210 of 240 RFQs can match
210 arrived through the website form with an email captured by the tag: 87.5%. The other 30 came by WhatsApp with only a phone number and never passed the tag, so expect most of them not to match.
Guide · Google Ads measurement
Offline conversion import and enhanced conversions for leads, for B2B
Importing outcomes doesn’t make Google smarter by itself. It works when enough ad leads carry a match key, the stage you send arrives inside Google’s window, and sales records it consistently. Check those three before you build the pipeline.
Short answer
Capture the Google click ID and the lead’s email or phone when the form is submitted, using the Google tag. When sales marks the lead qualified, import that event with those identifiers through a Data Manager connection or the Data Manager API. Google matches it to the ad click and can optimise towards qualified leads.
The flow has two halves. On the website, the Google tag records the click ID and hashed contact details when someone submits a lead form. Later, when the lead reaches a stage that matters, you send that stage to Google with the same identifiers. Google compares the hashed details with signed-in Google accounts, or uses the click ID, and attributes the outcome to the ad interaction (Google Ads Help).
Choosing a method
Enhanced conversions for leads vs offline conversion import: which should you use?
Short answer
Use enhanced conversions for leads. Google now describes standard offline conversion import as a legacy feature. Enhanced conversions for leads matches on hashed email or phone as well as the click ID, so fewer conversions are lost. The trade-off is a shorter window: uploads more than 63 days after the click aren’t imported.
| Enhanced conversions for leads | Offline conversion import (click ID only) | |
|---|---|---|
| Match keys | Hashed email or phone captured by the tag, plus click ID where available | Click ID only |
| What happens when the click ID is lost | Hashed contact details can still match | The conversion can’t be attributed |
| Upload window | Within 63 days of the click | Within 90 days of the click |
| Google’s status | Recommended | Legacy (source) |
| Upload route since 15 June 2026 | Data Manager connections or the Data Manager API | Data Manager connections or the Data Manager API |
What changed
What changed on 15 June 2026?
Short answer
From 15 June 2026, Google moved offline conversion and enhanced conversions for leads uploads to the Data Manager API and blocked them in the Google Ads API. Custom scripts or tools that uploaded through the Google Ads API need a Data Manager connection or the Data Manager API instead, unless they qualified for legacy access.
- Check your uploads. Look at upload errors and imported counts from mid-June onwards. A silent drop is the usual symptom.
- One setting now. Google combined enhanced conversions for web and for leads into a single setting, and since April 2026 accepts user-provided data from tags, Data Manager and the API together (Google Ads Help).
- Agencies and developers: confirm which accounts relied on the old API route, and move them before judging any campaign on imported conversions.
Sources: enhanced conversions for leads. Last reviewed 15 September 2026.
Original framework
The Google import readiness check
Five checks before building anything. Each takes minutes with a CRM or sheet export.
| # | Check | How to measure it | Pass when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match-key coverage | Share of ad-sourced leads with a stored click ID or tag-captured email or phone | Nearly every form lead; leaks from redirects, iframes, phone and WhatsApp are known |
| 2 | Window fit | Share of the chosen stage’s events that happen within 63 days of the click | Most events land inside the window |
| 3 | Volume | Events of the stage per 30 days | 15 or more for a primary bidding goal (Google’s guidance); otherwise import as secondary |
| 4 | Pipeline | Connection type, schedule, order ID for deduplication, consent field | Nightly uploads with an order ID |
| 5 | Health | Diagnostics status, upload errors, weekly CRM count vs imported count | Counts reconcile and diagnostics show no urgent issues |
Google notes enhanced conversions diagnostics are most helpful at 20 or more conversions a week (Google Ads Help). Many B2B accounts sit below that, so expect noisier diagnostics.
Timing
Which CRM stages can Google actually use?
Short answer
Only stages that reach Google in time. Enhanced conversions for leads imports events uploaded within 63 days of the click, and click-ID imports within 90 days. Deals closing months later can’t be attributed. Import an earlier stage that predicts revenue, such as a qualified RFQ, and keep closed deals in your own reporting.
Google also recommends nightly uploads (Google Ads Help), and for a bidding goal, an action that usually happens within about seven days of the ad interaction. Use Google’s qualified lead and converted lead goals so each stage has its own conversion action (Google Ads Help), and make only one of them primary.
| CRM or sheet status | Google conversion action | Goal type | Role | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified (requirements in range) | Qualified RFQ | Qualified lead | Primary, once volume allows | Sales lead |
| Quote sent | Quote sent | Converted lead | Secondary | Sales lead |
| Order won | Keep in CRM reporting | – | Not imported if usually after 63 days | Finance or sales ops |
| Disqualified | Not imported as a conversion | – | Analysis only | Sales lead |
Set-up
Step by step: set up enhanced conversions for leads
1. Turn on enhanced conversions and tag the form
Enable enhanced conversions in the account’s conversion settings and make sure the Google tag, directly or through Google Tag Manager, captures the email or phone on the lead form. Normalise before hashing: trimmed, lower-case email; phone in international format.
2. Store the click ID and contact details with each lead
Add a hidden field for the click ID, carry it into the CRM or sheet, and never let deduplication overwrite the first-touch value. Check that redirects and embedded forms don’t strip URL parameters.
3. Create the conversion actions
Create one action per stage you’ll import, set the goal type (qualified or converted lead), and mark exactly one as primary. Keep the rest secondary.
