Running Google Ads Without Conversion Tracking: Walking in the Dark
Your Google ads run and your budget flows; but if you don't know which click brought a customer, you feed the system blind. Here is where to start tracking.
You look at your ad account: clicks are there, impressions are there, budget is flowing. But can you say how many of those turned into a sale or a new customer by month end? If you can't, your conversion tracking is either set up incorrectly or not set up at all. And in that situation, Google's AI is working just as blindly as you are.
Why Is Conversion Tracking So Critical?
Google Ads' automated bidding systems — especially Smart Bidding, Performance Max and AI Max announced in 2025 — are dependent on one thing: data about which clicks actually bring you customers. This data is called a 'conversion signal.' The system learns as it receives these signals; it figures out who clicks and buys, which searches work at which times. Without the signal, the system has to guess. And a system that guesses burns through your budget without making a sound.
What Steps Do You Need to Take? — Practical Setup Order
- Create a GA4 property and open your web data stream. During setup, enable the 'Enhanced Measurement' option — this automatically records core interactions like form submissions and video views without extra code.
- Link your GA4 to your Google Ads account. In GA4, follow Admin → Product Links → Google Ads Links. Without this connection, the two systems can't share data.
- Import conversions in Google Ads. Go to Tools → Measurement → Conversions → Import → Google Analytics 4 and import the events you care about (form submission, phone click, purchase).
- Prevent double-counting. If the conversion you imported from GA4 is marked 'Primary' and you still have an old Google Ads tag tracking the same action, set that tag to 'Secondary' or disable it. Two Primary actions counting the same event inflates numbers and confuses the system.
- Set a single 'Primary' conversion action. Smart Bidding only optimises for Primary actions. Among form fills, phone calls, and purchases, pick the one most critical to your business as Primary; leave the rest as Secondary or observation-only.
In Turkey, a Phone Call Is Also a Conversion
Most small businesses close sales over the phone, not through an e-commerce cart. But a large portion of those calls never get recorded as conversions — meaning the system puts those calls in the same bucket as 'useless' clicks. Google Ads can track calls through a call extension added to the ad or a forwarding number placed on the site. If you set a minimum call duration (say, 60 seconds), you're only counting calls from people who were genuinely interested. Setting up this measurement lets the system learn the 'profile of a buying customer' from phone interactions too.
Enhanced Conversions: The 2026 Way to Get Past Cookie Blockers
Safari, Firefox and browser extensions are increasingly blocking third-party cookies — making parts of classic pixel-based tracking invisible. Enhanced Conversions, unified into a single feature in June 2026, works by hashing the email address or phone number a customer enters in a form and sending it to Google. Even without a cookie, the system receives the signal that 'this person converted.' Depending on implementation, accounts report anywhere from five to fifteen percent more conversions. It can be set up through GTM using a CSS selector or a JavaScript variable — a step that can be completed in hours with technical support.
Don't Disrupt the Learning Phase
Cookie Consent (Consent Mode) Is No Longer Optional
From July 2025, Google began restricting conversion tracking and remarketing for EEA and UK traffic on accounts that haven't implemented Consent Mode v2. In Turkey, advertising and analytics cookies are classified as personal data under KVKK — so placing these cookies without visitor consent carries legal risk. The practical outcome: a visible cookie consent prompt on your site both fulfils your legal obligation and allows Consent Mode to model data accurately. There are reports of some accounts experiencing up to ninety percent conversion drops late at night without Consent Mode — this stems from users who decline cookies becoming invisible to the system.
Conversion tracking is not 'an extra to add later' — it is the foundation of Google advertising. When the foundation is solid, you can build as much as you want on top. If it's not, even the best campaign runs at half power.