Set up Google Ads Enhanced Conversions

Enhanced Conversions is privacy-friendly by design.
By sending hashed first-party customer data (like email addresses or phone numbers) securely to Google Ads, Enhanced Conversions improves conversion attribution accuracy, even as browser privacy restrictions and the deprecation of third-party cookies make traditional tracking less reliable.

Prerequisites

• A Google Tag Manager server container set up.
• your Google Ads conversion tracking is already implemented server-side.

  Or, follow our guide to instal the tag.

• Granted access to first-party customer data (email, phone, etc.) at the point of conversion.
• Privacy compliance with regulations like GDPR.

Enable Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads

1. In your Google Ads account, go to Tools & Settings > Measurement > Conversions.
2. Select the conversion action you want to enhance.
3. Click Enhanced conversions and follow the prompts to enable the feature.
4. Choose Google Tag Manager as your implementation method.

Prepare Customer Data for Enhanced Conversions

1. At the point of conversion (e.g. purchase, lead form submission), collect customer data such as:

   • Email address
   • Phone number
   • Name and address (if applicable)
   

2. 

   Only send data for users who have provided consent. Never send raw personally identifiable information (PII) without hashing.
   
   Ensure data is captured in your website’s data layer or is available to your server container at the time of the conversion event.

Hash Customer Data (SHA256)

1. Before sending customer data to Google Ads, hash each data field using the SHA256 algorithm.
2. Hashing can be performed:

   • In your backend/server (recommended for security)
   • Or, if needed, using GTM server-side custom templates or built-in hashing features
   

Example
hashed_email = SHA256(lowercase(trim(email)))

Configure Enhanced Conversion Parameters in GTM Server Container

1. In your GTM server container, go to Tags and select your existing Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag.
2. In the tag configuration, look for the Enhanced Conversions section.
3. Add the hashed customer data fields as parameters:

   • email → hashed_email
   • phone_number → hashed_phone
   • first_name, last_name, address, etc. (as needed)

4. Map these parameters to variables in your server container that contain the hashed values.

Update your Conversion Event trigger

1. Ensure your conversion tag fires only when all required hashed data is available.
2. If using a custom event (e.g., purchase, lead_submit), confirm that the event includes the necessary hashed fields in the payload.

Test and validate Enhanced Conversions

1. Use GTM’s Preview mode and/or your server container’s debug tools to verify that:

   • the conversion event fires as expected
   • hashed customer data is included in the outgoing request to Google Ads

2. In Google Ads, monitor the “Status” of Enhanced Conversions for your conversion action. It may take up to 48 hours for data to appear.

Best practice
Use Google’s Tag Assistant or server container logs to confirm that hashed data is being sent correctly and securely.

Troubleshooting

Useful resources