Conversion Action Categories

This guide provides a list of the different types of conversion actions you can create using the Google Ads API, and information on how these map to the Google Ads web interface.

Offline conversions

Offline conversions help you track conversion events that occur in the offline world, such as at your office, business location, or over the phone.

The following table shows the equivalent ConversionActionType API parameters to use for each Source in the Google Ads web interface and a link to the documentation for each specific conversion action type:

Conversion Action Type Google Ads Source API Setup Guide
UPLOAD_CLICKS Track conversions from clicks and enhanced conversions for leads Manage Offline Click Conversions Guide
Enhanced Conversions for Leads Guide
UPLOAD_CALLS Track conversions from calls Import Call Conversions Guide
STORE_SALES Track conversions store sales Import Store Sales Conversions Guide

Online (website) conversions

A website conversion lets you track website actions such as online sales, link clicks, page views, and sign-ups.

To track conversions on your website, you must create a ConversionAction with the ConversionActionType set to WEBPAGE, and add a code snippet called a tag to the conversion page on your website.

The ConversionAction encompasses several types of website conversions, distinguished within the API by the type field in each TagSnippet listed in the tag_snippets field of a ConversionAction.

A TagSnippet provides the tracking code that must be included in your website in order to track your conversion actions. Website and Phone number click conversions require the event_snippet, which should be placed on web pages that indicate a conversion action such as a checkout confirmation or lead form submission page, and global_site_tag, which must be installed on every page of your website. You can retrieve both of these attributes with the ConversionActionService. Check out our Help Center for more information on how to tag your pages.

The following table shows the equivalent API parameters to use for each Source in the Google Ads web interface:

Tracking Code Type Google Ads Source
WEBPAGE Website, Website (Google Analytics (GA4))
WEBPAGE_ONCLICK Website, Website (Google Analytics (GA4))
CLICK_TO_CALL Phone number clicks

App conversions

An app conversion lets you track mobile app installs or in app purchases from the Google Play Store.

The following table shows the equivalent ConversionActionType API parameters to use for each Source in the Google Ads web interface:

Conversion Action Type Google Ads Source
GOOGLE_PLAY_DOWNLOAD Google Play > Installs
GOOGLE_PLAY_IN_APP_PURCHASE Google Play > In-app purchases

To track other mobile app actions using Google Analytics 4 properties or third-party app analytics, see Additional Conversion Action Types.

Phone call conversions

Phone call conversion tracking lets you tracks calls from ads, calls to a number on your website and clicks on numbers on mobile sites.

The following table shows the equivalent ConversionActionType API parameters to use for each Source in the Google Ads web interface:

Conversion Action Type Google Ads Source
AD_CALL Calls from ads using call extensions or call-only ads
WEBSITE_CALL Calls to a phone number on your website
CLICK_TO_CALL Clicks on a number on your mobile website

AD_CALL

An AD_CALL conversion action appears as a Calls from ads conversion in the Google Ads web interface. After you create your AD_CALL conversion action, specify its resource name in the call_conversion_action field when you create a CallAsset. Call assets let you show a phone number directly in your ads.

A call is reported as a conversion if it lasts longer than a specified duration. The default is 60 seconds.

WEBSITE_CALL

A WEBSITE_CALL conversion action appears as a Calls from a website conversion in the Google Ads web interface.

Unlike AD_CALL, this tracker requires event_snippet and global_site_tag to be added to your website to retrieve the dynamic Google forwarding number for call tracking on numbers listed on your website. In addition, you must set up a call asset and link it at the customer, campaign, or ad group level.

CLICK_TO_CALL

A CLICK_TO_CALL conversion action appears as a Clicks on your number on your mobile website conversion in the Google Ads web interface.

The CLICK_TO_CALL type differs from the AD_CALL type in that it does not track actual phone calls. Instead, CLICK_TO_CALL only tracks clicks on a phone number from a mobile device. This is useful when you're unable to use a Google forwarding number for tracking phone calls.

Enhanced conversions

Enhanced conversions help you to improve the accuracy of your conversion measurement by supplementing your existing conversion tags with first-party conversion data, like email address, name, home address, and phone number.

The following table shows the equivalent API parameters to use for each Enhanced Conversion Type:

Conversion Action Type Enhanced Conversion Type API Setup Guide
UPLOAD_CLICKS Enhanced conversions for leads
Improves measurement of offline transactions that came from a website lead or visitor 		API Setup Guide
WEBPAGE Enhanced conversions for web
Improves measurement of online conversions 		API Setup Guide

Additional conversion action types

The Google Ads API makes additional types of conversion actions available in reports, but may limit or prohibit creation or modification of those actions.

