Google Ads Conversion Tracking Audit — Find Out If Your Data Is Lying to You

Broken conversion tracking does not produce an error message. It produces confident-looking data that is wrong.

Your bid strategy bids on phantom conversions. Your CPA calculation is based on numbers that do not reflect actual customer acquisition. Your agency reports on metrics that cannot be trusted. And nothing in Google Ads indicates there is a problem.

70% of Australian SMB accounts have broken or misconfigured conversion tracking. viaCMO checks 6 tracking criteria and assigns a tracking integrity score. If your tracking is broken, your account score is capped at 30 — regardless of how the rest of the account performs.

Check My Tracking

Free · Read-only · Results in 60 seconds

Why Conversion Tracking Integrity Is the Most Critical Account Foundation

Every Google Ads decision is downstream of conversion data. Bid strategy, CPA targets, budget allocation, campaign prioritisation — all of it depends on the accuracy of your conversion tracking.

When tracking is misconfigured, the consequences compound. Smart Bidding optimises toward the wrong signals. CPA calculations undercount or overcount actual conversions. Campaigns that appear to perform well are running on false data.

This is why viaCMO applies a hard cap: if your Google Ads data accuracy audit reveals broken conversion tracking, your account score cannot exceed 30/100 regardless of how well the rest of the account is managed. A capped account cannot receive a passing grade until the tracking issue is resolved. The same hard-cap rule applies in the full account audit.

The Most Common Google Ads Conversion Tracking Problems

viaCMO runs these 6 checks automatically as part of the free 25-point health check. Hard-cap markers indicate failures that cap the entire account score at 30 until resolved.

Conversion Tracking Checks

6 Criteria

Conversion Actions Active and Firing

Pass: Primary conversion action active, firing confirmed.

Fail: No active conversion actions, or all paused. Hard cap applies.

Counting Method Matched to Account Type

Pass: Counting method matches account type.

Fail: Lead gen account counting 'Many' — one lead enquiry can report as 4+ conversions.

Primary vs Secondary Action Classification

Pass: Primary actions are purchase or lead only.

Fail: Pageviews or engagement events set as primary — system bidding toward engagement, not conversion. Hard cap applies.

GA4 Link Active

Pass: GA4 linked and importing active goals.

Fail: No GA4 link, or link shows errors — attribution data gap.

Conversion Value Assigned

Pass: Values assigned to all primary actions.

Fail: Zero values — ROAS bidding unavailable, revenue data absent.

GA4 / Google Ads Conversion Mismatch

Pass: GA4 and Google Ads figures within 15% for same period.

Fail: Discrepancy above 15% — source of truth unclear, duplicate firing likely.

The Tracking Integrity Score

Score 80–100

Reliable

Tracking is reliable. Full 100-point audit proceeds without hard caps from tracking failures.

Score 50–79

Needs attention

Tracking has issues that should be addressed. Some recommendations may be suppressed pending data reliability.

Score Below 50

Hard cap applies

Tracking integrity cannot be confirmed. Account score is capped at 30. Recommendations are limited to tracking fixes until resolved.

Check My Tracking

Free · Read-only · Results in 60 seconds