Troubleshooting

Managing conversions requires a complex integration, often involving multiple interdependent tools and processes. This guide offers detailed steps you can take to troubleshoot any issues you're having, whether you're getting errors from the API that you don't understand, or if you're confused about the metrics or diagnostics you see in the UI.

Reading metrics in the Google Ads UI

Problems with Enhanced Conversions for Leads

Common errors

Error
NO_CONVERSION_ACTION_FOUND

The specified conversion action is either not enabled, or cannot be accessed by the client account specified by the `client_id` field in the request. Make sure the conversion action in your upload is enabled and is owned by the customer sending the upload request.

This error may also occur if the GCLID in the request belongs to a client account that does not have access to the conversion action specified in the request. You can verify whether a GCLID belongs to a client account using the click_view resource, by submitting a query that filters by click_view.gclid and segments.date, where the date is the date the click occurred.

INVALID_CONVERSION_ACTION_TYPE The specified conversion action has a type that is not valid for enhanced conversions for leads. Make sure the ConversionAction specified in your upload request has type UPLOAD_CLICKS.
CLICK_CONVERSION_ALREADY_EXISTS A conversion with this conversion_date_time already exists for this click. Make sure the conversion_date_time is unique for each event and try again..
CUSTOMER_NOT_ENABLED_ENHANCED_CONVERSIONS_FOR_LEADS Make sure you've enabled enhanced conversions for leads in your conversion settings. Find instructions for this in the prerequisites guide.
DUPLICATE_ORDER_ID Imported events include multiple conversions with the same Order ID and were not processed. Make sure Order IDs are unique and try again.
CLICK_NOT_FOUND No click was found that matched the provided user identifiers. The Google Ads API only returns this error if debug_enabled is true on the UploadClickConversionsRequest.

If a conversion encounters this warning, the Google Ads API includes it in the successful_event_count of your offline data diagnostics. The Google Ads API includes an entry for CLICK_NOT_FOUND in the alerts collection so you can monitor the frequency of this warning.

This error is expected if the click is not from a Google Ads campaign. For example it may come from SA360 or DV360. Other possible causes are as follows:

In rare instances where the uploading customer is different from the Google Ads conversion customer, this error can mean that the uploading customer has accepted the customer data terms, but the serving customer has not.

You can determine if an account has accepted the customer data terms by querying the customer resource and checking the customer.offline_conversion_tracking_info.accepted_customer_data_terms field.

Discrepancies in metrics

Keep in mind the following common issues:

  • Conversions may be dropped by our processing pipeline for various reasons, and such conversions are unrecoverable. See the article Data discrepancies after a successful upload for more information.

  • Double-check that the Google tag is set up correctly on your webpage, and firing on lead form submissions. If your tag is not firing on form submissions, or if it is sending incorrect data, then you will likely see low, or no, attribution in uploaded conversions. Review our Help Center articles on configuring Google Tag and configuring Google Tag Manager for enhanced conversions for leads.

  • If you're using enhanced conversions for leads without the Google tag on your webpage, then you must include the GCLID in your conversion imports by setting the ClickConversion.gclid field on each conversion.

  • Check that you're properly specifying consent in your uploads. You can do this by either setting the default consent settings for your account, (In the Google Ads UI, click Tools -> Data Manager -> Consent settings) or by setting the ClickConversion.consent field on each uploaded conversion.

Problems with campaign performance

If you don't have any technical issues uploading your conversions and you are comfortable with the metrics that are presented, but don't see the expected campaign performance improvements, or "lift", after implementing enhanced conversions for leads, reach out to Google Ads Product Support for help.

Problems with Enhanced Conversions for Web

Common errors

Error
CONVERSION_NOT_FOUND A conversion for the supplied conversion action and conversion identifier pair or order_id couldn't be found. Verify the conversion is a Google Ads conversion for the Google Ads conversion customer specified in the request's customer_id.
In addition, verify that the conversion was not for a click where gbraid or wbraid was populated instead of gclid. Google Ads does not support enhanced conversions for web for these conversions.
CUSTOMER_NOT_ACCEPTED_CUSTOMER_DATA_TERMS The customer data terms and conditions have not been accepted for the customer_id of the request. Find instructions for this in the prerequisites guide.
CONVERSION_ALREADY_ENHANCED This conversion has already received an adjustment with the given order_id and conversion_action. Make sure to provide a unique order_id for each conversion.
CONVERSION_ACTION_NOT_ELIGIBLE_FOR_ENHANCEMENT The conversion_action supplied is not eligible for enhanced conversions for web. In the Google Ads UI, make sure you check the Turn on enhanced conversions box on the conversion action referenced in your request. Find instructions for this in the Help Center.

