Ask A PPC: What Marketers Need To Know About Micro Conversions In Google Ads via @sejournal, @navahf

Micro conversions are among the most misunderstood – and underutilized – tools in a PPC marketer’s toolkit.

While they don’t represent final goals like sales or leads, they can provide critical signals that improve campaign performance, inform audience strategy, and enable smarter automation.

Here’s what marketers need to know to harness micro conversions effectively.

What Are Micro Conversions In Google Ads?

Micro conversions are the smaller, trackable user actions that occur on the path to a primary (macro) conversion. These can include:

• Button clicks (e.g., “Learn More” or “Book a Demo”).
• Time on site thresholds.
• Scroll depth (e.g., 50% or more of a page).
• Video views or completions.
• Downloads of gated or ungated assets (PDFs, white papers, brochures).
• Add-to-cart or view-a-product actions (especially in ecommerce).
• Account creations or newsletter signups (in lead gen or SaaS).

In technical terms, micro conversions are events configured in Google Ads or Google Analytics 4 (GA4) events to be imported into Google Ads. These actions need to be set as primary actions so they impact the algorithm and reporting.

Advertisers can also create campaign-level conversions or conversion groups within Google Ads to group and value these actions based on their strategic importance.

It’s important to note that conversion data is stored at the conversion action level, so using both account-level and campaign-level conversion actions isn’t advisable. This is because you might end up double counting.

Who Should Use Micro Conversions?

While all advertisers can benefit from micro conversions, there are specific cases where they’re particularly critical:

Long Sales Cycles

For B2B, high-ticket, or enterprise brands, the conversion path often spans weeks or months. Relying on sparse “true” conversions (like closed deals) limits algorithmic learning.

Micro conversions feed Smart Bidding strategies with faster, more frequent signals, improving optimization while nurturing intent.

Low Conversion Volume Accounts

Advertisers with fewer than 50 conversions per month often find themselves stuck with suboptimal bid strategies.

Layering in high-quality micro conversions, like “contact page views” or “start checkout” events, can help reach the volume threshold needed to unlock Maximize Conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS bidding.

Top-Of-Funnel Or Awareness Campaigns

Display, Video, and Demand Gen campaigns often drive engagement but not immediate conversions.

Micro conversions give advertisers a way to demonstrate value and engagement upstream, helping justify investment in brand-building initiatives.

Brands With Multi-Touch Journeys

If a business relies on several touchpoints, such as a blog reader later becoming a webinar attendee and eventually a customer, micro conversions allow marketers to track and optimize for each meaningful step, rather than only the final destination.

How To Report On Performance Using Micro Conversions (Without Losing Credibility)

The biggest risk with micro conversions is miscommunication, especially when stakeholders assume that all “conversions” reported in Google Ads are sales, leads, or revenue-driving actions.

To keep reporting accurately and strategically, advertisers should lean heavily on Google Ads’ conversion settings and be proactive in setting expectations.

1. Use Primary Conversions Wisely

In Google Ads, each conversion action includes a toggle for primary vs. secondary:

• If Primary is toggled, the action contributes to the “Conversions” column and influences Smart Bidding strategies.
• If Secondary is toggled, the action is still tracked but only appears in the “All Conversions” column.

Best Practice: Only include high-intent micro conversions (e.g., “Start Checkout,” “Request Demo Click”) in the “Conversions” column if they reflect a strong signal of purchase or lead intent and your account doesn’t yet have sufficient macro conversion volume for Smart Bidding.

For awareness-stage micro conversions (e.g., video views, scroll depth), keep them out of the bidding unless you are struggling to hit conversion thresholds.

2. Be Honest About Conversion Rate Discrepancies

There’s a difference between the conversion rate in Google Ads and the actual business conversion rate (e.g., sales closed, qualified leads, or revenue).

When micro conversions are included in the primary column, Google Ads will report an artificially high conversion rate.

Example:

• Google Ads reports a 7% conversion rate (including ebook downloads and demo button clicks).
• Customer relationship management (CRM) data shows that only 1.5% of those sessions became qualified leads or customers.

