Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads: what they measure and how to check them
Enhanced Conversions is a Google Ads feature that sends hashed data from the order form — email, telephone number, name, address — and matches it with users who are logged into their accounts. The result is the recovery of conversions that the standard tag has missed due to blocked cookies, consent refusals or cross-device navigation. For accounts that I set up, the typical recovery rate is between 5% and 15% additional conversions recorded. The exact impact depends on the platform, the quality of the data transmitted, and the proportion of users who are logged into their Google account.
My name is Hristiyan Panov — a performance marketing consultant with over 5 years’ experience and over €2 000 000 I’ve managed advertising budgets for over 90 companies on Google and Meta. Below, I explain exactly what Enhanced Conversions do, how to check whether they’re actually working, and why this is the first setting I adjust in almost every account.
Why are Enhanced Conversions needed at all?
This is because standard tracking via cookies no longer captures a large proportion of actual purchases. Browsers are limiting the lifespan of cookies, users are refusing to give their consent, and people often browse on their phones and make purchases on a computer.
The effect isn’t just reflected in the report. Google optimises its bidding based on the conversions it sees. If the system is unaware of some of the sales, it bids lower on the searches that led to them — and gradually pulls back from precisely the most profitable audiences.
How do they work, technically speaking?
Once the order is complete, the page sends the data from the form to Google in hashed form (SHA-256). Google compares this hash with its records of users who have logged into a Google account, and when there is a match, it attributes the conversion to the relevant advertising interaction.
Before hashing, the data goes through normalisation. The email is reduced to lower case and blank characters at the start and end are removed. The phone number is recorded in international format, with the country code. If this stage is skipped, the hash comes out different and the match does not happen, with no error message.
The fields are not equal. The email matches most often, the phone is next in strength, and the name and address work as an additional pair for a weaker signal. In practice what is passed is what the checkout contains:
- the email from the order field, not from the newsletter field;
- the phone with the country code, cleaned of spaces and dashes;
- the name and delivery address, when the checkout requires them.
Important: No readable email addresses or telephone numbers are sent to Google. The hashing process is one-way.
What are the three ways to implement this?
- Via Google Tag Manager — the cleanest option. The data is read from the data layer or from CSS selectors on the thank-you page.
- Via the global tag directly in the code — It works, but any change to the website requires a developer to intervene.
- Enhanced Conversions for leads — for service-based businesses where the sale is finalised in-store. The data from the form is uploaded back to Google once a deal has been secured.
For shops, the most reliable option is GTM in combination with server-side tracking, because the data is sent from the server rather than from a browser, which might block it.
How can you check whether they actually work?
It’s not about whether the setting is switched on. Google displays a green tick long before it actually matches any data.
Check in three places:
- В Google Ads → Objectives → Diagnostics settings There is a separate section for Enhanced Conversions with a match percentage. Under 30%, a match usually indicates an incorrectly transmitted field.
- В GTM Preview Check that the fields are filled in when a real order is placed, and are not left blank.
- Compare total conversions for the 14 days before and after implementation, whilst keeping spending unchanged.
What don’t Enhanced Conversions track?
They do not solve duplication. If one order is counted both through an old conversion action and through a new one, Enhanced Conversions simply refine one of them — the number stays inflated. The clean-up happens at the level of conversion actions: one primary action for purchase, and the rest stay secondary, outside the main column.
They also do not solve the discrepancy between Google Ads and GA4. The two systems measure under a different attribution model and will never match exactly.
They also do not fix the following:
- a tag that does not fire on the thank-you page at all — there is nothing to enrich;
- a wrong conversion value: a different currency, shipping or VAT included where it does not belong;
- a lost GCLID on a redirect between domains or on payment via an external page;
- refused consent for advertising data, in which case the hashed fields are not sent at all.
That is why the order is the reverse of what is expected. First check that the basic measurement is correct, and only then turn on the enrichment.
Do they run alongside Consent Mode?
Yes, and that is the right order. Consent Mode v2 recovers part of what is lost on a cookie refusal by modelling. Enhanced Conversions recover another part by matching real data. The two cover different gaps and are not mutually exclusive.
The technical order is as follows. First the consent banner supplies the signals for advertising data and personalisation. Only after that does the enrichment make sense, because on a refusal the hashed fields are not sent at all. Enhanced Conversions do not bypass a refusal, but work on the remaining part of the traffic.
A common mistake is a banner that blocks the tag entirely, instead of letting it fire with a “denied” state. With a complete block, Google does not receive even the refusal signal and the modelling has nothing to build on. This is exactly what is checked in GTM Preview:
- the consent state is set before the conversion tag, not after it;
- on a refusal the tag fires, but with a limited set of data;
- on consent the email and phone fields are populated, not empty.
FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions about Enhanced Conversions
Is this lawful under the GDPR?
Technically, the data is hashed in the browser before it leaves the website, and no readable email address or telephone number is sent to Google. Whether this specific implementation meets the requirements in your case depends on the legal basis for processing and your privacy policy — this is a question for a lawyer or your data protection officer, not for the advertising specialist.
Will my conversions increase straight away?
Reported sales — yes, usually within a matter of days. Actual sales increase later and indirectly, because the bidding process begins to take effect as the full picture becomes clearer.
Do they work for service-based businesses?
Yes, via the lead option. It’s particularly useful when there are weeks between the enquiry and the contract.
Do I need a developer?
With a standard platform, this is not usually necessary — GTM handles it. With a non-standard checkout or a single-page website, it is usually necessary to make changes to the code.
What percentage of matches is considered normal?
A score of over 50% is a good result for a Bulgarian shop. A score of under 30% almost always means that a field has been submitted incorrectly or incompletely.
Conclusion
Enhanced Conversions are not a setting to be disabled. They determine how complete the picture is on the basis of which the algorithm allocates your budget. An account with incomplete data bids confidently in the wrong direction — and this isn’t visible in any of the reports.
If you’re not sure whether your account is recording everything you sell, start by having an independent review carried out.
Request a quote for a digital audit →
Related articles: Consent Mode v2 · GA4 and Google Ads: why they don’t match up · Google Ads account audit
