Understanding “By ConversionTime” Reporting Metrics in Google Ads

November 03, 2022

Have you ever found discrepancies in the number of conversions that Google Ads reported versus the number of conversions reported by your eCommerce or CRM platform during the same period of time?

Many factors can generate those discrepancies, but one of them is that Google Ads attributes the conversions based on when a user clicked on the ad, but that does not necessarily mean that the user completed the conversion the same day; that is how the eCommerce and CRM platforms report the conversions. 

That’s why we want to talk today about the “by conversion time” reporting metrics.

What is “Conversion by conversion time”?

Conversion by conversion time is a reporting metric in the Google Ads UI that shows you the time frame in which conversion actions were completed as opposed to just when the ads were clicked.

That means if a user clicked on your ad last week, but converted today, the “Conversions (by conv. time)” column shows a conversion for today. Standard reporting columns will still count the click and conversions in the previous week.

There are six different types of conversions by time that the platform allows for pulling in your reports:

  • Conversions (by conv. time)
  • Conv. value (by conv. time)
  • Value / Conv. (by conv. time)
  • All conv. (by conv. time)
  • All conv. value (by conv. time)
  • Value / all conv. (by conv. time)

How to enable the “By Conversion Time” column?

To add any of the “By Conversion Time”  columns to your Google Ads dashboard, you must follow up the next steps:

 

  1. In the “Campaigns” tab, select the option“Columns,” and then click on “Modify Columns”

  1. Under “Conversions,” select the option “Conversions (by conv. time)” or any other “by conversion” metric that you would like to analyze.

  1. Now that the “By conversion time” columns are enabled on the dashboard. Take a moment to compare the standard “Conversions” column and the “Conversions (by conv. time)” column. You also can use the information from your E-commerce site and/or your CRM. 

By analyzing the “conversions by time” column, you’ll be able to have a better understanding of how much time your customers take to convert (in addition to the ‘attribution’ reports from Google Ads). As a result, this will help you to set different strategies to influence your consumer decision-making process.