The Account
A NJ Shore painting contractor. $3,446 in Google Ads spend.
Confirmed zero customer conversions in the tracking data. Strong keyword coverage — exterior painting, interior painting, house painting near me. No conversion tracking firing. No phone calls recorded. Nothing.
This is one of the most common account types Grow Marketing encounters in audits. The ad spend is real. The clicks are real. But the tracking shows nothing — because the tracking is broken, not because the campaign is failing.
Zero tracked conversions almost never means zero actual customers. It usually means broken tracking.
Why Three Types
A restaurant that only tracks online orders is measuring one-third of what Google Ads produces. Phone calls and walk-ins represent the other two-thirds — and for neighborhood restaurants, diners, and pizza shops, those are often the majority of revenue.
Tracking all three also gives Smart Bidding three times the signal to optimize against. More conversion data means faster learning, better audience targeting, and lower cost per customer over time.
Conversion Type 1: Online Orders
What it tracks
A customer clicks your ad, visits your website, and completes an order. The conversion fires when they reach the order confirmation page.
Setup
In Google Ads: click Tools and Settings, then Conversions, then the + button. Select Website. Name it ‘Online Order’ or ‘Order Complete’. Set the conversion value to your average order value. Set Count to ‘One’ (each order counts once).
Install the conversion tag on your order confirmation page — the page that loads after a successful order, not the checkout page.
If you use a third-party ordering platform (Toast, Square, OpenTable, Slice), check whether they have a native Google Ads integration that handles this automatically.
Verification
Place a test order and check Google Ads Conversions in real time using the Google Tag Assistant browser extension. The conversion should fire within a few seconds of reaching the confirmation page.
Conversion Type 2: Phone Calls From Ads
What it tracks
A customer sees your ad, clicks the phone number in the call extension, and calls directly without visiting your website. This is tracked through Google’s forwarding number system.
Setup
In Google Ads: go to Assets, then Call Assets (previously Call Extensions).
Add your phone number. In the call reporting section, turn on call reporting and set a minimum call duration — 60 seconds is standard for restaurants. Google automatically assigns a forwarding number that tracks calls attributed to the ad.
In your Conversions settings, create a Phone Call conversion action. Select Calls from ads. Set the minimum duration to match what you set in the call asset (60 seconds).
Verification
Click your own ad from a mobile device and make a test call. After 60+ seconds, the conversion should appear in your account within 24-48 hours.
Conversion Type 3: Phone Calls From the Website
What it tracks
A customer clicks your ad, visits your website, and then calls the phone number displayed on the page. This requires a different setup from call extension tracking.
Setup
In Google Ads Conversions: select + New Conversion, then Phone Calls, then Calls to a phone number on your website. Google generates a small snippet of JavaScript. Your web developer installs this snippet on any page where your phone number appears.
This snippet dynamically replaces your real phone number with a Google forwarding number for visitors who arrived via Google Ads. Calls from those visitors are tracked. Visitors from other sources see your real number.
Verification
Click your ad, visit your website, and call the number displayed. It should be a forwarding number (different from your real number). After 60+ seconds, the call appears in Google Ads Conversions within 24-48 hours.
The Optional Fourth: Store Visit Conversions
Google can track verified store visits using location data from opted-in mobile devices. This requires a linked Google Business Profile with sufficient location data. It’s not available for every account, but where available, enable it.
In Google Ads: go to Tools, then Conversions, then Store Visits.
If your account is eligible, you’ll see the option to enable it. Connect to your Google Business Profile. Google will begin estimating store visits attributable to ad clicks within a few weeks of enabling.
