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How To Set Up Google Ads Enhanced Conversions With GTM (Google Tag Manager)

I’ve worked with hundreds of Google Ads accounts, especially on lead generation campaigns. If there’s one big headache in this area, it’s lead quality.

You might be familiar with this: you get plenty of leads from your campaigns, but many turn out to be low-quality or fake when the sales team follows up. People might fill out the form, pass verification steps like OTP, but then deny submitting it later. No matter what you try, junk leads never completely disappear.

Is Google Ads the problem? I don’t think so.

The truth is, Google just counts a lead as a number. It doesn’t know if a lead is good or bad because there’s no quality signal attached by default. So, it can’t optimise your campaigns for better quality leads — only for more leads.

Enter Enhanced Conversions.

What Are Enhanced Conversions?

Normally, when someone fills a lead form, you send a simple conversion signal to Google Ads, a pixel fires, and Google knows a conversion happened. But that’s it.

Enhanced Conversions add a smarter layer:

  • When a user fills the form, you send Google not just a conversion, but also some user data (like email or phone number).
  • This data is hashed (to protect privacy) before sending to Google.
  • Later, when your sales team qualifies or converts a lead, you send that data plus the lead’s value back to Google.
  • Google matches this info with the earlier conversion and learns which leads are high quality.
  • Over time, Google optimises your campaigns to bring more leads like the good ones.

In short, Enhanced Conversions help Google understand lead quality — something normal conversions can’t do.

How Is This Different from Offline Conversions?

Offline conversions depend on a click ID (called GCLID) to match leads, but this method is less reliable now. Google plans to phase it out.

Enhanced Conversions don’t rely on GCLIDs. Instead, they use actual user data like phone or email, which is a better match and more accurate.

How to Set Up Enhanced Conversions for Leads Using Google Tag Manager (GTM)

Here’s the step-by-step way to get this done with GTM:

How to Set Up Enhanced Conversions for Leads Using Google Tag Manager

Step 1: Create a New Conversion Action in Google Ads

  • Log in to Google Ads.
  • Go to Tools & Settings > Conversions (or Goals > Conversions in the new interface).
  • Click + New Conversion Action.
  • Choose Import and then Manual Import using API or Uploads.
  • Pick a category: either Qualified Lead (after your sales team validates leads) or Converted Lead (if you track actual sales).
  • Under Optimisation Options, check Add “Converted leads” to account default goals.
  • Name your conversion and set the value to Use a different value for each conversion.
  • Set Count to One.
  • Set the Click-through Conversion Window as per your sales cycle (default is 90 days).
  • Choose Data-driven attribution.

Click Create and Continue.

Enable Enhanced Conversions for Leads

Step 2: Enable Enhanced Conversions for Leads

  • On the next screen, select Turn on Enhanced Conversions for Leads.
  • Agree to the terms.
  • Choose Google Tag Manager as your setup method.
Set Up Google Tag Manager

Step 3: Set Up Google Tag Manager

  • Log in to GTM.
  • Create a New Tag.
  • Name it something like “Google Ads Enhanced Conversions”.
  • Choose Tag Type: Google Ads > User-provided Data Event.
  • Grab your Conversion ID from Google Ads (Tools & Settings > Setup > Google Tag).
  • Enter the Conversion ID into GTM.
Set Up Variables for User Data

Step 4: Set Up Variables for User Data

  • Under Variables, create new ones for the form fields you want to send (email, phone, etc.).
  • For each variable, select DOM Element as Variable Type.
  • Go to your website’s lead form, right-click the email field, and choose Inspect.
  • In the Developer Tools, right-click the highlighted HTML and choose Copy > Copy selector.
  • Paste this selector into the variable’s ID field in GTM.
  • Repeat this for phone and any other fields you want to include.
  • Save all variables.
Set Up Trigger for Form Submission

Step 5: Set Up Trigger for Form Submission

  • Create a new Trigger for Form Submission.
  • Choose whether this fires on All Forms or only Some Forms (based on conditions).
  • Save the trigger.
Save and Publish Your Tag

Step 6: Save and Publish Your Tag

  • Review everything.
  • Submit and publish your GTM container.
Set Up Scheduled Uploads for Lead Data

Step 7: Set Up Scheduled Uploads for Lead Data

  • Back in Google Ads, go to Conversions > Uploads.
  • Click View Template and open the Google Sheet template.
  • Make a copy of the sheet.
  • Fill in your time zone and remove instructions.
  • In Google Sheets, go to Extensions > Apps Script.
  • Create a trigger to run On Edit or On Change.
  • Link this sheet in Google Ads under Schedule Uploads.
  • Set frequency and save.

Now you can regularly update your converted leads in the sheet. Google will match these with past conversions and improve your campaign performance over time.

Final Thoughts

Setting up Enhanced Conversions for Leads with GTM isn’t complicated, but it takes some patience. Once done, you’ll be feeding Google the signals it needs to find better quality leads, not just more leads.

If lead quality has been a pain point, this setup can make a big difference.

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Original Source: https://www.sfdigital.co.uk/blog/how-to-set-up-google-ads-enhanced-conversions-with-gtm/

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