Google Ads Conversion Goals

Google Ads organizes conversion tracking around three concepts: account-default goals, primary conversion actions, and secondary conversion actions. How you configure these settings directly controls what appears in your Google Ads reporting columns and in the Attributed Results column of your AnyTrack Campaign Report.

How Google Ads Conversion Goals Work

Google Ads groups individual conversion actions (like "Purchase" or "Add to Cart") into conversion goals (like "Purchase" or "Add to shopping cart"). Each goal can be set as an account-default goal or not.

Within each goal, individual conversion actions are classified as either primary or secondary.

Account-Default Goals

When you mark a conversion goal as an account-default, its primary conversion actions apply to all campaigns in your account automatically. Any campaign that does not have a custom goal assigned will use these account-default goals for bidding and reporting.

If a conversion goal is not set as account-default, its conversion actions are only used when you explicitly assign them to a campaign through a custom goal.

Primary Conversion Actions

Primary conversion actions are your main optimization targets. They appear in the Conversions column in Google Ads and are used for Smart Bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS.

For a primary conversion action to count in reporting and bidding, two conditions must be met:

1. The conversion action is set as Primary
2. The campaign uses the goal containing that action (either through account-default goals or a custom campaign goal)

Secondary Conversion Actions

Secondary conversion actions are for observation only. They appear in the All Conversions column but not in the Conversions column. Google Ads does not use them for bidding.

One exception: if you add a secondary conversion action to a custom goal and assign that custom goal to a campaign, Google Ads will use it for bidding in that campaign.

Google Ads Reporting Columns

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Important

The Conversions column in Google Ads only counts primary actions from active goals. If you set a conversion action as secondary, it disappears from the Conversions column even though Google Ads still tracks it.

Shopify and Google Ads Example with AnyTrack

When you connect Shopify to AnyTrack, AnyTrack receives all conversion events from your store and sends them to Google Ads via the Conversion API. The standard events AnyTrack sends from Shopify include:

• ViewContent — Product page views
• AddToCart — Items added to the shopping cart
• InitiateCheckout — Checkout started
• AddPaymentInfo — Payment details entered
• Purchase — Order completed

Each of these events maps to a separate conversion action in Google Ads through Event Mapping. How you classify each conversion action in Google Ads determines what shows in your reports.

Scenario 1: All Events Set as Primary Conversions

If you set ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, AddPaymentInfo, and Purchase all as primary conversion actions within account-default goals:

The problem: Your Conversions column inflates dramatically. A single customer who views a product, adds it to cart, checks out, enters payment, and completes a purchase counts as 5 conversions. Smart Bidding optimizes toward all five actions equally, which dilutes your bidding signal.

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Warning

Setting all Shopify events as primary conversions inflates your Google Ads Conversions column and confuses Smart Bidding. Google optimizes for all events equally instead of focusing on the action that matters most to your business.

Scenario 2: Only Purchase Set as Primary

If you set Purchase as the only primary conversion action and move ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, and AddPaymentInfo to secondary:

This is the recommended setup for most eCommerce advertisers. Your Conversions column reflects actual sales. Smart Bidding focuses on driving purchases. You still see the full funnel in the All Conversions column for analysis.

How This Affects the AnyTrack Campaign Report

The AnyTrack Campaign Report fetches data from Google Ads and displays it alongside your actual conversion data. Two columns pull directly from Google Ads:

• Attributed Results — Maps to the Google Ads Conversions column (primary actions from active goals)
• Attributed Revenue — Maps to the Google Ads Conversion Value column (value from primary actions)

What Controls Attributed Results

The Attributed Results number depends entirely on how you configure Google Ads conversion goals:

1. Which conversion actions are set as Primary — Only primary actions count in Attributed Results
2. Which goals are set as Account-Default — Account-default goals apply to all campaigns unless overridden
3. Campaign-level goal overrides — If a campaign uses a custom goal, only actions in that custom goal count
4. Attribution window — Google Ads applies its own attribution model (data-driven by default) and attribution window (typically 30-day click, 1-day view)
5. Conversion modeling — Google Ads estimates additional conversions that could not be directly observed, which inflates the count above what AnyTrack tracks server-side

Why Attributed Results Differ from AnyTrack Conversions

The AnyTrack Campaign Report shows both Attributed Results (from Google Ads) and actual conversion counts (from your integrations like Shopify). These numbers almost always differ for several reasons:

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Note

Small differences (5-15%) between Attributed Results and AnyTrack Purchase counts are normal. If the gap exceeds 30%, check your Google Ads conversion settings and verify your UTM parameters are correctly installed.

Recommended Google Ads Setup for AnyTrack Users

For the cleanest reporting and most effective bidding:

1. Set Purchase as the only primary conversion in your account-default goals
2. Move all other Shopify events to secondary — ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, AddPaymentInfo
3. Map all events in AnyTrack Event Mapping — Google Ads still receives all events for audience building and funnel analysis, regardless of primary/secondary status
4. Use the All Conversions column in Google Ads to analyze your full funnel
5. Review Attributed Results vs. Purchase counts in the AnyTrack Campaign Report to spot discrepancies early

This setup keeps your Conversions column accurate, gives Smart Bidding a clear signal, and preserves full funnel visibility in All Conversions.