Overview

This beta destination is exclusively accessible to users utilizing Elevar's server. If you're currently using your own GTM server container for server-side tracking, we recommend transitioning to Elevar's server to gain access to the new Google Ads destination.

Regarding Enhanced Conversions, this server-side destination transmits email addresses and phone numbers along with events, provided this data is available. It currently supports partial transmission of enhanced conversion data. We are actively developing methods to include address information in future updates.

Prerequisites:

Before you can enable your Google Ads Server-Side Destination, you will need to:

• Install the Shopify Source on your store. Follow your guide on How to Install the Shopify Source

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This server-side integration performs better than client-side tracking if you use post-purchase upsells.

If you don't use post-purchase upsells, set up this integration along with client-side tracking and the GA4/Google Ads Import integration to determine what performs best for your business.

How to set up Google Ads via Google Tag Manager
How to set up GA4/Google Ads Import Integration

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Enabled Enhanced Conversions for Leads in Google Ads

For optimal performance, enable the Enhanced Conversions for Leads and Accept Customer Data Terms within Google Ads prior to setting up this destination.

Access Conversions Settings:

• Begin on the Google Ads homepage and use the left-hand menu to click on the "Goals" tab.
• An additional settings menu will appear, click on the "Conversions" tab. Use the drop-down menu to click on the "Settings" tab.
  • (See Figure 1)

Figure 1

Enhanced Conversions for Leads:

• Once in the Conversion settings, navigate to the section titled "Enhanced conversions for leads".
• Locate and click on the checkbox for "Turn on enhanced conversions for leads". It does not matter if you set this to "Google Tag" or "Google Tag Manager" for our server integration to work
  • (See Figure 2)

Figure 2

Customer Data Terms:

• Navigate to the section of the page titled "Customer Data Terms".
• Read the "Policies and Additional Terms for Customer Data" and then accept the terms.
  • If you aren’t able to view terms, it's because your account conversions are tracked by a manager account. The customer data terms must be accepted from the manager's account and any Google Ads manager account uploading on behalf of the manager account using cross-account tracking.
  • (See Figure 3)

_Figure 3_

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Add Google Ads as a Server-Side Destination

Locate Google Ads Destination:

• On the homepage of your Elevar Account, locate the "My Tracking" button from the left-hand menu.
• Once, in "My Tracking" select the "Add Destination" button in the upper right hand corner of the page.
  • A side bar pop-up window will appear, titled "Add Destination".
  • Within this pop-up, use the search function and type "Google Ads".
  • Once the Google Ads destination appears from the search function, click on it.
    • (See Figure 4)

_Figure 4_

Get Started:

• After locating and clicking on the Google Ads destination, you will be taken to overview screen.
• Click the "Get Started" button in the lower left-hand corner of the Overview box.
  • (See Figure 5)

Figure 5

Give Elevar Access

• To enable your server-side destination you'll need to email the Elevar team ([email protected]) with your Account ID and a note that you'd like use to request access.
• You can expect a response from our team in 24 hours. Once Access has been requested by our team and granted by your team, you are ready to return to the Google Ads Destination and click the "Mark as Complete" button.
  • (See Figure 6)

Figure 6

Entering Google Ads Settings

Google Ads Settings:

• Within the "Google Ads Settings" you will need to enter your Google Ads settings in order to connect your account.
  • (Optional) Here you can enter your your Merchant ID
  • Here you need to input your Customer ID
    • Note: These values are not the conversion label or conversion ID.
• If you have "Markets" enabled in your Shopify Source, you will see the "Markets" section in your Google Ads destination.
  • Select either the "All Markets", "Specific market(s)", or the "No Market ID" button to specify which markets will send data to Google Ads.
  • If you have selected "All Markets" navigate to the section titled "Destination Label" and use the text box to enter a label. This is how your destination name will appear across the Elevar app (e.g., My Tracking, Reports, History) and helps to identify your destination across our app, especially when you have multiple instances of the same destination.
  • If you have selected "Specific market(s)", navigate to the section titled "Market Groups" and use the drop down menu to select the market groups to specify which market's data will be sent to this destination. Then, navigate to the box titled "Destination Label" and use the text box to enter a label. This is how your destination name will appear across the Elevar app (e.g., My Tracking, Reports, History) and helps to identify your destination across our app, especially when you have multiple instances of the same destination.
• Once you have entered all of the required information, click on the "Save and Continue" box at the bottom of this section.
  • (See Figure 7)

Figure 7

Select Events:

• Once you have entered your Google Ads Settings, you have to select the Event settings.
• Either click on the button labeled "Use best practices" or "Customize".
• After selecting what events you want to send, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section.
  • (See Figure 8)

Figure 8

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Note: The "View Item" event is no longer available

Due to high Google Rate Limits, the "View Item" event is no longer available because it previously resulted in 429 resource exhausted errors.

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Note: Conversions will be created in Google Ads

We will auto-create the the conversion actions for selected event(s) and complete the Conversion Action CTID for you. Purchase conversion action will be primary while the others will be secondary. You can adjust this later in your Google Ads conversion if needed.

