Question from Reddit user:
Hey everyone,
I’m facing a tricky issue with Google Ads conversion tracking and could use some expert advice.
The Setup:
I manage multiple event websites built on WordPress, but our event registrations are handled by a third-party platform called EventsAir.
The Problem:
Since EventsAir is a separate platform, users leave our website to complete registration, making it difficult to track conversions accurately. EventsAir doesn’t integrate natively with Google Ads, which makes proper attribution a challenge.
What I’ve Tried:
- Thank You Page Tracking: I attempted to direct users to a thank you page after registration, but we can’t guarantee all users return to our site after completing the process.
- Google Tag Manager in EventsAir: Installed GTM on EventsAir’s backend, but conversion tracking is still unreliable, container frequently requires debugging.
- Element ID Tracking: Since the EventsAir form URL doesn’t change during registration, I attempted tracking via looking for an element id on the form either through specific text or a hidden field, but I haven’t had success yet.
If anyone has experience handling conversion tracking in a similar setup—or knows a workaround that ensures accurate Google Ads attribution—please share your insights!
Thanks in advance for your help! 🙏
Answer from Nabil:
The short answer is:
The unreliability you’re seeing in tracking conversions on EventsAir is an expected failure of client-side tracking when dealing with a separate, non-integrated third-party platform that you don’t fully control.
The standard methods are failing because the user’s browser is losing the attribution data (like the Google Click ID or gclid) during the cross-domain jump, or the GTM container on EventsAir is being blocked or misfiring.
The most robust, future-proof solution is to completely bypass the browser issues by implementing server-side tracking using the Google Ads API and the EventsAir GraphQL API with a server-side container like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.
This ensures accurate attribution by matching the original Google Ads click to the final registration record on the server, guaranteeing 99%+ data fidelity for your conversions.
The long answer is:
Your situation is a perfect example of why client-side tracking, even with GTM, struggles with external platforms like EventsAir.
When a user clicks your ad, the Google Click ID (gclid) is attached to the URL.
When they leave your WordPress site to register on EventsAir, that gclid must be successfully passed and stored across the two domains, and the GA4 or Google Ads tag must fire correctly on the EventsAir success page.
Since you’ve found this to be unreliable, it points to either the gclid being dropped during the redirect, an ad-blocker or cookie restriction on the EventsAir domain preventing the GTM tag from firing, or the EventsAir platform structure itself preventing reliable element or URL change detection.
The solution isn’t to fight the browser, but to move the conversion data transmission to a server-side environment using APIs.
The recommended approach is to leverage the EventsAir GraphQL API and the Google Ads API via a server-side tagging solution like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.
Here is the process:
First, on your WordPress website, you must capture the gclid from the landing page URL and pass it to your server-side GTM environment using a server container.
This container will store the gclid in a first-party cookie or send it with the EventsAir registration request when the user initiates the sign-up process.
Second, you use the EventsAir GraphQL API (or another available API) to retrieve the final, confirmed registration data from EventsAir’s server.
This is the source of truth.
Since EventsAir is holding the confirmed registration data, your server-side environment can query this data, looking for registrations that correspond to the stored gclid or another identifier you passed.
Third, once you have the confirmed registration data and the matching gclid, you use the Google Ads API to send the conversion back to Google Ads.
This process, known as an Offline Conversion Import or a server-to-server conversion, is the most reliable way to report conversions.
Because the data transfer happens directly between your server, EventsAir’s server, and Google Ads’ server, it is immune to client-side issues, ad-blockers, cross-domain problems, and uncooperative thank you page redirects, ensuring you finally achieve accurate, 99%+ attribution for your purchase or generate_lead events.
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