In short: measurement is never finished, it degrades: websites change, plugins update, new forms appear, cookie banners get touched. The signs that it's broken are recognisable — conversions dropping off a cliff, duplicates, figures that don't match the CRM — and the only defence is a routine: an end-to-end test every month and an audit every quarter.
Tracking is not a project you finish: it is an installation that degrades without warning. Websites change, plugins update, new forms appear, CMPs get reconfigured. Any one of those things can leave your account optimising towards false data for weeks. This module closes with the routine for spotting it in time.
Where do you check the status of conversions?
It lists all your actions with three key columns:
- Status: Recording conversions (good) · No recent conversions (nothing recorded for days: is it broken or is that normal?) · Unverified (it has never recorded anything) · Inactive (Google cannot detect the tag).
- Type: primary or secondary. Check it is still as you decided: new actions are born primary by default.
- Diagnostics: Google warns about a missing tag, Consent Mode not detected, a drop in volume, duplicates, null values.
A two-minute review here every week prevents most disasters.
How do you run an end-to-end measurement test?
Once a month, make a real conversion yourself from an ad: search for your keyword, click on your ad (yes, it costs a click), fill in the form with an identifiable email address. The next day, check:
- That the conversion appears in Google Ads (in the campaign and on the date of the click).
- That the lead reached the CRM/inbox with the right details.
- That it is one conversion, not two or three.
If any of the three fails, you now know which week the problem started instead of discovering it at the end of the quarter.
Why compare Google Ads with the CRM?
Every month, count the real leads in the CRM attributable to Google Ads (by whatever source you store: utm, gclid, «how did you hear about us?») and put them next to Google Ads' conversions for the same month. They won't match (lesson 4), but the ratio should be stable: if Google normally shows 20% more than the CRM and one month it shows three times as many, something is being over-counted (spam, duplicates, an event firing too often).
How do you detect duplicate or spam conversions?
- Duplicates: a user who submits twice, two tags, an event firing both on submission and on the thank you page. Symptoms: conversion counts that are exactly even numbers, spikes when something changes on the site. Fix: «one» count on leads, and a single tag.
- Form spam: bots filling in forms fire real conversions as far as Google is concerned. Symptoms: leads with nonsense text, odd email addresses, submissions at unearthly hours, and a CPA that «improves» while no customers arrive. Fixes: reCAPTCHA/honeypot on the form, and in Google Ads, don't count the submission until it has been validated (offline conversions, Intermediate Measurement module).
What signs show that tracking is broken?
Learn to recognise them in the reports before the diagnostics warn you:
| Sign | Suspect |
|---|---|
| Conversions at zero overnight, with normal clicks | Broken tag or thank you page |
| Conversions suddenly double | Duplicated tag or double event |
| An unrealistic conversion rate (30% on cold acquisition) | The event fires on the form page, not on submission |
| Conversions on one device only | A different form on mobile/desktop; one without the tag |
| A CPA that improves while sales don't | Spam, or a secondary action turned primary |
| «No recent conversions» on an action that used to work | Something changed on the website |
Faced with any of them: Tag Assistant first, then the diagnostics, and don't touch bids until you know what has happened. If you confirm a period of bad data, use Smart Bidding's data exclusions so it doesn't learn from it.
Quarterly measurement audit checklist
- Every action with the right status; the unused ones deleted or set to secondary.
- Primary = only what you would pay to get; values in place.
- «One» count on leads, «every» on purchases.
- Windows matching the sales cycle.
- A single Google tag; enhanced conversions active.
- Consent Mode v2 detected and in advanced mode.
- Every campaign with the right conversion goal (not «all»).
- This month's end-to-end test done and noted down.
- Google Ads / CRM ratio within the normal range.
💡 Ninja trick: the signs in the table are, quite literally, rules a script checks every night: conversions at zero with normal clicks, abrupt jumps, actions that stop recording, the weight of L1 against L2. The Ninja Scripts Agent watches them across every account and warns you with the context («the Form action has been at zero for 3 days in account X; clicks are still normal») — and Lead Rating solves spam at the root: only the leads that are genuinely worth something reach Google as a conversion.
What you should remember
- Tracking degrades on its own: weekly review of statuses and diagnostics.
- Monthly real end-to-end test: ad → form → CRM → Google Ads.
- A stable ratio with the CRM, not identical figures.
- Learn the signs of breakage and, when you see one, don't touch bids until you understand it.
End of Module 6. In Module 7 we go into the interface: reports, columns and segments — how to see what really matters in Google Ads.