Conversion value is the amount of money, in your account currency, that you tell Google Ads each conversion is worth to your business. For a UK account that means pounds sterling: an order’s basket total, or an estimated figure for an enquiry or call.
How conversion value works
Every conversion action can carry a value in one of three ways. It can use the same value every time, such as £80 for every quote request. It can use a different value for each conversion, passed by the tag, which is how online shops send the real order total. Or it can record no value at all, in which case Google can only count conversions, not weigh them.
For transaction-specific values, the tag sends a value and a currency code. Sending “GBP” alongside the number matters: if the code is missing, Google assumes the account currency, and if it is wrong, Google converts the figure from the wrong currency.
Google Ads then adds up the values in the Conv. value column and divides by cost to give conv. value / cost, which is the account’s view of return on ad spend. Value-based bid strategies such as Maximise conversion value and target ROAS use these numbers to decide which searches are worth paying more for.
Why it matters
Not every conversion is equal. A £40 accessory order and a £1,400 sofa order are both one purchase, but they should not be bid on in the same way. Values let Google tell them apart.
For lead generation, values are just as useful once you work them out honestly. If a residential cleaning enquiry becomes a customer one time in four and the average first job is worth £180 in gross profit, an enquiry is worth roughly £45 to you. Give phone calls a different value from brochure downloads and the account starts to favour the leads that pay.
Two UK-specific questions come up often. First, VAT: decide whether you pass values including or excluding VAT and keep to it, because mixing the two makes your return figures meaningless. I usually recommend passing revenue net of VAT. Second, profit: if margins vary widely between products, revenue values can steer spend towards popular low-margin lines, so consider passing a margin-adjusted value instead.
Common mistakes
- Leaving every lead at the default value of 1, which makes ROAS figures look absurd and value bidding useless.
- Including delivery charges and VAT on some actions but not others.
- Sending the order total in pence, or with a comma as a thousands separator, so values are wildly wrong.
- Setting a high value on a secondary action like a newsletter signup and forgetting it inflates All conv. value.
- Never updating lead values after prices or close rates change.
How to act on it
For an online shop, place a test order and compare the value in Google Ads with the order in your platform, line for line. Check the currency, VAT treatment and that refunds are not being counted as new sales.
For lead generation, work out a value for each lead type from your own close rate and average profit, write the calculation down and review it every quarter. My ROAS and break-even calculator helps you check whether the resulting return actually covers your costs. If you want the values set up and kept honest as part of ongoing work, that sits within my PPC management service.