check for in every Ads Check.

The five checks below take about ten minutes and change nothing in your account.

Before you start

A login to the account. Read-only access is enough. If someone else runs your ads, ask them to add you as a read-only user.[3]
Your own count of enquiries for the last 30 days. Count forms received, calls that were real enquiries, and WhatsApp chats started by new customers. A rough count is fine.
The same date range in Google Ads: the last 30 days.

Menu names in Google Ads change from time to time. If a screen looks different from what is described here, look for the list of conversion actions in your account settings.

The five checks

1. Where does each conversion action come from? 2 min

Open the list of conversion actions. For each one, note its source: a tag on your website, an import from Google Analytics, an automatic action from your Google Business Profile, or calls.[5] Imports and automatic actions are where page views and map-direction clicks usually come in.

2. Which actions are Primary? 2 min

Primary actions are the ones used for bidding.[4] Page views, scrolls and Business Profile direction clicks should not be Primary.[1] Write down every Primary action that is not a real enquiry: a form submitted, a qualifying call, or a WhatsApp chat started.

3. Do the numbers add up by action? 2 min

In the campaigns view, break conversions down by conversion action. The parts should add up to the campaign's total. If one action makes up most of the total and it is not a real enquiry, that is the action Google is optimising for.[1]

4. Do WhatsApp, calls and forms each have their own action? 2 min

Look for three separate actions: WhatsApp clicks, call clicks and form submissions. Each should show conversions in the last 30 days. An action with no recent data may be broken, even if your site still gets enquiries.[1]

For calls, check the minimum call length that counts as a conversion.[7] We suggest at least 60 seconds, so short or missed calls are not counted as enquiries.[1]

5. Compare with your own count 2 min

Put Google's conversions for the last 30 days next to your own count of real enquiries for the same days. In our Ads Check, a real enquiry is a form, a qualifying call or a WhatsApp chat started.[1] Some difference is normal: not every enquiry comes from Google Ads. A large gap the other way, where Google reports far more conversions than you received enquiries in total, means Google is counting something else.

Reading the results

What you found	What it usually means	Typical fix
Page views or scrolls set as Primary	Bidding is trained on visits, not enquiries	Set them to Secondary and make sure real enquiry actions are Primary[1]
No separate WhatsApp action	Google can't see chats your ads produce, so it can't bid for more of them	Add a click trigger and conversion tag in Tag Manager, and test it[1]
An action with no data in 30 days	The tag may not load, or the button changed	Check in a browser that the tag manager container loads on the site[1]
Google's total far above your own count	Something other than enquiries is being counted	Go back to checks 2 and 3

What not to change in a hurry

Counting “one” or “every” conversion per click. Google lets you count every conversion after an ad interaction, or only one.[6] The right choice depends on your business, and someone may have chosen it on purpose. Find out what was decided before you change it.[1]
Bid strategy right after fixing conversions. When we move a fake conversion to Secondary, we watch the account for 7 to 14 days before changing anything else.[1]
Brand keywords. Searches for your own business name are not waste. We never pause brand terms; we only make recommendations about them.[1]

Whatever you change, write it down first: what you are changing, the value before, the value after, and how to undo it. Take a screenshot before and after, then compare results 14 days later with the same number of days before the change.[1]

When to get help

These five checks cover the most common problem: counting the wrong thing. They don't cover where the money goes, such as search terms that never bring an enquiry, Search Partners and Display inside Search campaigns, or clicks from outside Singapore. Our Ads Check covers those as part of a 40-point checklist, with a written report and a 30-minute walkthrough. It doesn't promise a result: when we estimate an improvement, we give a range and show how we worked it out.