Help CenterSystem StatusContact SupportYour Dashboard →

Google Ads

Retarget referred visitors and track referral events in Google Ads to optimize your ad campaigns.

Note: The Google Ads integration is only available to users on the GrowSurf Business plan or higher.

How It Works

The Google Ads integration lets you retarget website visitors who arrive through referral links and track their conversions. Once connected, Google Ads will track these referred visitors and conversions when they submit their email addresses on your website.

Under the hood, GrowSurf loads the Google Ads library for event tracking. If Google Ads is already installed, GrowSurf intelligently avoids loading it twice.

How to Set Up

Step 1: In Campaign Editor > 4. Options > Integrations, open the Google Ads integration card and enter your Google Ads conversion ID.

Note: If you are 100% certain that you already have Google Ads installed on your website, you do not need to enter in the Google Ads conversion ID. Simply press Connect and the integration will be enabled. However, we recommend that you still enter it to account for URLs that do not have Google Ads installed.

Step 2: Once connected, GrowSurf will have all events enabled by default. Disable any events that you do not want to track.

Important Note: Make sure that your campaign Share URL (found in the Campaign Editor > 5. Installation step) is a part of your Google Ads account. Also, if you are tracking conversions when a referred friend submits their email address, make sure the URL that this event happens is also a part of your Google Ads account.

Step 3: In your Google Ads account, you will need to add the following two conversion actions (You can skip this step if you have both "Track conversion event" checkboxes toggled off). Follow the instructions in How to Add Conversion Actions In Google Ads.

  • growsurf_referral_signup - This conversion event represents when a referred visitor submits their email address on the form on your website that has referral tracking on it.

  • growsurf_referral_trigger - This conversion event represents when a participant completes a qualifying action, like making a purchase (Note: this only applies when you are using growsurf.triggerReferral()from the front-end).

How to Add Conversion Actions In Google Ads

Open instructions

You'll need to complete steps 1-10 below for each event growsurf_referral_signup and growsurf_referral_trigger.

  1. Log into your Google Ads account.

  2. Click the top-left "Create" circular button (see image below)

  3. Choose "Conversion action" in the dropdown.

  4. Choose "Website" as the conversion source.

  5. Enter your website (where the conversion event will happen).

  6. Select "Add a conversion action manually" (see image below).

  1. In the "Goal Category" dropdown, choose one of the following:

    1. For growsurf_referral_signup, we recommend using "Sign-up" (or choose a different category that best represents a referred visitor signing up).

    2. For growsurf_referral_trigger, we recommend using "Purchase" (or choose a different category that best represents when a referred participant completes a qualifying action, which triggers a referral).

  2. For the "Value", choose one of the following:

    1. For growsurf_referral_signup, enter a value that represents how much a referred visitor signing up is worth.

    2. For growsurf_referral_trigger, enter a value that represents how much a referred participant completing a qualifying action is worth.

  3. For the "Count", choose "Only one conversion".

  4. Click the blue Done button at the bottom of the window.

  1. Make sure that you repeat steps 1-10 above for growsurf_referral_trigger as well. Your screen should look like this image:

  1. Click the blue Save and continue button at the bottom of the page.

  2. Click the Done button.

Troubleshooting Tips

Here are common scenarios and how to troubleshoot them.

If Google Ads events are NOT occurring, but you were expecting them:

  • Make sure you do not have any ad-blockers or browser extensions blocking requests to Google Ads.

  • Make sure your campaign Share URL (and the page where the referral submits their email address, if you are tracking conversions) is a part of your Google Ads account. You can find the campaign Share URL in the Campaign Editor > 5. Installation step.

  • If you are testing conversions being tracked, make sure that you've allowed up to 24-48 hours for Google Ads to process the events.

  • To troubleshoot if the Google ads script (Tag Manager) is loading on your website, you'll want to make sure you that you visit a participant's referral link first.

If Google Ad events are occurring, but you were NOT expecting them:

  • If you want to prevent Google Ads from being loaded completely, you must disconnect the integration completely. Simply toggling off all checkboxes is insufficient.

  • If you see Google Ads network requests being made on your website and you have the integration completely disabled, GrowSurf may not be emitting these events. Check other parts of your code to find where these events might be happening.

Last updated

Was this helpful?