Google ads conversion tracking set to no recent activity
Since I started Google ads a month ago I have spent 4k and got 500 clicks with no sales. I was told to set up a Google ad conversion tracking and I have done it, but it is still set to no recent conversion. I have tried testmode on Shopify and made several test purchases with no results. After many days of searching for help I came across someone online who said that the tracking will be recorded once a customer clicked the ad and made a purchase from there. Is this true do I actually have to find my own ad and then create a test purchase? Well there is a problem here. I cant find those damn Google Shopping ads that I created. It seems the cause is that we are limited by budget so the ad supposedly does not show up as frequently and as high as it supposed to. I have tried every keyword those ads has shown up for but still cant find my ads. What do I do now? Is there a way to work around this problem of no recent conversion?
The short answer is:
The correct setup for reliable Google Ads conversion tracking from Shopify requires a server-side implementation, ideally leveraging Google Tag Manager (GTM) with a Stape-hosted server container or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), to use the Google Ads API (or Measurement Protocol) to send conversion data directly to Google’s servers.
The “No recent conversions” status, despite test purchases, is a common symptom of client-side tracking failure due to ad blockers, browser restrictions, or issues in the Shopify checkout, which only registers an ad-attributed conversion upon an ad click.
A server-side setup bypasses these client-side limitations, ensuring your purchases are accurately tracked and attributed.
While you can verify basic tag firing using Google Tag Assistant on a test purchase, the most robust way to ensure conversion attribution is to implement this server-side data flow.
You do not need to click your own ad to test the tracking integrity itself, but to test the end-to-end attribution in Google Ads, you would typically need a valid ad-click ID, or you can import conversions using the Google Ads API as a superior, programmatic method.
The long answer is:
Your problem of “No recent conversions” despite spending four thousand dollars and seeing clicks, along with the failure of your test purchases to register, points directly to a client-side conversion tracking implementation that is fundamentally unreliable in today’s privacy-focused environment.
The person who told you that the tracking will be recorded only after a customer clicks the ad and makes a purchase is partially correct; Google Ads only reports conversions that it can attribute to one of its clicks or views, which is why your non-ad-clicked test purchases failed to appear.
However, the core issue is likely that even real ad-attributed purchases are being lost due to client-side tracking vulnerability.
The best, most modern, and most cost-effective solution in the long run is to move your conversion tracking to a server-side architecture.
This involves setting up Google Tag Manager (GTM) with a server container, which you can host cost-effectively using Stape or by provisioning a small instance on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
When a purchase occurs on Shopify, instead of the browser firing a conversion tag that can be blocked, your Shopify WooCommerce REST API/webhooks data, or more simply, a custom server-side data layer pushed via Shopify’s Customer Events, sends a clean data payload to your GTM server container.
The GTM server container then uses the Google Ads API (or the older Google Analytics Measurement Protocol which is less ideal for Google Ads but still server-side capable) to securely and directly send the purchase event, along with crucial first-party data for Enhanced Conversions, to Google’s servers.
This server-to-server connection is not susceptible to browser privacy features or ad-blockers, solving your conversion loss problem and immediately improving the data quality for your bidding strategy.
You can bypass the difficulty of testing the ad-click attribution by leveraging the Google Ads API for Offline Conversion Uploads, allowing you to programmatically send conversion data with a simulated Google Click ID (gclid) from a test purchase for validation, completely eliminating the need to search and click on your own hard-to-find Shopping ads for verification purposes.
Furthermore, integrating the BigQuery API and the Looker Studio API with this server-side setup would allow you to centralize your raw, un-sampled conversion data and build comprehensive, custom dashboards that compare the server-side tracking data against the Google Ads UI data, providing ultimate transparency and proof of your tracking health.
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