Understanding enhanced conversions
You can always count on our team at 21Digital to keep you in the loop about your Search Marketing (SEO) and Advertising campaign results. Today we’re giving you a whistle stop tour on Enhanced Conversions – Google’s nifty little feature to help you track website visitors!
You may have seen that we recently published a blog about changes to the law in the EU and UK regarding third-party cookies. You may also have noticed a few unwelcome changes in your website visits and campaign results, which are a direct result of these new regulations.
So, we’ve adjusted our strategies.
If you need a quick recap before we dive in:
Recent changes in cookie policies now require users to explicitly agree to third-party cookies. Browsers now automatically block these cookies unless people give their consent. This change challenges the idea of ‘implied consent’ and has been affecting the accuracy of data in tools like Google Analytics, leading to fewer reported website visits, which, of course, is changing how online activity is tracked and reported.
How is Google dealing with this change in data acquisition?
Due to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), all websites now legally need explicit permission to use third-party cookies. This shift has led Google Analytics to rely less on these cookies, resulting in less accurate data collection unless users opt-in when previously, users had to physically opt-out. To address this new challenge, Google is recommending that Ads customers implement enhanced conversions on all Google Ads goals. This feature allows advertisers to gather more accurate data despite these pesky third-party cookie restrictions.
Here’s what you need to know when it comes to enhanced conversions and how they can help us maintain precise tracking on your website and improve your conversion rates!
So, what are enhanced conversions?
Enhanced conversions help ensure that your ad campaigns are more accurate and effective. Here’s how it works: on your website, when a user completes a conversion such as a purchase, their data, like their email, is securely captured, hashed, and sent to Google to measure how well your ads are working. Just in case you’re wondering, Google cannot identify the individual from whom it’s collecting the data.
This allows us (your marketing agency) to get around the block the recent change in the cookies policy has brought and understand your customer’s journey better so we can produce the best results for you; even without the tracking, we may have lost out on due to third-party cookie policies because the data is coming from a first-party source and is associated with what we identify as a conversion action.
Why are enhanced conversions important?
Enhanced conversions are a more reliable way to track and measure customer actions accurately, especially in light of recent policy changes affecting the reliability of third-party cookies. After the data is captured, Google then matches this hashed data with their user data to report conversions in your account.
For leads, when a user fills out a form on your website, their data is also hashed and sent to Google. If the lead converts later, you can upload the hashed data, and Google will match it back to the ad that drove the lead. Simple!
We’ve already mentioned how Google Ads hasn’t been as accurate recently as it has in the past, and enhanced conversions are now looking like an excellent solution. In fact, we’ve got enhanced conversion well underway with our Google Ads campaigns, and our SEO team is already making great strides to improve things on the analytical side of things, so we’ll keep you posted – watch this space!
This is just another way we’re helping our clients navigate this change in policies and get their best results for their business. We have over 20 years of experience getting our clients through turbulent change just like this, so you can rest assured we know exactly what it takes to keep your business on track.
At 21Digital, we’re a multi award-winning agency specialising in lead generation and ecommerce, providing digital marketing services including web design, web development, SEO, Google Ads, digital consultancy, social media marketing and email marketing. If you have any questions regarding the recent changes to the cookies policy, don’t hesitate to reach out to our experts, and we’ll be more than happy to see how we can help your business gather all the necessary data you need to deliver for your customers!
