How to check your Google Ads conversion tracking is working

Google Ads conversion tracking works if, on the conversion page, the browser sends a request to /pagead/conversion/<your account number>/ with your conversion label, the order value, a currency code and a transaction ID. The Google tag on every other page should only send remarketing hits, without a label.

Skip the DevTools: the free scan loads your page in a real browser, accepts and rejects the cookie banner, and shows what the Google Ads actually sent.

At a glance

Tag script: The Google tag: googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-… or a Google Tag Manager container
Conversion request: googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion/<number>/?label=…&value=…&currency_code=…&oid=… (also sent to google.com/pagead/1p-conversion/…)
IDs: Conversion ID AW- plus 9–11 digits; a conversion label such as AbC-D_efG-h12_34-567 per conversion action
Click IDs: gclid, plus gbraid and wbraid for iOS app and web traffic
Consent: Google Consent Mode v2: a default before the tag, an update when the visitor answers

Check it yourself in two minutes

Open the landing page from an ad link, or add ?gclid=test123 to your URL, in a private window with DevTools on the Network tab.
Filter on pagead. On ordinary pages you should see remarketing requests (/pagead/viewthrough or /pagead/1p-user-list), without a label.
Complete a test order. On the confirmation page, open the /pagead/conversion/ request and check: label matches the conversion action in Google Ads (Goals, then Conversions, then the action, then Tag setup), value is the order value, currency_code is set and oid carries the order number.
Reload the confirmation page. Google Ads ignores a second conversion with the same oid; without one, a reload counts twice.
For a guided view, use Tag Assistant (tagassistant.google.com) with your site URL: it lists every Google tag event and the parameters it sent.

In Google Ads, the conversion action's status ("Recording conversions", "No recent conversions", "Unverified") shows whether Google has received anything in the last days. It lags by hours, so use the Network tab to test a change.

Why the Google Ads breaks, and how to fix it

The conversion fires on the wrong page, or on every page

A conversion event placed in the site-wide Google tag, or a GTM tag on "All Pages", turns every page view into a "purchase". The opposite also happens: a checkout redesign changes the thank-you URL and the trigger never fires again. Make the conversion fire only on the order confirmation, ideally on a dataLayer purchase event rather than a URL rule.

No transaction ID, so reloads count twice

Shoppers reload or bookmark the confirmation page, and email links bring them back to it. Pass the order number as transaction_id and Google Ads counts each order once:

gtag('event', 'conversion', {
  send_to: 'AW-123456789/AbC-D_efG-h12_34-567',
  value: 84.50,
  currency: 'EUR',
  transaction_id: '10045'
});

Redirects drop the gclid

Google Ads ties a conversion to a click through the gclid on the landing page URL. If a redirect drops it, the conversion is lost to Google Ads even though the tag fires. Test with the click ID redirect tester, and in Google Tag Manager make sure a Conversion Linker tag fires on all pages: it is what stores the click ID in a first-party cookie.

Consent Mode missing or incomplete

For visitors in the EEA and the UK, Google needs Consent Mode v2 signals (ad_user_data and ad_personalization) to use the data for measurement and audiences. A missing default, or one set after the tag fires, means Google cannot model the conversions of visitors who decline. See Consent Mode default is not set.

Counted twice: Google Ads tag and GA4 import

Many accounts both import a GA4 purchase key event and use the Google Ads tag, with both set as primary conversion actions. Bidding then sees every sale twice. Choose one as primary and set the other to secondary. This does not show in the browser, so check Goals, then Conversions, then Summary in Google Ads.

What the free scan checks

The Google tag loads and a Google Ads account is tagged
Only one Google Ads account, or every extra one is yours
A Consent Mode v2 default is set before the tag fires, and accepting updates it
After "reject all", Google does not report consent as granted
The gclid, gbraid and wbraid survive your redirects
On an order confirmation page: the conversion carries a value, a currency and a transaction ID

Server-side events (Conversions APIs, server-side tagging) are invisible to a public scan, so the report never marks them as working or broken.

Sources

Updated 2026-10-27. Based on the platforms' public documentation and the requests their public tags make; menus and names change, so check the linked pages if a step looks different.