Now more than ever, people research online to find the products and services they need nearby. Google Ads can impact those online research decisions that lead to a visit to your store, restaurant or local business. Understanding the relationship between your ads on Google and what happens in your stores has never been more important, especially as the lines between online and offline continue to blur. Measuring actions in the real world that matter to your business is the first step in growing sales in your store.
Google offers a variety of ways to measure the impact that your online ads have on your physical store. Eligibility usually depends on how many interactions people have with your Google Ads and where your business is located. These measurement capabilities range from measuring store visit indicators, like calls or clicks on directions to your business, to the ability to measure actual sales in your store.
Measure foot traffic with store visits
Store visit conversions use advanced machine learning, robust mapping technology, and opted-in user location data to measure footfall after interactions with your ads. Store visits are available for all Google Ads campaign types. The metric provides insight into the number of users who visited your store up to 30 days after they clicked on your Search or Display ad, or watched or engaged with your YouTube ad.
Note
Store visits are available in select countries after linking a Business Profile and reaching enough volume of receiving visits from ads. Check if you’re already reporting store visit conversions, or contact a Google Account Manager and see if you’re eligible for this feature
Review your settings for store visit conversions so that they’re aligned with your business goals:
- Set your conversion window. The default window is 30 days. If customers typically make a purchase sooner after clicking on an ad, you may want to shorten the window. Check your conversion delay to help understand this behavior. Learn more about store visit conversion windows here
- Set a store visit value. Setting a value for store visits is important to understand how offline behavior contributes to your total return on ad spend. Let’s start with a simple model for calculating the value of an offline conversion for your online campaigns. You can partner with your offline store marketing team to help you get started on some of the basic assumptions. Watch this tutorial video to learn more about valuing store visits.
Learn more about store visit conversions
Measure offline intent with local actions
Whether you are eligible for store visits or not, local actions conversions are a great way to understand consumer interest in your local offerings.
Local actions conversions happen on Google’s products and services (for example, Google Maps), and are automatically defined by Google Ads. Actions you can measure include directions, clicks, calls, orders, menu views and website visits.
Learn more about local actions.
Tip
View the per store report to see the number of visits and other store-specific local actions you’re getting for each of your physical locations.
Measure in-store sales
Store sales measurement is available in Google Ads and SA360 for eligible Search, Shopping, and YouTube advertisers. This allows you to go one step further by measuring in-store purchases, not just store visits.
Learn more about store sales measurement for retailers and restaurants and store sales measurement for other business types.
Some advertisers receive store sales reporting automatically through our modeling algorithms. See if you’re already reporting store sales, or contact a Google Account Manager and see if you’re eligible for this feature.
