About enhanced conversions for web in the Google Ads API

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Enhanced conversions for web is a feature that can improve the accuracy of your conversion measurement. It supplements your existing conversion data by sending hashed first-party customer data in a privacy-safe way. The hashed customer data is compared to hashed customer data of signed-in Google accounts and attributed to ad events such as clicks and video views to help measure your campaign conversions.

This article will explain how to set up enhanced conversions using the Google Ads API.

Note: This article only covers setting up enhanced conversions using the Google Ads API. You can Set up enhanced conversions for web manually with Google Tag Manager or Set up enhanced conversion for web manually with the Google tag.

Benefits

  • First-party data can be provided after the conversion event: Unlike other enhanced conversions options like tagging that require you to send first-party data at the time of the conversion, you can use the API to send hashed first-party data up to 24 hours after the conversion event. This also enables you to locate first-party data from other sources, such a customer database or CRM system.
  • More choices for your data source: Using the API enables you to locate first-party data from a variety of sources, such as a customer database or CRM system.

Note: App incrementality studies currently require a different API implementation than what’s described in this article. Reach out to your sales representative if you're interested in this type of experiment.


How it works

Using the Google Ads API, you can leverage enhanced conversions by sending first-party customer data in the form of conversion adjustments. The process for sending enhanced conversion data is similar to other conversion adjustments with some key differences. Learn how to implement enhanced conversions for web using Google Ads API conversion adjustments.

In order to implement enhanced conversions using the Google Ads API, you must record conversions using a regular conversion tracking tag on your website. After a conversion is recorded, you can then send hashed first-party data (such as email address, phone number, name, and/or home address) via an API connection up until 24 hours after the conversion.

The hashed data you send us is matched against Google logged-in user data and a conversion is reported in your account.

You’ll need to format the data into a standard format and then hash it using SHA-256 before sending it to Google.

Before you begin

Note: Conversions measured by importing Google Analytics goals aren't supported for enhanced conversions. If you'd like to use enhanced conversions, consider setting up a new Google Ads conversion action with a Google tag or Google Tag Manager.

  • Know the conversion page URL where the conversion tag fires (such as the confirmation page URL) and the conversion event trigger (for example, a button click or a page view).
  • Make sure that there is first-party customer data available (email, full name and home address and/or phone number).
  • Make sure that you’ve reviewed the Customer data policies and agreed to the terms of service and policies in Google Ads (refer to steps on this below, under Instructions).

Instructions

Set up enhanced conversions with the Google Ads API

Follow the instructions in Google Ads developer documentation for enhanced conversions.

Note: Make sure to send the conversion data using enhanced conversions API within 24 hours of the conversion to ensure that we can attribute and perform the measurement for you in a timely way.

  1. In your Google Ads account, click the Goals icon Goals Icon.
  2. Click the Conversions drop down in the section menu.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Expand the “Enhanced conversions for web” panel.
  5. Check “Turn on enhanced conversions for web”.
  6. Review compliance statement. To enable enhanced conversions you must confirm that you'll comply with our policies and that the Google Ads Data Processing Terms apply to your use of enhanced conversions. Click Agree to acknowledge your acceptance of these terms.
  7. Click the dropdown to choose a method for setting up and managing user-provided data. Select “Google Ads API”.
    Note: If you send Google enhanced conversions data in a way that’s different from what you’ve already selected in Google Ads, that data may not be processed. For example, if you select “Google tag” and try to send data through API, the data sent through API won’t be processed.
  8. Make sure you've set up a conversion tracking tag on your website and that you're Using the transaction ID function tag so Google is able to match your tag conversions with your API conversions to avoid duplication.
  9. Set up a server in your internal system that's capable of sending the data (first-party customer data, conversion data, and click identifier data) using an HTTPS connection, the industry standard for secure data transmission.
  10. Use the Google Ads API to send conversion data to Google. You’ll need to format the data into a standard format and then hash it using SHA-256 before sending it to Google. Learn more about how to format and send enhanced conversions for web data to Google via the API.
    • Note: Make sure to send the conversion data using the Google Ads API within 24 hours of the conversion to ensure that we can attribute and perform the measurement for you in a timely way.
  11. After sending data to Google, review the responses your server receives to ensure there are no errors.

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