Google Ads has simplified the conversion tracking setup to help you measure your app's performance more easily and accurately. Specifically, Google Ads automatically creates and enables conversion actions for you to help ensure that your conversion tracking set up is complete and you’re able to capture valuable conversion data.
This article explains how automatically enabled app conversion actions work and how they affect your account.
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Benefits
- Simplified setup: Since Google Ads automatically creates and enables conversion actions for you, you won't have to perform extra manual steps and your conversion tracking set up is complete.
- Complete and accurate data: With automated creation and enablement of conversion actions, you have more complete and accurate data for measurement for your App campaigns.
How it works
Previously, to measure app conversions from your third-party App Attribution Partner (AAP), you’re required to set up the conversion action in your AAP's settings. Afterwards, you manually enable it in your Google Ads account. Now, when you use a third-party AAP to track app conversions, such as "first_open" or "in_app_purchase" , your AAP sends the data to Google Ads that triggers the following actions:
- Creation and enablement of conversion action: If Google Ads receives data for a conversion event that you haven't set up in your account yet, we'll automatically create and enable the conversion action for you.
- One-time update: We'll also perform a single update to enable any "
first_open" or "in_app_purchase" conversion actions that are currently hidden in your account.
Impact on your campaign bidding
To prevent unexpected changes to your campaign performance or ad spend, all automatically enabled conversion actions are set as “secondary” by default.
- Secondary conversion actions: These conversion actions are used for reports and observations only. They aren’t used for bidding optimization, even if they belong to a goal that your campaign optimizes.
- Primary conversion actions: These conversion actions are used for bidding optimization. Your Smart Bid strategies use these conversions to help you reach your goals.
Conversion goals
Automatically enabled conversion actions will be organized into the appropriate conversion goal based on their category, like “Purchase” or “Download”.
- If a relevant goal already exists in your account, the new action will be added to the goal as a secondary action.
- If a relevant goal doesn't exist, Google Ads will create a new one. This new goal will not be set as an account-default goal, which ensures it will not affect your bidding until you manually add the goal to a campaign.
Keep in mind
- Supported App Attribution Partner: This update applies only when an App Attribution Partner sends app conversions through the App Conversion API (ACAPI). It doesn't apply to Firebase (FiB) conversions.
- Manage your conversion actions: We'd encourage you to review your automatically enabled conversion actions.
- Hidden conversion actions: If you intentionally kept an existing "
first_open" or "in_app_purchase" conversion action hidden because you didn’t want to measure it, the one-time update will automatically enable it as a secondary conversion action. However, you can easily disable the conversion action again and that choice will be respected moving forward.
