topic Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions in Ads

Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

JGood — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 23:03:10 GMT

Hi there,

We are having an issue where the "conversions" we measure in Google Ads is very different than what we see in Hubspot. One of our conversions in GA is tracked on a "success" page after someone signs up for a free trial. When I pull the same timeframes in GA and Hubspot, I see over 160 conversions in GA and about 80 in Hubspot. Anyone that reaches the "success" page is automatically created in Hubspot. Our landing pages are hosted in Hubspot. Prior to this we didn't have landing pages at all. We directed all of our GA clicks to our homepage. Prior to hosting our landing pages in Hubspot, the data in GA and Hubspot was the same (Or close enough). As soon as we created and hosted landing pages in Hubspot and directed our ad clicks to those pages, the tracking fell apart.

Here is how I'm pulling the data from each source.

GOOGLE ADS

I'm segmenting my "Landing Pages" table based on "Conversions" (Conversion Actions) so I can see the individual conversion data. We have multiple conversions.
My date range is June 1 - June 14.

HUBSPOT

I'm creating a report for Contacts created between June 1 and June 14
I have a Landing Pages filter to only show Contacts that came through our landing pages

These landing pages can only be reached by clicking on an ad. And you can only land on our "success" page after you create a free trial. So it doesn't make sense that the numbers are so far off. There are around 80 conversions in GA that are not associated with a Contact in Hubspot, which doesn't make sense.

Any ideas?

Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

PamCotton — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 21:34:45 GMT

Hello @JGood, thank you for the information provided!

Wanted to share two knowledge base that will explain more about these results.

First, could you please confirm if you have requirements for tracking Google Ads here?

Will explain why these numbers don't match.

I hope this information helps.

Kindly

Pam

Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

JGood — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:57:42 GMT

Pam,

I notice that we are not referencing a "tracking template" in our set up. That is mentioned quite often in the instructions. Should we be referencing one that Hubspot provides?

I believe we are adhering to all of the requirements. I checked them all over. I do see this "custom parameter" at the ad level:

But I don't think this means a custom parameter has been applied, right?

But I checked through all of the requirements and don't see any red flags other than the above (Which I don't think is a problem?).

I'm taking this over from someone else who set this up so I'm trying to piece it all together. 🙂

Jason

Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

PamCotton — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 21:15:50 GMT

Hello @JGood, is the auto-tracking on in your HubSpot account? ( More information here)

What could be potentially happening is :

If you edit the name of an ad campaign, the utm_campaign value in HubSpot's tracking template will not automatically update. HubSpot will continue to track the ad, but if you rely on the utm_campaign parameter for other systems, you may need to update the ad URL. To update the URL to match the new ad campaign name, do one of the following:

In the ad network, manually edit the ad campaign URL to reflect the new name.
In the ad network, remove the utm_campaign parameter and value entirely, then save. HubSpot will detect the missing parameter and automatically update the URL.

Kindly,

Pam

Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

hpande — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 13:52:52 GMT

Hi Jgood

You can leave the UTM issue and just do auto-tracking by linking your ads account to HUbspot. They do the heavy lifting so to say and capture UTM.

Is Hubspot catching the UTM parameters correctly for you in dashboard? If not, you can capture them from URL into a hidden form field using GTM and then when someone submits a form, you get those values in your own db also if you pass that info there. Hubspot does have a hidden form field option. If you do want to track it, let me know and ill guide you to an appropriate GTM documentation for step by step implementation of it using browser cookie.

In any case, let me know if this helps.

Btw, one benfit of tracking conversions via Google ads and not GA is that attribution for conversion is available in various options like "last click", "first click", "Linear" and a variety of other options in Ads while it is only "first click" in Google analytics. Also, what is the bid strategy you have employed in your google ads? - "maximise clicks", "Target ROAS" etc? Coz if you want to have a conversion based bidding strategy, then your ads must be getting a conversion signal back.

Always good to implement GTM. Let me know if you need more clarification.

cheers

Re: Google Ads Conversions vs Hubspot Conversions

Sweely — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 10:09:27 GMT

The short answer is:

Your conversion discrepancy is happening because Google Ads is counting more than HubSpot creates due to a fundamental breakdown in the connection between your ad click and your CRM record, likely caused by browser restrictions on your new HubSpot-hosted landing pages.

Google Ads counts a conversion when its tracking code fires on the "success" page (160 times), but the user who triggers that conversion isn't being recorded by HubSpot (only 80 times).

The solution is to abandon browser-based tracking for this critical event and implement a server-side conversion tracking setup using the HubSpot API and the Google Ads API ✅

The long answer is:

The reason your conversion tracking "fell apart" when you switched to HubSpot landing pages is almost certainly because of Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in browsers like Safari and Firefox, or ad blockers used by your prospects.

When traffic went to your old homepage, perhaps the process was more robust, but now, on the HubSpot-hosted landing pages, here's what's likely happening: a user clicks your ad, which appends the tracking parameter like the Google Click ID (gclid) to the URL.

The user visits the landing page and signs up for the trial, which registers the conversion in Google Ads, as the Google Ads tracking pixel is on the success page and fires 160 times.

However, for HubSpot to attribute that contact to the paid ad and create a contact record, it needs to read its own tracking cookie (the hubspotutk cookie) which is often blocked or deleted by these privacy features, and it also needs to successfully capture the gclid from the URL or a short-lived cookie.

If either of these fail, HubSpot creates the contact from the form submission, but it loses the attribution data, or, more critically in your case, it may fail to create the contact entirely for the 80 missing conversions.

To fix this, the ultimate solution is to move to a server-side tracking architecture.

A server-side solution involving the HubSpot API + the Google Ads API (or the Google Ads Conversion API) + Google Tag Manager (GTM) + a server-side tagging environment like Stape or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers an excellent, future-proof fix.

This bypasses client-side browser issues entirely:

First, instead of relying on the browser to send data, you set up Google Tag Manager to collect the GCLID from the URL and temporarily store it on your server-side environment (like Stape) using a first-party cookie.

Second, when a user successfully signs up for the trial, the HubSpot form submission is processed by HubSpot.

You then use the HubSpot API to trigger an action in your server-side tagging setup.

This could be a HubSpot webhook that fires immediately upon contact creation, sending the contact's email and GCLID (which you capture and pass through a hidden form field or via the server) to your Stape/GCP container.

Third, your server-side GTM container receives this event data.

It then uses the Google Ads API to fire a server-to-server conversion event, like a Purchase or custom Free_Trial_Signup event, directly to Google Ads.

You would use the original GCLID or Enhanced Conversions (matching the contact's hashed email) for perfect attribution.

This flow ensures that:

1. Google Ads receives the conversion signal directly from your server, making it far more accurate and resilient than the browser pixel.

2. HubSpot receives the contact record because the form was filled out, and ideally, the GCLID is passed along, allowing it to complete the attribution data.

By sending the final, authoritative contact creation event from HubSpot's backend to Google Ads, you're unifying your reporting on the most trustworthy source: your CRM.

For a more comprehensive look at all your traffic, you could even use the Google Analytics Data API to pull this corrected, harmonized data into a single reporting dashboard.

This method eliminates the 80 missing contacts problem by making sure both platforms are talking server-to-server.

This comment was generated with the assistance of an AI tool, incorporating my expertise in conversion tracking 🙂