To maintain credibility and stakeholder trust:

• Label micro conversions clearly in both platform naming and external reports.
• Segment performance by conversion type (e.g., “Soft Conversion Rate” vs. “True Conversion Rate”).
• Use blended metrics like “Cost per Qualified Lead” or “Lead-to-Sale Rate” alongside platform metrics to provide the full picture.

3. Set Up Custom Columns For Clean Reporting

Google Ads allows advertisers to build custom columns that isolate specific conversion actions. This is key to preventing performance inflation and aligning reports with what actually matters.

You can create:

• A column for Primary Conversions Only (macro).
• A column for Micro Conversions.
• A column for All Conversions.

This structure helps teams tell the story: “Here’s how many people meaningfully engaged, here’s how many took the final action, and here’s what we spent to get both.”

4. Strategically Value Micro Conversions

If you’re using Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value bidding, assigning values to micro conversions must be done carefully.

These should reflect relative business importance, not just arbitrary numbers.

For example:

• Demo Request = $50.
• Ebook Download = $10.
• Video View = $1.

This hierarchy ensures Google’s bidding logic prioritizes actions that are more likely to lead to revenue, without starving the algorithm of lower-funnel signals.

Final Takeaways

Micro conversions are powerful, but they’re also easy to misuse, especially in reporting. They must never be presented as equivalent to actual sales or leads unless there’s proof of correlation.

Advertisers should:

• Structure Google Ads conversion settings to clearly separate micro and macro actions.
• Educate stakeholders on what each “conversion” type means in context.
• Bridge the platform vs. reality gap by layering CRM or offline data into their performance analysis.

In environments where the final conversion volume is too low to fuel automation or draw meaningful insights, micro conversions provide the volume and behavioral data needed to optimize, but they’re only as valuable as the strategy behind them.

The key is transparency. Micro conversions can absolutely drive long-term success, but only when advertisers set the right expectations, use Google Ads’ tools to their full extent, and align campaign optimization with real business outcomes.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Shutterstock

Ask A PPC: Is Google Ads Still Good Value For Money For Low Budget Accounts? via @sejournal, @navahf

Historically, Google has been the default for most marketers, especially when it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. However, for low-budget accounts, the question arises:

Is Google Search the best value for money?

This article explores how Google Search can still provide value for money for lower-budget accounts and where to allocate the budget if Google isn’t feasible.

Understanding Low Budgets

When we refer to low budgets, we typically mean anything below $5,000 per month in ad spend. Some brands may even operate with budgets as low as $1,000 a month or less.

With a budget of $1,000 or less, relying solely on search as your main strategy may not be viable.

However, it can still be used for remarketing or branded search to dominate your search result page and direct users to specific services.

Screenshot from Google Ads, February 2025

By using extensions (now called assets) in your ads, you can promote your services effectively.

When users click on these extensions, they pay the same price as they would for a click to the headline of the ad. This strategy allows you to pre-qualify potential customers and direct them to higher-value services, even if you sacrifice appearing directly in search results.

The other benefit of branded campaigns is they tend to have better results than non-branded campaigns. Averaging branded campaigns into an account can help ramp up a low-volume ad account.

Dynamic Search Ads

For those with a budget allowing for some data acquisition, Dynamic Search Ads can be a powerful tool.

These ads can capture queries that align with your brand while allowing you to set bid caps to avoid expensive auctions. This allows you to learn what ways of searching will fit your budget, as well as give you a useful sense of how Google understands your site.

Screenshot from Google Ads, February 2025

Targeting less popular queries can lead to more affordable auction prices.

Due to close variants, you only need to bid on one version of your keyword. Dynamic Search Ads can help you discover which ways will be useful without guessing.

Performance Max (PMax)

Using PMax as a volume play can also be beneficial. However, it’s crucial to apply extensive exclusions for display and YouTube placements at the account level to protect your budget from ineffective placements.

