Conversion tracking in Google Ads monitors what happens after someone clicks your ad. It uses a small piece of code (a conversion tag) placed on key pages of your website to track actions you define as valuable: completed purchases, lead form submissions, phone calls, app downloads, or newsletter signups. Without it, you're flying blind—spending money on clicks with no idea which ones make you money. The system works by dropping a cookie when someone clicks your ad, then firing the conversion tag when they complete your goal action. Google Ads then attributes that conversion back to the original click, letting you see performance at the keyword level. You set a conversion value (what a lead or sale is worth to you), and Google calculates metrics like cost per conversion and ROAS. At Ottawa SEO, we typically set up multiple conversion actions with different values. A contact form submission might be worth $50, a phone call $75, and a direct purchase its actual cart value. This weighting matters because not all conversions are equal—a newsletter signup shouldn't count the same as a $2,000 sale. The data feeds Google's Smart Bidding algorithms. Campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS need at least 30 conversions in 30 days to optimize effectively. Below that threshold, the algorithm doesn't have enough signal and you're better off with manual bidding. Common tracking methods include the global site tag for websites, Google Tag Manager for more control, or app SDK for mobile apps. Server-side tracking is becoming more important as browser privacy features block traditional cookies—Safari already blocks third-party tracking by default, and Chrome is phasing them out. One warning: attribution windows matter. Google's default is 30 days for clicks and 1 day for views, but B2B companies with longer sales cycles often extend click attribution to 90 days. Set it too short and you'll undercount conversions; too long and you'll credit ads for sales that would've happened anyway. For most local service businesses in Ottawa, 30 days is fine. E-commerce can often go shorter.