How to Set Up Enhanced Conversions for Leads in Google Ads

An advertiser sets up enhanced conversions for leads in two steps Google lists: configure the Google tag, directly or through Google Tag Manager, to capture hashed user-provided data from the lead form, then import converted leads with the same hashed data through Google Ads Data Manager or the Google Ads API. Google matches each upload to that form data and to signed-in Google accounts; the checks below set up each part.

Before you start

Check 1: Is auto-tagging on?

WhereGoogle AdsAdminAccount settingsAuto-tagging

You should see: Tag the URL that people click through from my ad checked. Google lists auto-tagging among the things you need before setup.

If not: Check the box and select Save (Google; what it adds to URLs).

Check 2: Does your lead form ask for an email or a phone?

Do: Pick the form field that identifies a lead and will also be in your CRM export. Google recommends email, "a highly unique identifier" that "isn't prone to being reformatted in your CRM", and collecting phone too (Google).

You should see: That field on every lead form your ads send people to.

If not: Add an email field. A phone works too, but it must include the country code.

In Google Ads

Check 3: Is enhanced conversions on, with the data terms accepted?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsSettingsCustomer data use

Do: Check Turn on enhanced conversions, select Agree and save, review the data terms and select Agree and continue. Leave Turn on conversion-based customer lists unchecked unless you want customer lists built from your conversions (Google).

You should see: The box checked and Customer data terms showing Accepted. It may already be on: Google migrated existing users who had agreed to its customer data terms.

If not: If you cannot view the terms, a manager account tracks this account's conversions, and they have to be accepted there (Google).

Careful: The switch reaches every existing conversion action not explicitly opted out (account level), and with it on, the Google tag "will automatically capture relevant form interaction events". A medical practice may keep it off so no patient contact data leaves, even hashed; the system I delivered sends Google only a click id, a conversion value and a timestamp (HIPAA-conscious conversion tracking).

Check 4: Is there an offline action for the lead stage you upload?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummary

Do: Select + Create conversion action, then Import (or Conversions offline), CRMs, files, or other data sources and Track conversions from clicks. Connect your data source and choose Qualified lead or Converted lead as the goal, as Google recommends.

You should see: The action with the source Import from clicks (checklist) and enhanced conversions on, inherited from the account setting. Its Click-through conversion window covers the time your leads take to close; a new action defaults to 30 days.

If not: Already importing click ids into an action? You can upgrade that one instead of adding a second: with Data Manager, you edit its connection to map the user-provided data fields (upgrade guide).

Careful: Set the new action to Secondary. Google's checklist recommends that "for the first 2-3 weeks".

On the lead form

Check 5: If you use the Google tag: is form capture on?

WhereGoogle AdsToolsData ManagerGoogle tagManage

Do: Select Show all. In Manage automatic event detection, turn on Form interactions. In Allow user-provided data capabilities, turn the option on, choose one or more of Automatic detection, CSS and variable selectors or Manual via code, and select Save (Google).

You should see: Both settings on, and the Google tag on every page that carries a lead form.

If not: Add the tag to the pages that lack it.

Careful: Automatic detection looks only for "strings that match a pattern for email addresses", so a phone-only form needs selectors or code. Forms hosted by a third-party tool or in an iframe may require the code method.

Check 6: If you use Tag Manager: is there a user-provided data tag?

WhereGoogle Tag ManagerWorkspaceTagsNew

Do: Choose Google Ads User-Provided Data Event and fill in Conversion ID (where to find it). Under User-provided data, create a User-Provided Data variable with Type set to Automatic, Manual or Code, and fire the tag on a form submission trigger such as All Forms (Google).

You should see: That tag, plus a Conversion Linker tag on every page where visitors may land after an ad click.

If not: Add the missing tag. The rest of a GTM setup is in Google Ads conversion tracking with Google Tag Manager.

