Connecting Google Ads

CleanClicks connects to Google Ads via OAuth for automatic offline conversion uploads. When a visitor clicks your ad and later converts, CleanClicks sends that conversion back to Google Ads with the original click attribution.

Prerequisites

• A Google Ads account with admin access
• At least one conversion action created in Google Ads
• CleanClicks domain verified and tag installed

Connecting

1. Go to Connections in your CleanClicks dashboard
2. Select your domain
3. Find Google Ads in the One-Click Connect section
4. Click Connect
5. Sign in with the Google account that has admin access to your Google Ads account
6. Authorize CleanClicks to manage your conversions
7. You'll be redirected back to CleanClicks with a success message

After Connecting

Once connected, you also need to configure the vendor settings:

1. Go to Configuration > Vendors tab
2. Enable Google Ads
3. Enter your Customer ID (the 10-digit account number from the top-right of Google Ads)
4. Enter your Conversion Action resource name (format: customers/1234567890/conversionActions/123456789)
5. Save

The Conversion Action resource name is the Google Ads API resource path for the action, not the AW-xxx/yyy gtag snippet ID. Find it under Google Ads > Goals > Conversions. You can also map a different conversion action per event (purchase, lead, etc.) in the vendor settings.

How It Works

When a visitor clicks your Google Ad:

1. Google appends a gclid (Google Click ID) to the landing page URL
2. The CleanClicks tag captures this gclid and stores it in a first-party cookie
3. When the visitor later converts, CleanClicks sends the conversion back to Google Ads with the gclid attached
4. Google Ads matches the conversion to the exact click, keyword, and campaign

This is enhanced conversions via first-party data. Because it's server-side, it works even when the visitor has an ad blocker or restrictive browser settings.

Click-ID requirement

Google Ads click conversions require a click identifier (gclid, wbraid, or gbraid) captured from the original ad click. A conversion from a visitor who did not arrive through a Google ad (organic, direct, referral, or another channel) has no click ID, so it is recorded in CleanClicks but not uploaded to Google Ads. This is Google's design, not a CleanClicks limitation, and it is the most common reason a conversion shows in CleanClicks but not in Google Ads.

Recommended: Final URL Suffix

For best attribution, set a Final URL suffix in Google Ads that includes UTM parameters:

utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignname}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content={creative}&matchtype={matchtype}&network={network}&device={device}&ad_id={creative}

Set this in Google Ads: Admin > Account Settings > Tracking > Final URL suffix.

Recommended Google Ads settings

Set these on the Google Ads side so CleanClicks can deliver maximum, correctly-attributed conversion data:

Token Refresh

OAuth tokens are refreshed automatically. You shouldn't need to reconnect unless you revoke CleanClicks access in your Google account or change Google Ads admin permissions.

Troubleshooting

Next: Meta (Facebook)