4. Connect Data Manager
Choose the connection that fits your data: a Google Sheet or file, a supported CRM connection, a warehouse, or the Data Manager API for custom pipelines. Schedule uploads nightly, include an order ID so repeats are ignored, and pass the consent field where it applies.
5. Validate before relying on it
Check the diagnostics report, reconcile CRM and imported counts weekly, and if you are replacing a legacy import, run both for one to two conversion cycles or four weeks before switching off the old one (Google Ads Help).
No CRM
Can you import offline conversions without a CRM?
Short answer
Yes. Keep a Google Sheet with each lead’s click ID, email or phone, status and status date, and connect it to Google Ads through Data Manager on a nightly schedule. Sales updates the status within an agreed time. The same rules apply: one primary stage, recorded consistently.
Teams using CRMs without a listed Data Manager connection can export statuses to a sheet or file on a schedule. Agree a service level for status updates, such as within two working days, because a stage recorded weeks late may miss the window entirely.
Google tag, GA4 import or offline import: which conversion should bidding see?
Use the Google tag’s form conversion, with user-provided data, as the lead action, and imported qualified stages as the conversions that matter. GA4 key events can be imported into Google Ads (Google Ads Help), but if both a GA4 import and a tag conversion track the same form, keep one of them secondary. Two primary actions for one submission double-count and mislead bidding.
Expect GA4 and Google Ads to disagree: they use different attribution settings, time zones and deduplication. Decide which system judges campaigns, usually Google Ads for bidding and your CRM for pipeline, and stop reconciling the rest.
Worked numbers
240 RFQs, 60 quote-ready, 4 purchase orders
An industrial manufacturer in India spends ₹3,00,000 a month on Google Search.
| Stage | Per month | Cost each | Median days from click | Import decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFQs | 240 | ₹1,250 | 0 | Tag conversion (form) |
| Quote-ready | 60 | ₹5,000 | 9 | Qualified lead, primary: inside 63 days and above 15 a month |
| Quotes | 18 | about ₹16,667 | 25 | Converted lead, secondary |
| Purchase orders | 4 | ₹75,000 | about 75 | Not imported: mostly outside 63 days |
CRM export to a sheet, nightly
Statuses are exported to a Google Sheet connected through Data Manager. The quote-ready median of nine days is slightly slower than the seven-day guideline, so learning will be gradual.
What not to conclude
Once imports start, reported qualified leads may rise simply because more of them now reach Google. That is recovered reporting, not new business. Judge the campaign on cost per quote-ready RFQ from the CRM.
Troubleshooting
Why aren’t conversions importing or matching?
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Uploads stopped around mid-June 2026 | Custom pipeline still uses the Google Ads API | Move to a Data Manager connection or the Data Manager API |
| Low match rate | Click ID not stored, redirects strip parameters, phone-only leads | Add hidden fields, fix redirects, capture email on the form |
| Conversions accepted but not showing | Uploaded more than 63 days after the click | Import an earlier stage; update statuses faster |
| Conversions on the wrong day | Conversion time zone mismatch | Send times with the correct time zone |
| Double counting | Same stage imported twice, or GA4 and tag both primary | Use an order ID; keep one primary action |
| Disqualified leads counted | Every status exported as a conversion | Filter to the stages you mapped |
| Tracking outage distorted bidding | Tag or upload failure for several days | Use a data exclusion for the affected period, sparingly (Google Ads Help) |
Consent and privacy notes for India, the UAE and the US
- India: the DPDP Act 2023 requires notice and consent for processing personal data; make lead forms say contact details may be used to measure advertising.
- UAE: the UAE PDPL applies outside DIFC and ADGM; GCC leads from Saudi Arabia fall under its own PDPL.
- US: state privacy laws treat sharing data for advertising as regulated; honour opt-outs and follow Google’s customer data policies.
This is general information, not legal advice. See how Zephra handles data.
What changes after imports start, and what doesn’t
Reported conversions will change; demand won’t. If you switch the primary goal to a qualified stage, bidding re-learns, so hold other edits and read Smart Bidding for lead generation before setting a target. Measure match-key coverage, import lag, qualified-lead volume against Google’s guidance, and cost per qualified lead.
Zephra sends CRM lead stages to Google through the Data Manager API, where configured, checks that events are accepted, and records every change it makes in an audit log. See conversion tracking.
Questions, answered
Offline conversion import FAQ
01Does the Google click ID expire for offline conversions?
The limit is the upload window: enhanced conversions for leads imports events uploaded within 63 days of the click, and click-ID-only imports within 90 days. Events uploaded later aren’t imported.
02Do I need a developer?
Not for Data Manager connections such as a Google Sheet, a file or a supported CRM. You need development help for the Data Manager API or for fixing forms that don’t store the click ID.
03What about phone and WhatsApp leads?
Without a tag-captured email or a click ID they rarely match. Where possible, route enquiries through a short form first, or use call tracking that records the click, and record the outcome against that identifier.
04Should I import disqualified leads?
Not as conversions. Importing them tells Google those clicks were successes. Keep disqualified leads and their reasons in your CRM or sheet for search-term and audience analysis.
05How long until bidding improves after imports start?
There is no fixed timeline. It depends on how many qualified events reach Google and how quickly. If the imported stage becomes the primary goal, allow the bidding learning period and at least one conversion cycle before judging results.
06Does Zephra send conversions to Google Ads?
Yes. Where configured, Zephra sends CRM lead stages to Google through the Data Manager API, and to Meta and LinkedIn through their Conversions APIs.
Your account
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