It’s also important to remember that PMax requires smart bidding, which means meeting the 50+ conversion threshold in a 30-day period.

Performance Max works best when integrated with other campaigns, such as search or video, making up 15-20% of your overall budget.

It’s important to remember that it represents a bias-free way of investing marketing dollars, so it should only be brought into a low-budget account when conversion tracking is perfect and there’s the budget for that kind of investment.

While Google Search is a significant channel, it’s essential to remember that Google offers more than just search options.

Leveraging Video Campaigns

Video inventory is relatively inexpensive, allowing you to achieve volume without a hefty investment in traditional media buys.

Video campaigns can include non-skippable, skippable, or in-sequence ads, helping users understand your service and why you’re the best fit.

Additionally, investing in video can help you build a scalable audience targeting list, enhancing the return on investment (ROI) of your search investments.

When you invest in YouTube, you’re also buying into an audience type that can be used on other Google inventory. Advertisers can target users who have seen content, interacted with a channel, and other actions.

Aside from YouTube and PMax, there are also Demand Gen ads.

Demand Generation encompasses video, discovery, and display ads. It borrows the most from paid social and allows marketers to have multi-channel distribution with more control than PMax.

Exploring Other Platforms

After discussing Google’s opportunities, let’s consider alternatives like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon.

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft has long been viewed as a cheaper alternative to Google. However, its audience size is smaller, which may not suit those needing high volume.

Still, Microsoft offers specific targeting options and transparency in ad serving. Key differences include ad serving in the user’s time zone, flexible ad group settings, and impression-based remarketing.

Meta Advertising

Meta has been a go-to for small- to medium-sized businesses, especially those with low budgets.

However, it’s shifting focus towards A/B testing, meaning brands need a budget for testing.

Generally, a budget of at least $500 to $1,000 per month is recommended for effective campaigns.

Amazon Advertising

For sellers, Amazon media buying is essential for improving organic rankings.

Non-sellers can also benefit from sponsored display and video ads, leveraging Amazon’s precise targeting signals. However, these options are still in beta, making return on ad spend (ROAS) calculations challenging.

Conclusion: Is Google Worth It For Low Budgets?

The answer to whether Google is a good value for low-budget accounts depends on three key factors:

1. Lead Volume And Quality: Can you support the lead volume and quality from various Google channels? If yes, investing in Google is a smart choice.
2. Campaign Objectives: Are your campaigns focused on volume or value? Google can cater to both, but you need to choose the right settings.
3. Capacity For Video: Do you have the resources to invest in video? Video remains a cost-effective way to reach the right audience, as many are still hesitant to embrace it.

If you have any more questions, feel free to submit them here, and I look forward to connecting next month!

More Resources:

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask A PPC: How Do I Get A Job At A PPC Agency via @sejournal, @navahf

This month’s “Ask A PPC” question is particularly significant because the job market has been quite volatile.

“How do I get a job with a PPC agency when I have only worked in-house. What experience would they want?” – Karl Toronto

It’s understandable that people want to know which skills employers seek when hiring for a PPC team. There can be a disparity between what people think they need and what the market actually demands.

We’ll delve into some data and commentary to explain why various traits are valued.

It’s crucial to understand that the ideal candidates will be versatile and have an aptitude for all aspects of digital marketing.

However, no one can excel at everything, so leveraging your strengths or preferences is beneficial.

Ensure that you’re securing the best role for yourself while the company hiring you finds the best fit for them.

Here Are The Essential Skills

• Analytics.
• Creativity.
• Ad network knowledge.
• Willingness to test/learn.
• Culture fit.

Discrepancy Between Market Demands And Perceived Needs

I conducted a poll on my LinkedIn to gauge the skills desired by current employers and practitioners.

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Analytical skills emerged as the most sought-after trait. Employers seek individuals who can interpret numbers and discern the story behind them.

However, relying solely on analytical prowess may overlook the importance of creativity.

