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RPT·Performance Reports·critical

Ghost Conversions

One or more enabled Google Ads conversion actions on this account show zero conversions in the performance report. An "enabled" action that records nothing means the tracking pipeline is silently broken: a missing GTM tag, a wrong conversion label, a renamed action, or a trigger that no longer fires. If the action is set Primary, Smart Bidding is optimising against feedback it never receives.

CL
By Christopher LandaverdeCreator of AdLint · ad-tech tracking specialistUpdated

Why It Matters

A conversion can be enabled and still be effectively dead. Broken tags, wrong triggers, renamed actions, or label mismatches leave Google Ads bidding toward actions that produce no signal. This is especially dangerous when the action is Primary because campaigns may enter learning with missing feedback.

How To Fix It

For each ghost action, check whether the Google Ads conversion label exists in GTM or the site tag and whether the trigger still fires. Use Tag Assistant, GTM Preview, and a real test conversion to verify the hit reaches Google Ads. Disable stale actions or mark them Secondary if they are intentionally retained for history.

Example

Configuration
Settings: Purchase - Primary - Enabled
Report: Purchase has 0 conversions across the selected period
For Your Client Report

This account contains enabled Google Ads conversion actions that record zero conversion volume across the reporting period. Per Google Ads conversion tracking documentation, an enabled conversion action is expected to receive hits via a website tag, GA4 import, or offline conversion upload, and a sustained zero count indicates the tracking pipeline is broken: a missing GTM tag, a mismatched conversion label, a renamed action whose tag was never updated, or a trigger that no longer fires. The risk is highest when the ghost action is set Primary, because Smart Bidding optimises against feedback it never receives. Fix: trace each flagged action to its expected source, verify conversion ID and label in GTM or the site tag, confirm with Tag Assistant that a real test conversion reaches Google Ads, and either repair the tag or move the action to Removed or Secondary. Source: support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6095821.

Drop this paragraph into your client deliverable. Sources back to the canonical platform documentation linked below.

References

  1. [1]Google Ads. Verify conversion tracking is working
  2. [2]Google Tag Manager. Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag

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