Short answer: Conversion rate measures how often ad interactions or visits end in an action you count, such as a sent form or a sale. Google Ads divides conversions by ad interactions, so 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions is 5%. In our view, a good rate is one that keeps your cost per conversion below what a new customer is worth to you.
What conversion rate means
Google Ads defines conversion rate as the average number of conversions per ad interaction, shown as a percentage.
A conversion is an action you choose to count. Google Analytics calls these actions key events and describes them as actions that are particularly important to the success of your business. Google Ads names a purchase, a registration and a sign-up as typical examples.
An interaction is the main thing people do with each ad format. Google lists clicks and swipes for text and Shopping ads, views for video ads and calls for call assets.
Google asks you to use conversion tracking in your account to measure your conversion rates. Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking shows how to set it up.
How to calculate your conversion rate
Google Ads divides the conversions of a period by the ad interactions in that period that can be tracked to a conversion. Its own example: 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions give a conversion rate of 5%.
The rate can pass 100%. Google says this can happen if you track more than one conversion action, or if you choose to count every conversion. Then more than one conversion can be counted for each interaction.
Each conversion action has a Count setting. Every is the default for website actions, and One is the default for calls from ads and calls to a phone number on your website. With Every, Google Ads counts every conversion that happens after an ad interaction, which Google calls a good choice for sales. With One, it counts only one conversion per ad click, which suits leads, where what matters is whether a lead came in.
To change it, click the Goals icon, open the Conversions menu and click Summary. Then click the name of the conversion action, click Edit settings, click Count and choose One or Every. Click Save, then Done. The change applies only to future conversions.
Google notes two exceptions. You can’t edit the count setting for app installs. And when attribution is set to “Paid and organic channels,” the count setting is managed in Google Analytics.
In our view, count a lead form as One, so two forms sent after the same click count once.
Conversion rate in Google Analytics
In Google Analytics, the actions you count are key events. Any event you collect can become a key event once you mark it as one.
Its metrics include two rates. Session key event rate divides the sessions in which a key event happened by all sessions. User key event rate is the percentage of users who performed a key event.
Google lists several factors that can make key events and conversions differ, among them the attribution model, the conversion window and the counting method. Each metric also has its own purpose: conversions measure advertising across channels, and key events help analyze traffic, behavior and journeys on your site.
In our view, compare each number only with itself over time, and judge your ads by the rate your ads account reports.
To mark your leads as key events, follow our guide to setting up Google Analytics 4.
What a good conversion rate is
In our view, a conversion rate tells you little on its own. What you pay for each conversion also depends on what each click costs. Google Ads calculates cost per action by dividing the marketing cost by the number of actions.
Take a made-up case: at $2.00 a click, a rate of 5% makes each conversion cost $40.00, and a rate of 10% makes it $20.00.
In our view, a good rate is one that keeps that cost below what a new customer is worth to you. Our guide to ROAS shows how to work out your break-even point from your margin.
How to raise your conversion rate
Google estimates how relevant and useful your landing page will be to people who click your ad. It says pages with higher ratings are usually well organized and have text that relates to what people searched for. Google Ads shows this landing page experience as Below average, Average or Above average.
If yours is Below average or Average, Google suggests a set of best practices. The first is to give people what they’re looking for: someone who searches for flannel shirts and clicks an ad for flannel shirts should land on a page that features your flannel shirts. Google adds that the page doesn’t need to repeat the search term word for word.
Google also asks you to keep the message consistent from the ad to the page, so the page follows through on the ad’s offer or call to action. It asks for a site that is easy to use on a phone, where people value ease of navigation even more. And it asks you to improve loading speed, which can be the difference between someone bouncing or buying.
The same list suggests using conversion rate as a proxy for a good landing page experience. It doesn’t affect your landing page status, but Google says it can be a good way to measure and improve the page.
In an A/B test on a landing page, Vodafone made one version faster and kept both versions visually and functionally identical. A 31% better LCP led to 8% more sales and a 15% better lead to visit rate. Our guide to Largest Contentful Paint explains how to make a page load sooner.
In its tips to improve clickthrough rate (CTR), Google notes that a more specific ad sometimes brings a lower CTR but a higher conversion rate. It asks you to look for the balance that works best for your goals.
Our guide to Quality Score covers landing page experience, and our guide to A/B testing shows how to test one change on a page at a time.
Your conversion rate, step by step
- Set up conversion tracking for the actions that matter to you, such as a sent form or a call.
- In each conversion action, set Count to One for leads and Every for sales.
- If your landing page experience is Below average or Average, check that the page delivers the ad’s offer, loads fast and works on a phone.
- Compare each campaign’s conversion rate with its own past weeks.
- Test one change at a time and keep the version that brings more conversions.
Steps 1 to 3 follow Google Ads Help. Steps 4 and 5 are our advice.
Before you judge your conversion rate
- Conversion tracking records the actions you care about, and only those.
- Leads count once per click, and sales count every time.
- You compare periods of the same length and the same conversion actions.
- You compare Google Ads with Google Ads, and Google Analytics with Google Analytics.
- The landing page delivers what the ad offers.
- You know what each conversion costs you, not only the rate.
RememberConversion rate is conversions divided by interactions. Count leads once, compare the rate with your own history, and judge it by what each conversion costs you.
With our Google Ads service, the account is yours and Google charges your card. We don’t pay for your clicks or resell them, and we add no margin. On the Starter plan, a form sent from your site or a tap on your WhatsApp button counts as a conversion in Google Ads and GA4. The Growth plan also tracks phone calls.
Questions about conversion rate
What is a good conversion rate?
One that keeps your cost per conversion below what a new customer is worth to you, in our view. Google Ads calculates cost per action by dividing the marketing cost by the number of actions. So compare your rate with your own history, and judge it together with what each click costs.
How do you calculate conversion rate?
Divide the number of conversions by the number of ad interactions, both for the same dates. Google Ads gives the example of 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions, a conversion rate of 5%. In Google Analytics, the session key event rate divides the sessions with a key event by all sessions.
Why is my conversion rate over 100%?
Because more than one conversion can be counted for each interaction. Google Ads says this can happen if you track more than one conversion action, or if you count every conversion. For leads, setting the count to One records only one conversion per ad click.
Why do Google Ads and Google Analytics show different conversion rates?
Google Ads divides conversions by ad interactions, and Google Analytics divides by sessions or users. Google also lists settings that can differ between conversions and key events, such as the attribution model, the conversion window and the counting method. Compare each number with itself over time.
How can I raise my conversion rate?
Start with the landing page. If your landing page experience is Below average or Average, Google suggests giving people what they’re looking for and keeping the page consistent with the ad. It also suggests a page that is easy to use on a phone and loads fast. Then, in our view, test one change at a time and keep the version that converts more.
Sources
Read on November 7, 2026. From Google Ads Help: Conversion rate: Definition, About conversion counting options, Interactions: Definition and Cost per action: Definition. On landing pages: Landing page experience: Definition and 5 ways to use Quality Score to improve your performance. From Analytics Help: About key events, Conversions vs. key events in Google Analytics and Analytics dimensions and metrics. From web.dev: Vodafone: A 31% improvement in LCP increased sales by 8%. Also from our site: the Google Ads service page and our guides to Google Ads conversion tracking, Google Analytics 4, ROAS, Quality Score, A/B testing and Largest Contentful Paint.