Tracking conversions in Google Ads using GA4
Last updated: October 28, 2025
This help page explains how to track purchases in Google Ads by importing conversions from Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Instead of setting up extra tracking tags, you can use the data that GA4 already collects and share it directly with Google Ads.
FareHarbor recommends this import method as the best practice for conversion tracking. Importing GA4 conversions gives you a more reliable and powerful measurement setup with FareHarbor. It ensures that the same purchase events you analyze in GA4 are also used to optimize your Google Ads campaigns.
This import method provides:
- A single source of truth for your conversions across both Analytics and Ads.
- More complete attribution, since GA4 captures purchases from all traffic sources, not just ads.
- Visibility into the entire user journey.
- Smarter optimization, as Google Ads’ bidding models learn from rich purchase data including values, currencies, and product-level details.
You can read more about how to import your conversion from GA4 to Google Ads in the Google Analytics Help Center.
Follow the sections below for a step-by-step guide on how to start tracking conversions from your Google Ads campaigns.
Step 1: Connecting your GA4 property with FareHarbor
In order to link your GA4 property and Google Ads account, you must first set up, configure, and connect your GA4 property with FareHarbor. Refer to this help page for setup and configuration instructions before continuing.
Step 2: Linking GA4 and Google Ads
To link GA4 and Google Ads:
- Go to the Admin section of your GA4 property.
- Under Product Links, click Google Ads Links.
- Click Link.
- Click Choose Google Ads accounts, then select the designated account.
- Click Confirm.
- Click Next.
- Expand the Enable Auto-Tagging option to enable auto-tagging.
- Click Next.
- Click Submit to link your account.
For more detailed information on how to link your Google Ads and Google Analytics 4, refer to this article in the Google Analytics Help Center.
Step 3: Importing GA4 conversions into Google Ads
To import GA4 conversions into Google Ads:
- Log into your Google Ads and go to Goals > Summary:
- Click the + New conversion action button to add a new action.
- Check the Conversions on a website box.
Click on Edit below the checkbox and scan your URL and select your GA4 property.
Click Save and continue.
- Under the Use Google Analytics to bring in multiple conversion actions from an existing property option, select your Google Analytics property from the Select property dropdown.
- Select the Purchase event under Event name, Select Purchase in the conversion category dropdown, and click Select events.
- Click Finish.
Note: Do not set up two Purchase conversion actions. Avoid having both a GA4-imported Purchase and a Google Ads tag-based Purchase active at the same time. Running two purchase actions will double-count conversions in the Conversions column, confuse Smart Bidding, and skew reporting, making it harder to audit which source is correct.
As a best practice, keep one purchase action as Primary (recommended: the GA4 import). If you must keep the other purchase action for diagnostics, set it to Secondary and turn off Include in ‘Conversions’, or simply pause or remove it.
Step 4: Setting Purchase as a Primary Conversion action
Marking Purchase as a Primary Conversion tells Google Ads to focus on bookings as your main business goal. This ensures your campaigns optimize toward real revenue, and your reports clearly show the most relevant results.
To set Purchase as a Primary Conversion action:
- Go to Conversions in Google Ads and click on your imported GA4 purchase conversion action.
- Under Settings > Goal and Action Optimization, mark it as Primary. Primary conversions are used by Smart Bidding.
- Optional: Mark other events (for example: newsletter signups) as Secondary.