Conversion value rules are adjustments in Google Ads that raise or lower the value of a conversion when it comes from a particular kind of customer, such as someone in a certain location, on a certain device or in a certain audience list. They let value-based bidding pay more for the sales or leads that are genuinely worth more to your business, without any change to the tags on your website.
How conversion value rules work
A rule has two parts: a condition and an adjustment. The condition is one of a short list of signals Google knows at the moment of the auction. At the time of writing (October 2026), those are location, device and audience, including your own customer lists and remarketing lists. The adjustment either multiplies the value, for example by 1.5, or adds a fixed amount in pounds. Separately, campaigns with a new customer acquisition goal can add value for first-time buyers.
Suppose a Manchester kitchen fitter takes enquiries from across the North West, but jobs within 20 miles turn into signed contracts far more often, because surveys are quicker and the fitters are nearby. Every enquiry is tracked at £100. A rule that multiplies value by 1.5 for the inner area tells the bidding that an enquiry from there is worth £150, so it competes harder for those searches.
Rules only change bidding in campaigns that bid for value: Maximise conversion value, with or without a target ROAS. A campaign set to Maximise conversions or Target CPA does not use values, so the rule has nothing to act on. The adjusted figure also flows into reporting, which means the Conv. value column includes it. You create rules in the Goals area of Google Ads and choose whether they apply across the account or only to selected campaigns. When more than one rule could match the same conversion, read Google’s current help page on how they combine before stacking several, because the result can surprise you.
Why it matters
Most accounts track one value per type of conversion: every sale at its basket total, every lead at a flat figure. That treats a lead from a postcode you rarely win the same as one from your strongest patch. Value rules let you correct this using what you already know from your sales records, so bidding is steered towards profit rather than volume.
For UK businesses the common uses are geographic. A London removals firm might find inner-London jobs smaller but more frequent, while moves out to the Home Counties are larger. A B2B supplier might value enquiries from a list of lapsed accounts more highly, because returning buyers tend to close quickly. Device can matter too: on some sites, quote forms filled in on phones are thinner and close less often.
Common mistakes
- Setting multipliers from a hunch rather than from closed sales. If you cannot show the difference in your CRM or order history, the rule only adds noise.
- Adding rules to a campaign that bids for conversions or CPA, then wondering why nothing changed.
- Comparing conversion value before and after a rule as if like for like. Reported value rises because you told it to, not because sales did. Revenue in your own books is the honest check.
- Stacking rules until nobody can explain where a value came from.
- Using rules to patch a wrong starting figure. If every lead is tracked at £1, fix the conversion value itself first.
- Forgetting a rule exists. Rules outlive their reasons, and a region you once favoured may be one you can no longer serve.
How to act on it
Start with evidence. Export six to twelve months of closed sales or qualified leads with location, device and, where you hold it, whether the customer was new or returning. Work out the average sale value or close rate for each segment. A rule is only worth adding where a segment differs clearly and consistently from the rest.
Keep the first rule simple: one condition and a modest multiplier, applied to one campaign already on value-based bidding. Note the date so you can find it later, then give the campaign several weeks before judging it, longer if your sales cycle is long. Judge it on real revenue or signed work, not on the adjusted value column.
If your values already come from your CRM as offline imports, check whether the difference is already in the data, because a rule on top could count the same advantage twice. Value rules are one of the levers I review in ongoing Google Ads management, alongside the values they adjust.