Key takeaways
- A conversion has no universal definition: it's the action you declared as one in the platform.
- The counting method changes everything: every conversion or one per click, which can double the figure.
- Two platforms will never count the same number of conversions, because they don't attribute over the same windows.
Definition
A conversion is an action declared as a goal in the advertising platform: a purchase, a form, a call, a sign-up.
Worked example
An account shows 180 conversions for the month. Looking at the detail, 120 are forms and 60 are contact-page views, wrongly declared as conversions. The real figure is 120, and the actual CPA is therefore half as high again as the one shown.
The most common mistakes
- Declaring several actions of unequal value as conversions. The total becomes uninterpretable and so does cost per conversion.
- Ignoring the counting setting. In "every" counting, one customer who buys three times counts three conversions; in "one" counting, just one.
- Adding up conversions from several platforms. Each claims its own by its own window, and the same sale can be counted twice.
Where to find the metric
In Google Ads, the Conversions column, with the breakdown by conversion action. In Meta, the Results column, which follows the campaign objective. In GA4, under the name key events since the vocabulary overhaul.
Frequently asked questions
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The Adwise team connects Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, GA4 and Search Console so agencies and freelancers can run their campaigns from a single place.