How to install Google Ads conversion tracking code

This tutorial will teach you how to setup Google Ads conversion tracking code for local service business.

Set by step Guide to setting up Google conversion tracking code

Login to your Google Ads account here.

Click on the tools & setting icon at the top left hand corner of your screen as shown on the image below.

Once you click on the "tools & settings" icon, a popup menu list will appear.

Look for and click on "measurement" from the list.

Once you click on measurement, a drop down menu will appear below measurement.

Click on conversion from the drop down menu list that appears below measurement

Once you click on conversion, another page will open.

Look for the blue plus sign button and click on it.

Once you click on the blue plus sign button, you'll be taken to another page where you'll be required to select the kind of conversion you want to track.

For local service business, the conversion to track is when a form is filled on your website and when someone clicks on the phone number on your website and call your business.

So, as a local service business, you are going to install two conversion tracking codes namely:

• Website tracking code
• Phone call tracking code

How to install website tracking code

The job of a website tracking code is to track the number of people who click your Ads, arrived on your website/landing page and filled a form like a "contact us form", "free consultation form" or "free quote form"

To start installing this code, click on website box as shown on the image below

Once you click it, you will be sent to another page where you will be required to fill some forms.

The first form is the category form where you will be asked to select the type of conversion action you'd like to track.

As a local service business, the conversion action to track on your website is:

• Contact
• Book appointment
• Request a quote

You only have the option of choosing one, so make sure that the one you finally choose represents the conversion goal of your campaign.

For example, if your conversion goal is for potential clients to book an appointment or request a free consultation, then choosing "Book appointment" is ideal.

If your goal is for potential customers to request a free quote, then selecting a "free quote" is ideal.

If your goal is for potential customers to fill a contact form on your website, then "contact" is ideal.

To select the actions you'd like to track, click on select as shown on the image below.

Once you click on select, a drop down menu will appear showing different ways you can use to track conversion actions.

Select the action you'd like to track as a conversion.

Like I said earlier, that action for local service businesses is either contact, book appointment or request quote.

Once you select the action you'd like to track as a conversion, next is to name your conversion tag.

By default, Google will name your conversion tag with the conversion action you're tracking.

But if you don't like the name Google gave, you can still change it to the name of your choice.

Just make sure that the name you gave matches the conversion action or goal you are tracking.

For the image below, I selected "Book appointment" as the action I'd like to track as a conversion goal and Google automatically named my conversion "Book appointment"

I'm leaving the conversion name as "book appointment" because it tells me what the conversion goal is all about.

Next is to add the value of a conversion.

It's near impossible to calculate the conversion value for a local service business.

So, you don't have to add any value here.

Check the "Don't use a value for this conversion action (not recommended)" box as shown on the image below.

Next is to select how many times you want to count a conversion from a single person.

For ecommerce website, you will track each and every purchase that happens but for a local service business, you don't want to do so as doing it will artificially inflate your results.

So, select the "one" box to count multiple conversion from a single person as one conversion.

Once you select how many times you want to count a conversion from a single person, hit the "create and continue" button.

Once you click "create and continue" button, you'll be taken to another page where you'll be required to set up the tag to add to your website

There are three ways you can setup the tag on your website.

You can either set it up on your website yourself and that is if you know how to edit your website code or know your way around your website backend.

Or, you could email the code to your website designer to do so.

Emailing it to your website designer is my best recommendation, if you don't know how to add the code to your website.

Another alternative is to use Google tag manager but using Google tag manager will require you hire an expert too.

Lets say, you want to add the code yourself. Click on the "install the tag yourself" box.

Once you click the box, Google will bring out two code you will copy and paste on your website backend with instructions on how to do so.

The first code to copy and install on your website is the Global site tag.

And the second is the "Event snippet"

Copy the "Global site tag" and paste it in between the <head></head> tags of every page of your website.

Next is to copy the "event snippet" and paste it in between the <head></head> tags of the page(s) you'd like to track, right after the global site tag e.g. your thank you page

After installing the website tracking, the next thing to do is to create and install the tag you will use to track people that click and called your business from the phone number displayed on your website

How to create and install phone call conversion tag

The first thing to do is to click on the "tools & settings" icon on the top left hand corner of your screen.

Once you click on it look for the word "measurement" from the list that appears.

After clicking on the word "measurement" another list will appear. Look for and click on the word "conversion"

After clicking on the word "conversion" a new page will open displaying all the various ways you could use to install your tag and track conversion.

Look for the box whose title says "Phone calls" and click on it like the image below.

Once you click it, look below, a list will appear asking you to select the source of the phone calls you'd like to track.

Select calls to a phone number on your website as shown below.

Next action is to click the blue "continue" button.

Once you click the "continue" button, a new page will open.

On the new page, you will be required to fill some fields.

Leave the category field as it is and scroll down to the conversion name to name this conversion action.

Name the conversion action "calls to phone number on website"

Scroll down to the "value" segment and select "Don't use a value for this conversion action (not recommended)" as shown below. 

Scroll down to the "count" section and select "one" as shown below.

Next is to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the blue "create and continue" button.

Once you click the button, you will be taken to another page where you'll set up the tag to add to your website.

On the next page, you'll be given the option of choosing how to install your tag on your website.

You'll be given the option of installing it yourself, emailing the tag to your website designer to install or using Google tag manager to install the tag.

I recommend you email it to your website designer to help you install the tag if you are not familiar with your website backed.

But for this tutorial, I'll show you how to install it yourself.

Select the install it yourself box as shown on the image below.

Once you select the "install the tag yourself" box, you'll be given two tags to copy and paste on your website.

The first code to copy and paste on your website is the Global site tag but since you have already done that when you were setting up the tag to track forms filled on your website, there is no need of copying and pasting it again as it can only be done once.

Scroll down to the "Phone snippet". Add your phone number and click create snippet button.

After adding your phone number and clicking create snippet, scroll down to Install the phone snippet and copy the code as shown on the image below.

Once you copy the code, paste it between the <head></head> tags of the pages where your phone number appears, right after the global site tag

Conclusion

Tracking the performance of your Ads is very important. With tracking in place, you'll be able to see what works and what doesn't.

You will be able to cut down on waste while putting in more efforts in time and resources on the things that gives you the best ROI.

If you need help installing Google conversion tracking on your website, reach-out to me by requesting a free consultation and I'll help you install it.