Careful: Automatic cannot collect phone numbers. For a phone field, use Manual with a CSS selector or element ID, or Code with a data layer variable.

Check 7: Does a test lead fire the tag with your data?

WhereGoogle Tag ManagerWorkspacePreview

Do: Enter your site's URL in Tag Assistant and submit the form with your own email. On a Google tag install, test the form with Tag Assistant, as Google suggests.

You should see: Google Ads User-Provided Data Event under Tags Fired, with your email among its values. In Chrome's Network tab, the submit sends a request to google.com/pagead/form-data/ whose em parameter holds the hashed value (Google).

If not: Under Tags Not Fired, fix the trigger. If another tag fires first, set Wait for Tags on the form submission trigger.

Careful: Once the tag collects your data, Submit your changes in Tag Manager.

In the upload

Check 8: Does each upload row carry the lead's email or phone?

WhereGoogle AdsToolsData ManagerConnected products

Do: Open the connection that feeds the action and map the email or phone column, the GCLID wherever you have one, conversion time, value, currency, order ID and consent (upgrade guide).

You should see: Every closed lead for that action, with or without a GCLID, uploaded daily. Google's checklist calls uploading all conversions, "including those not attributed to Google Ads", required. Data Manager normalizes and hashes email and phone with SHA-256 itself (prepare your data).

If not: Add the missing leads. On an API upload you normalize and hash yourself, as Google specifies; from June 15, 2026, Google moves those uploads to the Data Manager API.

Careful: Rows "uploaded more than 63 days after the associated last click won't be imported" (import guidelines).

After the first upload

Check 9: Does the diagnostics report find matches?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummaryDiagnostics

Do: Select View Diagnostics the day after your first upload.

You should see: Data quality Excellent or Good.

If not: Read the alert. No user-provided data matches: check that the upload is normalized, hashed and consistent with what the form captured. Importing limited user-provided data: leads without a GCLID were left out. Tag not firing on your website forms: back to check 5 or 6 (Google).

Check 10: Do imported leads show up before the action bids?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummary

Do: Read the new action in the All conv. (by conv. time) column, which reports them by the conversion date your upload records.

You should see: Your closed leads, about 3 hours after each upload (import guidelines).

If not: Nothing after a day: go back to the alert in check 9.

Careful: If the action replaces a click-id import, Google says to wait "the longer of 1-2 conversion cycles or 4 weeks", then make the new action primary and the old one secondary (upgrade guide).

Next: decide which stage bids

Once diagnostics shows matches and the action has run its secondary weeks, decide which CRM stage should bid, a qualified lead or the closed sale. If you already upload click ids, enhanced conversions for leads vs offline conversion import shows when the hash adds enough to be worth sending. Tying each upload back to revenue in the CRM is where closed-loop marketing analytics starts.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Google Tag Manager to set up enhanced conversions for leads?

No. Google's setup works with the Google tag placed directly on your page or with Google Tag Manager, and since April 2026 Google Ads accepts user-provided data from website tags, Data Manager and API connections at the same time. Use the one that already runs your conversion tags.

Do I have to hash emails myself before uploading them to Google Ads?

Not through Data Manager: it normalizes email and phone fields and hashes them with SHA-256 for you. If you hash them yourself, trim spaces, lowercase the text, write phones in E.164, remove periods before the domain in gmail.com and googlemail.com addresses, then apply hex SHA-256.

How do I turn off enhanced conversions in Google Ads?

Uncheck Turn on enhanced conversions under Settings in the Goals menu, or opt a single conversion action out, which Google says you can do at any time. To keep the Google tag from sharing it, turn off Allow user-provided data capabilities in its settings; then no product using that tag receives the data.

How long do enhanced conversions for leads take to show up?

Imported conversions take about 3 hours to appear in Google Ads. The diagnostics alerts use the past day of data, or the past 7 days when one day is too little, and Google's checklist recommends keeping a new action secondary for the first 2-3 weeks.