SKAdNetwork conversions

If you run iOS App campaigns and have implemented SKAdNetwork, you can access SKAdNetwork data provided to Google at the Customer and Campaign level using the following resources:

Report field Description
metrics.sk_ad_network_installs The number of installs reported by Apple. This metric can only be segmented by any combination of segments.sk_ad_network_conversion_value and date-related segments.
metrics.sk_ad_network_total_conversions The total number of conversions, including installs and other types of conversions reported by Apple. This metric can only be segmented by SKAdNetwork-related segments and date-related segments.
segments.sk_ad_network_ad_event_type The type of event that occurred for a particular conversion.
segments.sk_ad_network_attribution_credit How attribution is credited for a particular conversion.
segments.sk_ad_network_fine_conversion_value

The value of a conversion reported by Apple. This segment cannot be applied to any metrics other than metrics.sk_ad_network_installs, metrics.sk_ad_network_total_conversions, and can only be combined with date-related segments.

A value of 0 is returned if Apple reports a value of 0 and no value otherwise. Check the field presence to distinguish between the two cases.
segments.sk_ad_network_coarse_conversion_value The coarse value for an individual conversion.
segments.sk_ad_network_postback_sequence_index The position of the postback, in sequence, for a particular conversion.
segments.sk_ad_network_source_app.sk_ad_network_source_app_id The app id where the ad that drove the iOS Store Kit Ad Network install was shown.
segments.sk_ad_network_source_domain The website where the ad that drove the iOS Store Kit Ad Network install was shown. A null value means this segment is not applicable--for example, a non-iOS campaign--or was not present in any postbacks sent by Apple.
segments.sk_ad_network_source_type The source type where the ad that drove the iOS Store Kit Ad Network install was shown. A null value means this segment is not applicable — for example, non-iOS campaign — or that neither the source domain nor source app were present in any postbacks sent by Apple.
segments.sk_ad_network_user_type The type of user that generated a particular conversion.
segments.sk_ad_network_redistributed_fine_conversion_value The conversion values in this segment include null values that were redistributed to conversion values. This segment represents the sum of observed fine conversion values returned by Apple and modeled null values from Google.
segments.sk_ad_network_version The iOS Store Kit Ad Network API version that was used.

Google Analytics

Conversions from a linked Google Analytics property have one of the following type values:

  • GA4 property conversion:

    • GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_CUSTOM
    • GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_PURCHASE

    You can also retrieve the GA4 property ID, property name, and event name from the google_analytics_4_settings field.

You can make the following changes to a GA4 property conversion:

  • Import the conversion from your GA4 property into your Google Ads account by modifying its status field from HIDDEN to ENABLED.
  • Modify its primary_for_goal and category fields to indicate how it should impact Google Ads bidding and reports.
  • Update its name or value_settings.
  • Remove the conversion from your Google Ads account using a remove operation.

Any attempt to modify other attributes of an imported GA4 conversion or any attributes of an imported Universal Analytics conversion results in a MUTATE_NOT_ALLOWED error. You can only make those changes using the Google Ads UI.

Firebase and third-party app analytics

To import third-party app analytics or Firebase conversions, change the status of the ConversionAction from HIDDEN to ENABLED using the mutate method of ConversionActionService. Updating the app_id is not supported for these conversion actions.

  • FIREBASE_ANDROID_FIRST_OPEN
  • FIREBASE_ANDROID_IN_APP_PURCHASE
  • FIREBASE_ANDROID_CUSTOM
  • FIREBASE_IOS_FIRST_OPEN
  • FIREBASE_IOS_IN_APP_PURCHASE
  • FIREBASE_IOS_CUSTOM
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_ANDROID_FIRST_OPEN
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_ANDROID_IN_APP_PURCHASE
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_ANDROID_CUSTOM
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_IOS_FIRST_OPEN
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_IOS_IN_APP_PURCHASE
  • THIRD_PARTY_APP_ANALYTICS_IOS_CUSTOM

Store sales: import to conversion action with reporting

Although you cannot create STORE_SALES or STORE_SALES_DIRECT_UPLOAD conversion actions using the Google Ads API, the API does support importing store sales transactions.

  • STORE_SALES
  • STORE_SALES_DIRECT_UPLOAD

Read-only conversion action types

The following conversion action types are read-only in the Google Ads API and provided for reporting purposes.

  • ANDROID_APP_PRE_REGISTRATION
  • ANDROID_INSTALLS_ALL_OTHER_APPS
  • FLOODLIGHT_ACTION
  • FLOODLIGHT_TRANSACTION
  • GOOGLE_HOSTED
  • LEAD_FORM_SUBMIT
  • SALESFORCE
  • SEARCH_ADS_360
  • SMART_CAMPAIGN_AD_CLICKS_TO_CALL
  • SMART_CAMPAIGN_MAP_CLICKS_TO_CALL
  • SMART_CAMPAIGN_MAP_DIRECTIONS
  • SMART_CAMPAIGN_TRACKED_CALLS
  • STORE_VISITS
  • WEBPAGE_CODELESS

Unknown

If your Google Ads account includes other types of conversion actions, you may find that queries and reports return conversion actions where the ConversionAction.type is UNKNOWN. The API does not support managing these conversion actions, but returns them in reports in order to provide complete results for key conversion metrics such as metrics.conversions and metrics.conversions_value.

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