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Unusual or Other-Category Conversion Actions

A meaningful share of this account's conversion actions are categorised as "Other" rather than a specific Google Ads category (Purchase, Lead, Submit Lead Form, Sign-up, etc.). The "Other" category disables several Google Ads features. Including the per-category bidding optimisations, automatic value-based recommendations, and category-aware reporting filters.

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By Christopher LandaverdeCreator of AdLint · ad-tech tracking specialistUpdated

Why It Matters

Google Ads uses the Category field to apply category-specific bidding intelligence and reporting features. "Lead" actions get lead-form ad integration; "Purchase" actions get e-commerce reporting layouts and ROAS bidding optimisations. "Other" exists as a fallback when no specific category applies, but it gets none of the category-specific features. When teams use "Other" reflexively because they are not sure which specific category fits, the account loses meaningful optimisation surface. The check is info-level because the right category sometimes genuinely is "Other". But a high share of Other usually indicates conversion-action setup happened quickly without considering category implications.

How To Fix It

  1. In Tools & Settings → Measurement → Conversions, review each "Other" action.
  2. For each, ask: does a more specific category fit? Most "Other" actions are really Purchases, Leads, Sign-ups, Page views, or Engagement actions.
  3. Update the Category field to the more specific value.
  4. Re-check campaign goal settings. Some category changes alter how the action rolls into Conversion goals.

Example

Configuration
Problem: 8 of 12 Primary conversion actions are categorised "Other"
Better: re-categorise to Purchase (5), Lead (2), Page view (1), leaving 4 truly-other.
For Your Client Report

A high share of Google Ads conversion actions categorised as "Other" rather than specific categories. Google's conversion category documentation, the "Other" category disables category-specific bidding optimisations, value recommendations, and reporting features. Fix: review each "Other" action and re-categorise to the most specific applicable category. Source: support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2425971.

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

References

  1. [1]Google Ads. Set up your conversion action

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