General conversion management issues

Keep in mind the following common issues:

  • Attempting to set any enum field to UNKNOWN will result in a RequestError.INVALID_ENUM_VALUE error. This is a common problem when specifying consent when the advertiser may not know if consent was given. If the status of consent is unknown, it should be set to DENIED.

  • When creating a conversion action for App conversions or Firebase and third-party app analytics, you can only mutate the app_id field on create, once the conversion action has been created this field cannot be changed.

  • When creating a conversion action, you can only set the ConversionAction.attribution_model_settings.attribution_model field to either GOOGLE_ADS_LAST_CLICK or GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_DATA_DRIVEN. Any other option will result in a CANNOT_SET_RULE_BASED_ATTRIBUTION_MODELS error. Our blog post announcing the deprecation of other attribution models has more details.

  • The allowed range for the click_through_lookback_window_days field is [1, 60] for conversion actions with type AD_CALL and WEBSITE_CALL. For most other conversion actions the allowed range is [1, 30].

  • The allowed range for the view_through_lookback_window_days field is [1, 30] for most conversion actions. This field must be unset for conversion actions of type AD_CALL and WEBSITE_CALL.

  • Setting or updating the include_in_conversion_metrics field on a conversion action will result in a FieldError.IMMUTABLE_FIELD error. Instead, set the primary_for_goal field, as described in the conversion goals guide.

  • When creating a conversion action of type WEBSITE_CALL or AD_CALL, the value_settings.always_use_default_value must be set to true. Specifying a value of false will result in an INVALID_VALUE error.

Common errors

Error
INVALID_CONVERSION_ACTION_TYPE The specified conversion action has a type that is not valid for uploading click conversions. Make sure the ConversionAction specified in your upload request has type UPLOAD_CLICKS.
NO_CONVERSION_ACTION_FOUND The specified conversion action is either not enabled or cannot be found within the uploading customer_id. Retrieve information about your conversion setup to make sure the conversion action in your upload is enabled and is owned by the customer_id of the upload request.
TOO_RECENT_CONVERSION_ACTION The conversion action is newly created. Wait at least 6 hours after the action is created before retrying the failed conversions.
INVALID_CUSTOMER_FOR_CLICK The customer_id of the request is not the same customer ID that was the Google Ads API conversion account at the time of the click. Update the customer_id of the request to the correct customer.
EVENT_NOT_FOUND Google Ads cannot find the combination of click ID and customer_id. Review the requirements for customer_id and confirm you are uploading using the correct Google Ads account.
DUPLICATE_CLICK_CONVERSION_IN_REQUEST Multiple conversions in the request have the same combination of click ID, conversion_date_time and conversion_action. Remove duplicate conversions from your request.
CLICK_CONVERSION_ALREADY_EXISTS A conversion with the same combination of click ID, conversion_date_time, and conversion_action was previously uploaded. Ignore this error if you were retrying the upload and this conversion previously succeeded. If you want to add another conversion in addition to the previously uploaded conversion, adjust the conversion_date_time of the ClickConversion to avoid duplicating the previously uploaded conversion.
EVENT_NOT_FOUND Google Ads cannot find the combination of click ID and customer_id. Review the requirements for customer_id and confirm you are uploading using the correct Google Ads account.
EXPIRED_EVENT The imported click occurred before the timeframe specified in the click_through_lookback_window_days field. A change to the click_through_lookback_window_days only impacts clicks recorded after the change, so changing the lookback window wouldn't resolve this error for the particular click. If appropriate, change the conversion_action to another action with a longer lookback window.
CONVERSION_PRECEDES_EVENT The conversion_date_time is before the date and time of the click. Update the conversion_date_time to a later value.
GBRAID_WBRAID_BOTH_SET The ClickConversion has a value set for both gbraid and wbraid. Update the conversion to use only one click ID, and make sure you are not combining multiple clicks into the same conversion. Each click has only one click ID.
VALUE_MUST_BE_UNSET Check the location of the GoogleAdsError to determine which of the following issues led to the error.
  • The ClickConversion has a value set for gclid as well as at least one of gbraid or wbraid. Update the conversion to use only one click ID, and make sure you are not combining multiple clicks into the same conversion. Each click has only one click ID.
  • The ClickConversion has a value set for either gbraid or wbraid and has a value for custom_variables. Google Ads does not support custom variables for a conversion with a gbraid or wbraid click ID. Unset the custom_variables field of the conversion.