If you wish to send conversion data to existing conversion actions just enter the Conversion Action CTID [ How do I find that? ] in the field for each event and new conversion action will not be created and we will map the data to your existing action.

Consent Mode:

• After selecting the Events settings, you will be prompted to enable Consent Mode.
• To enable Consent Mode, click on the "Yes, enable for this destination" button. If you do not want to enable Consent Mode, click on the "No" button.
  • If consent is required, select what categories you’d like the shopper to agree to before tracking fires. [Learn More]
• Once you have all of selected all of the information for enabling Consent Mode, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section.
  • (See Figure 9)

Figure 9

Select Transaction Identifier:

• After selecting details for Consent Mode, you need to choose a Transaction Identifier.
  • Click on either the "Order ID", "Order Number", or the "Order Name" button. Typically, Order ID is the most commonly used and recommended transaction identifier for Google Ads integrations.
• After selecting the Transaction Identifier, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section
  • (See Figure 10)

_Figure 10_

Select Product Identifier:

• After selecting details for Transaction Identifier, you need to choose a Product Identifier.
  • Click on either the "Product ID", "Product SKU", or the "Variant ID" button. Typically, Product ID is the most commonly used and recommended transaction identifier for Google Ads integrations.
• After selecting the Product Identifier, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section
  • (See Figure 11)

_Figure 11_

Filter Transactions:

• After selecting details for the Product Identifier, you need to choose whether or not to filter transactions.
• Currently, our recommended practices suggests clicking the button labeled, "Yes, Block some transactions", and blocking exchange & historical import orders.
  • Thinking you may need to block additional orders? Learn how to block these orders in this guide.
  • Not sure if you need to block orders? Look at what Sales Channels you have in Shopify!
• Once you have all of selected all of the information for Filtered Transactions, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section.
  • (See Figure 12)

_Figure 12_

Subscriptions:

• If you sell subscriptions, select whether you are using the unified Shopify checkout, or using a separate checkout.
  • Then, navigate to the section titled, "Would you like to send recurring transactions?" select the button labeled "No, block" or "Yes, send".
• If you do not sell subscriptions, select the button labeled "No".
• Once you have all of selected all of the information for Subscriptions, click on the "Save and Continue" button at the bottom of this section.
  • (See Figure 13)

_Figure 13_

Go Live:

• After completing all of the previous Google Ads Setup Steps, an Overview page will appear.
• If all of the details within the Configuration Summary look correct, then click on the button labeled "Go Live" at the bottom of this section.
• A pop-up window will appear, asking for a confirmation of your changes.
• Click on the button labeled "Yes, Go Live".
  • (See Figure 14)

_Figure 14_

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Note: Conversions cannot be imported to a conversion action create less than 6 hours before going live.

No need to wait to Go Live, but you may experience errors in the first 6 hours. These will resolve once your actions are able to accept your conversions.

Review your Conversion Actions in Google Ads

• If you would like to leave your previous tracking in place as a comparison you are welcome to do so, but we highly recommend you make adjustments to your conversion actions in Google Ads to avoid having multiple primary purchase conversion actions.
• The new purchase action created is set to primary and ready for your ads optimization. If you plan to leave your previous tracking running for comparison, you'll need to adjust a single conversion action to be primary while comparing to avoid duplication.
• If you have added any additional events they have been created as secondary. The data will be sent to Google Ads but will not be considered in your ad optimization for your account goal.
  • You can optimize specific campaigns towards these events when creating or editing individual campaigns. If you would like any non-purchase events in your default account goal, simply update the conversion action as primary.

Remove Previous Tracking

• Remove your previous google ads conversion tracking. Your tags may be added via Google Tag Manager(GTM, hardcoded in your theme, or added through the Google Shopping Channel in Shopify. If added via the shopping channel, follow this guide to remove.
• If you have previously installed Elevar's Google Ads server-side tracking, you are good to now remove any GTM conversion tracking tags you have previously added.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are some events ignored rather than sent to Google Ads?

• There are two main reasons for why some events are ignored rather than sent to Google Ads. The first being that they don't have a Google Ads Click ID. Google Ads requires that all events sent include a click ID. But the user could have also opted out of consent. If you've enabled consent mode for Google Ads and the user has opted out of tracking, those events will be ignored instead of sent to Google Ads.

Why do I see error messages for Google Ads in Channel Accuracy?

If you're seeing error messages in Channel Accuracy or the Server Events Log, here are common reasons why:

• The Conversion Action was created less than 6 hours ago. Conversions cannot be imported to a conversion action created less than 6 hours before going live. This means you may experience errors in the first 6 hours. These will resolve once your actions are able to accept your conversions.
• Elevar is not added as a user to the Google Ads Account. Google requires that the party sending the server data (Elevar) have access to the destination it's going to (your Google Ads Account).
• There are multiple Google Ads accounts sending data to your website. If you have another Google Ads account sending traffic to your website (perhaps by an Ads Agency), then when Elevar sends the event with the click ID to your Google Ads Account, Google will give an error because that click ID is associated with a different Ads Account.
  • To solve this, you'll want to set up a Shared Conversion with both Google Ads Accounts and make sure Elevar has access to the MCC only.