Conversion tracking checklist

For online stores and lead-gen businesses running Google or Meta ads who want numbers they can trust. Go through it once with your accounts open, then repeat the last section every month.

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GA4 and Google Tag Manager

Load your Google tags one way only: GTM, a platform app or codeTwo installs count every visit and sale twice, which inflates revenue and hides real problems.
Mark only real business actions as key events in GA4Purchases, form submissions, calls and bookings. Page views or scrolls as key events make every report look better than it is.
Send the purchase event with value, currency and a unique transaction IDWithout currency, GA4 can’t report revenue properly. The transaction ID stops a reloaded thank-you page from counting a second sale.
Fire lead events only after a form submits successfully, not on button clickClicks also count errors and abandoned forms. Fire on the success message or the thank-you page.
Add your payment providers to the unwanted referrals list in GA4Otherwise PayPal or a similar redirect takes credit for the sale instead of the ad or search that brought the buyer.
Filter out your team’s visits and activate the data filterDefine internal traffic by IP address, then switch the Internal Traffic filter from Testing to Active. Otherwise staff visits and test orders still show up as customers.
Name and describe every GTM version you publishWhen tracking breaks, a clear history shows what changed and lets you roll back quickly.

Google Ads conversions

Keep one primary conversion action per real goal and set the rest to secondaryIf both the Google Ads tag and a GA4 import are primary for purchases, every sale counts twice in bidding.
Count every conversion for purchases and one conversion for leadsA customer can buy twice, but five form submissions from the same person are still one lead.
Pass the real order value and currency with each purchase conversionValue-based bidding and ROAS reports mean nothing when every sale carries the same placeholder amount.
Turn on enhanced conversions and send the customer’s email from the order or formThe email is hashed before matching, which recovers conversions lost to blocked cookies and tags.
Check each conversion action’s status and diagnostics in the Goals sectionLook for inactive actions, ones with no recent conversions and any warnings before you trust the numbers.
Link Google Ads to GA4 and turn on auto-taggingAuto-tagging adds the click ID that ties each visit to the right campaign in both tools.

Meta Pixel and Conversions API

Use one Meta Pixel for your site and remove old or duplicate onesAn old Pixel left in theme code or an app double-counts events and muddies delivery.
Send key events through both the Pixel and the Conversions APIThe browser Pixel misses events that ad blockers and browsers stop. The server copy fills the gaps.
Give the Pixel and server versions of each event the same name and event IDMeta uses both to deduplicate. Check each event’s deduplication status in Events Manager.
Include value and currency on every Purchase eventWithout them, Meta can’t report purchase ROAS or bid toward higher-value buyers.
Review Event Match Quality and send hashed email and phone when you have consentBetter matching connects more sales to the people who actually saw your ads.

Shopify stores

Connect Google and Meta through the Google & YouTube and Facebook & Instagram appsThese channel apps send purchases with their value, handle server events for Meta and follow your customer privacy settings.
Set data sharing to Enhanced or Maximum in the Facebook & Instagram appBoth levels add Conversions API events on top of the browser Pixel. Standard uses the Pixel alone, which ad blockers can stop.
Remove Pixel or gtag code pasted into the theme once an app handles itTheme code plus an app sends the same purchase twice, which doubles sales in GA4 and Meta.
Move custom tracking scripts to Customer events in your Shopify settingsShopify retired the Additional scripts box on the thank-you and order status pages, so code left there no longer runs.
Use Shopify’s cookie banner or a consent app connected to Shopify’s privacy settingsNative apps and custom pixels read that consent and wait for a yes where your settings require it.

Consent: Law 25 and Consent Mode

Show a consent banner before any analytics or ad cookies loadQuebec’s Law 25 requires technology that can identify, locate or profile visitors to be off by default.
Set Google Consent Mode v2 to denied by default for all four signalsad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization start as denied, then switch to granted when the visitor accepts.
Add a footer link so visitors can change their choice laterWithdrawing consent should be as easy as giving it, and tracking should stop from that point.
Show the banner in French and English, matching the page languageThe Charter of the French language requires French, and a banner in the visitor’s language is simply clearer.
List your tracking tools and their purpose in your privacy policyName GA4, Google Ads, Meta and any others, and give the title and contact details of the person in charge of personal information.

Testing and monthly reconciliation

Test with Tag Assistant and GA4 DebugView before publishing any changeWalk through a purchase or form submission and confirm each event fires once, with the right value.
Use Test Events in Meta Events Manager to watch Pixel and server events arriveBoth should carry the same event ID and show as deduplicated, not as two separate events.
Place a real test order or form submission, then cancel or refund itOnly a real transaction shows whether value, currency and order ID reach every platform.
Compare GA4 purchases and revenue to your store orders every monthUse the same dates and time zone. A small gap is normal. A large or sudden gap means something broke.
Compare Google Ads conversions to the orders or leads you actually receivedIf Google Ads reports more sales than your store recorded, look for duplicate primary conversions.
Check GA4 traffic reports for Unassigned and (not set) sessionsA growing share usually means missing UTM tags, a broken redirect or a tag that fires before the page source is known. Find the cause before you trust channel reports.
Log every tracking change with its date in a simple shared documentWhen numbers jump, the log tells you whether it was the market or your setup.

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Rather have us go through it with you?

Want a second pair of eyes? Tracking is the first thing we check in a free Google Ads audit, and we tell you what we’d fix first. You don’t have to hire us afterwards.

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Conversion tracking checklist

01GA4 and Google Tag Manager

02Google Ads conversions

03Meta Pixel and Conversions API

04Shopify stores

05Consent: Law 25 and Consent Mode

06Testing and monthly reconciliation

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