The rating is worth nothing if it stays in the spreadsheet. It has to reach Google as a conversion value, at the moment Smart Bidding can learn from it. This lesson is the design of that delivery: three conversion actions, each with its own moment and its own value.
The three actions
| Action | When it is uploaded | Value | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw Lead | Automatically, the same day the lead arrives (with a GCLID) | = the 0-100 rating | An immediate, plentiful signal of estimated quality |
| Qualified Lead | When sales mark it in the spreadsheet (checkbox) | The updated rating, or a configurable fixed value | A signal of confirmed quality |
| Sale | When it is marked as a sale | The real amount in € (a column) or a fixed value | The economic truth |
Three actions, three fixed names in Google Ads, created once per account as "Import from clicks".
Why the rating is the raw lead's value
Google Ads cannot read ratings, but it does optimise towards value. If one raw lead comes in with a value of 85 and another with a value of 12, Smart Bidding on value bidding (or maximise value) learns to go looking for the ones on 85. The decisive advantage over uploading only qualified leads and sales: volume and speed. There are a hundred raw leads for every sale, and they arrive the same day.
Primary or secondary: it depends on the strategy
- Campaign on target CPA / maximise conversions: the raw lead should not be primary (it would count every form equally, rating or no rating). Primary: qualified (and sale). Raw: secondary (observation) or, if you want its value to count, move the strategy to value.
- Campaign on target ROAS / maximise value: the raw lead with its value can be primary: the algorithm weights by rating. Sale with an amount is primary too (values on the same scale: see below).
The scale of values: if the raw lead is worth 0-100 and the sale €1,200, the sale weighs far more — correctly so, it is more valuable. If you want to balance them, the qualified lead takes an intermediate value and the raw one can be scaled (rating × factor) so a lead on 100 is worth a sensible fraction of an average sale.
Configuring the actions
- Type: import from clicks (GCLID) — or enhanced conversions for leads (hashed email/phone) as the alternative.
- Counting: one per click (a lead is a lead).
- Window: the real cycle (30-90 days) for qualified and sale; short for raw.
- Category: Lead (raw, qualified) / Purchase or Qualified lead (sale).
- Uploads within 90 days of the click and dated after the click.
The automatic bulk upload
On every run (daily): the script goes through the client's spreadsheet, takes the new leads with a GCLID and a rating → a "Raw Lead" upload row with its value; the ones marked qualified but not yet uploaded → "Qualified Lead"; the sales with an amount → "Sale". It uploads in bulk from the account or the MCC, and marks each upload in the spreadsheet with its date (the "Uploaded: Raw ✓ / Qual ✓ / Sale ✓" columns). With no GCLID (unpaid traffic, or no consent), the lead is scored but not uploaded.
Adjustments: if a lead turns out bad after being uploaded (a high rating and then "Bad" in the CRM), or a sale is refunded, an adjustment is uploaded (subtracting or correcting the value). That way Google does not learn from a signal that turned out to be false.
Leads never leave the client's spreadsheet
A design and GDPR rule: the personal data (name, email, phone, message) lives in the client's spreadsheet, on their Drive. What is sent to Google is **GCLID + action name
- date + value**: no personal data at all. The client's DPA covers the processing unchanged; leads are not centralised on any server.
What happens in the account when you switch it on
- Weeks 1-2: the primary conversions fall (they no longer count every form): learning.
- Weeks 3-6: Smart Bidding on value starts shifting budget towards high-rating sources; the CPA "rises", the cost per qualified lead falls.
- Months 2-3: the sales uploaded with their amounts refine the signal; the source ranking is reviewed against the data (lesson 5).
💡 Ninja trick: Lead Rating uploads all three conversions from the Google Ads script with a bulk upload, reads the checkboxes in the spreadsheet (✔️ Qualified · 💰 Sale · ✖ Bad) that sales tick, and records every upload per lead. The raw lead with the rating as its value is the design decision: it turns Smart Bidding into a system that learns quality from the first form, not from the first sale.
What you should remember
- Three actions: Raw = the rating, the same day, Qualified when it is marked, Sale with an amount.
- Raw as primary only with value strategies; with CPA, primary = qualified.
- Automatic bulk upload by GCLID, marked in the spreadsheet, with adjustments for anything that turns out false.
- Leads never leave the client's spreadsheet; Google only gets GCLID + value.