Server-side Google Ads conversions, without a developer token
Google Ads can only optimise for the conversions it sees. Connect with Google, choose your purchase conversion action, and every order goes to Google from your server, matched by the ad click or by the customer's hashed details.
Illustration of the event flow
What you get
Connect with Google
Sign in with a Google account that can edit your Google Ads account. No developer token, no Google Cloud setup, no API application.
Click ids and customer data
gclid, or gbraid / wbraid for iOS traffic, captured first-party by the SDK, plus SHA-256 email (Google's Gmail rules), E.164 phone and name with postal code.
One order, one conversion
The order id is sent as the transaction id, so Google deduplicates it against your Google tag, and a retry never counts twice.
Offline and chat orders too
Shop and call-centre imports go as in-store or phone conversions; WhatsApp and Messenger orders as message conversions.
Where browser-only tracking loses the sale
Pick a situation your shoppers are in and watch one order take both paths.
A shopper from your Facebook ad places an order.
Illustration of what happens on shoppers' devices, not a measurement.
Set up in minutes
- 1In Google Ads, open Goals → Conversions and note the ID of your purchase conversion action (the ctId in its page address).
- 2In Destinations, choose Google Ads, enter your customer ID and the conversion action ID, and press Connect with Google.
- 3Allow access on Google's screen. Test events are validated by Google without being recorded.
- 4Check an order in the Debugger to see what Google received.
Questions
Why don't I need a developer token?+
Google's Data Manager API, which Google recommends for new conversion integrations, works with a normal Google sign-in. The older Google Ads API upload method needs a developer token and, from 15 June 2026, refuses tokens that never uploaded conversions before.
Which events are sent?+
Purchases, and leads if you add a lead conversion action. Page views and cart events stay with your Google tag and GA4.
What if a purchase has no gclid?+
It's still sent when there is a customer email, phone or full name with postal code, so Google can match it through enhanced conversions. Without any of those it's skipped, with the reason shown.
Platform rules from Google: Data Manager API, send events, Google Ads API: upload click conversions.