About updated conversion categories

Conversion tracking starts with you creating a conversion action in your Google Ads account. A conversion action is a specific customer activity that is valuable to your business. Before you start, you can set up a new conversion category by following the instructions in Set up conversion tracking for your website.

When creating a conversion action, you can select the conversion category that best describes this action, which can be useful when segmenting your conversion reporting data by category.

Starting in May 2020, you can choose from an expanded list of conversion categories. This expanded list provides more granularity to describe the conversion actions that are the most meaningful for your business.

How it works

Starting in May 2020, when you sign in to your Google Ads account you will be prompted to update your current conversion categories to the new conversion categories, for each conversion action. The updated conversion categories provide more granularity to describe the conversion actions that are the most meaningful for your business.

Previously, you could select the following categories to classify your conversions:

Conversion categories examples

You can choose from the following expanded list of conversion categories when you set up or update conversion tracking for your website:

Conversion Category Business Goals

Updating your conversion categories

If you haven’t already, you should update your existing conversion action categories now and start getting more relevant reports.

Google Ads offers a default suggestion that is a best guess based on the previous conversion category. Make sure you carefully review and modify those suggestions to ensure the correct conversion categories are selected. It’s important to have the correct conversion categories selected so you can accurately segment your campaign performance.

Note: Starting October 15th, 2020, the suggested categories will be automatically applied if you haven’t already updated or accepted them.
Note: The instructions below are part of a new Google Ads user experience that will launch for all advertisers in 2024. If you’re still using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.
  1. In your Google Ads account, click the Goals icon Goals Icon.
  2. Click the Conversions drop down in the section menu.
  3. Click Summary.
  4. Review and update your conversion categories.
  5. Click Update now in the conversion categories notification in the center of the page.
  6. Review the suggested updated conversion categories and click Update.

Updating conversion category UI screen

Google Ads API users

Google Ads API, AdWords API and Google Ads Scripts users will see the following changes:

  • If you are using the Google Ads API, the new conversion categories are already available. No further action is needed.
  • If you are using the AdWords API, you can read about conversion category changes in AdWords API, Google Ads API, and Google Ads scripts, which explains how you are impacted. Since there won’t be a new version released for the AdWords API, the new conversion category types will be translated per the mapping described in the blogpost.

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