Creative skills are vital in today’s ad networks, especially emphasizing visual content like videos and campaign types that force visual content (Performace Max/Demand Gen). Neglecting creativity can hinder a company’s branding efforts.

Unexpectedly, ad network skills and cultural fit were deemed far less critical than analytical skills. Brands should prioritize team cohesion for long-term success, yet this aspect is often undervalued.

The disparity between job descriptions and actual skill requirements contributes to the difficulty in the job market.

Agencies that hire for how PPC used to work will be left wanting. Practitioners who only focus on popular skills instead of needed ones will be made obsolete by the privacy-first era obscuring data and AI owning creative.

Analytical Skills

Analytical abilities involve knowing where to find relevant data sources and understanding how they contribute to success.

While PPC historically relied on measurable outcomes, the landscape is evolving, necessitating adaptability in data analysis. Technical proficiency and strategic acumen are crucial for navigating different data sources.

These include:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
• Ecommerce platforms.
• Content management platforms (CMS).

Empathy for various ad channels improves your candidacy, and knowing how to work with post-click data will give you an edge over those who can only work with ad platform data.

While being highly technical isn’t required, having empathy for coding and scripts will give you a better chance to stay current with evolving data mechanics (especially as APIs become even more important for accessing data blocked by privacy-first regulations).

Here are some takes from PPC experts on why analytics is the most important:

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Screenshot from LinkedIn, April 2024

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Creativity

Creativity is essential for crafting compelling ad content, yet many PPC agencies struggle in this area.

Clients are often tasked with providing creative materials due to cost or complexity constraints.

You’ll get a competitive edge if you have these skills:

• Video Editing: With the rise of PMax, as well as many ad networks leaning heavily into connected TV, having video editing chops will be a huge asset for any team. If you’re not comfortable using conventional editing tools, AI tools like Descript are a great way to take on those tasks.
• Graphic Design: No matter the ad network your potential employer is hiring for, you will need some ability to design static images. Whether you use stock photos or AI-generated images or come up with the creative yourself, the days of purely text ads are over. Tools like Canva can help bridge the gap for less technical designers, but don’t discount ad network AI.
• Content Creation: While the first two categories leaned toward visual content, written content is still important (i.e., most ad formats include some text). Having the ability to understand how diverse audiences prefer to be addressed while respecting the specific requirements of each format is a great skill to hone.

While some roles may prioritize analytics or ad network knowledge, emphasizing creative abilities can distinguish you during the hiring process.

Here are some experts who value creativity:

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Ad Network Knowledge

Ad network expertise is valuable, but adaptability is paramount as platforms evolve rapidly.

Some agencies will have specialists, while others hire folks they expect to be passable at every network they service. It’s important to understand what workflow will enable you to succeed.

If you’re happy working with all platforms, then don’t shy away from it. However, if you do better in focusing on one aspect of PPC, that’s totally valid. Just know it might limit your ability to get hired into smaller “familyesque” agencies.

Understanding auction dynamics and bidding strategies is crucial.

Many of us who entered the industry when manual bidding was more popular have an unfair advantage over those who came in during the Smart Bidding era (i.e., anything from 2020).

This is because manual bidding requires you to think about the mechanics of each ad platform’s auction and how you could use those mechanics to your advantage in building account structure.

Knowing what to track and allocating appropriate budgets are key considerations.

Understanding that some networks require more conversions than others to run (e.g., Meta Ads’ 50 in a 7-day period vs. Google Ads’ 15 in a 30-day period) should influence what you choose to track, as well as how you report the data.

Additionally, if you are under or over budget, you’ll set yourself up to fail. Knowing which channels require a big investment upfront and what the breaking point for each network is (either on underspending or spending too much) is critical.

Awareness of potential pitfalls, such as false positives or negatives, enhances campaign effectiveness. For example, it’s important to know how to check if automatically applying recommendations is on and what tasks it’s on for.

It’s worth noting that none of the experts who chimed in on the poll made a clear case for ad network knowledge specifically.

Willingness To Test

Success in PPC requires openness to experimentation and a willingness to adapt. While this wasn’t one of the criteria in the poll, it was one of the most popular traits experts look for in hiring.

Perfectionism can hinder progress in a fast-changing environment. Testing new ideas and embracing failure as an opportunity for growth are essential.

While analytical skills aid in test design, empathy and creativity are equally vital for devising effective experiments.

Here is an expert who favors a willingness to test:

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Cultural Fit

Cultural alignment with an agency fosters productivity and job satisfaction. However, you can only achieve that by being honest with yourself about what you want and the mechanics of how you work.

Agencies demand intense effort and collaboration, making compatibility with colleagues crucial.

Anyone looking to make the shift from in-house to agency needs to be prepared for a much faster pace of work and a lot more agency.

Open communication with leadership regarding preferred management and learning styles will ensure a positive working relationship.

Respect for peers and a supportive atmosphere contribute to a fulfilling work environment.

Here are a few thoughts on cultural fit from polled experts:

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Screenshot from author, LinkedIn, April 2024

Final Thoughts

Navigating the current job market can be challenging, but understanding industry needs and honing relevant skills increases your chances of success.

Balancing technical proficiency with creativity and cultural fit is essential for thriving in a PPC role. By aligning with market demands and showcasing your strengths, you can secure rewarding opportunities in the field.

Have a question you’d like us to address? Fill out the form!

More resources:

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

How And Why To Use Enhanced Conversions via @sejournal, @navahf

In this installment of Ask a PPC, we’re going to dive into enhanced conversions.

As brands get their privacy-first plans in place, it’s critical that you feel comfortable with enhanced conversions. We’ll dive into:

• What are enhanced conversions?
• How to set them up.
• Why they’re important.

Note that this post is exclusively focusing on Google’s enhanced conversions.

What Are Enhanced Conversions?

Enhanced conversions are the result of connecting first-party data to your Google Ads account.

This first-party data includes sales/lead info from CRMs, as well as sales info from online stores. It’s hashed as it’s passed through to protect privacy.

These conversions require you to have conventional conversion tracking set up and typically are only used with primary conversion actions.

Screenshot from Google Help article, January 2024

For the full write-up from Google, you can read the company’s post here.

How To Set Up Enhanced Conversions

Enhanced conversions can be set up through:

• Google Tag Manager: You will need to adjust the settings of your Tag Manager and turn on enhanced conversions. There will be a prompt to accept the terms and conditions of enhanced conversions.
• Google Tag: The only difference between Tag Manager and conversion tag is that the tag manager can contain all tracking pixels, whereas the Google tag will just be for Google conversions. Tags require terms of condition acceptance too.
• Google Ads API: While the API path is more technical, it also provides the most flexibility on data sources. You’ll need to do the additional step of hashing the transaction ids using SHA – 256.

Where folks tend to get stuck is in the formatting/connecting of data.

Google added a data connector which makes it much easier to connect established partner data sources.

These data uploads can be done as a one-time sync or scheduled.

Unless you’re still in the troubleshooting phase, it’s ideal to set up (at minimum), a weekly upload.

Why Are Enhanced Conversions Important?

Model-based data is a staple of the privacy-first web.

As ad platforms and search engines adapt to increasing pressures for consumer privacy, first-party data becomes even more important.

Taking the critical step of connecting conversion data helps ad platforms/analytics algorithms understand what happened.

A consumer may not have accepted tracking cookies, but if they consented to marketing communication later in the journey, you’ll be able to shore up the attribution path.

Additionally, not all platforms speak to each other, so using enhanced conversions ensures you’re getting all your data sources to speak to each other.

Takeaways

Enhanced conversions are designed to make it easier and safer for first-party data to improve reporting results.

While they might seem intimidating, there is a path for every level of technical skill. Now that we’re in the privacy-first web, it’s critical to set them up.

It’s important to note that enhanced conversions benefit from but do not require conversion values.

Have a question about PPC? Submit via this form or tweet me @navahf with the #AskPPC hashtag. See you next month!

More resources: 

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal