Server Google ads tracks 30% less than web container

1

One account has SS Google ads conversions reporting 30% less conversions than web. Other tags like Facebook are working fine so is not an issue of triggers or clients. Conversion linker sends the click ID correctly. Any idea what can be the reason?

We have different conversion actions firing from web and server for debugging.

2

This can only be because of a configuration gap or because web conversions don’t work in the same conditions.
Here are some of the most common reasons for this:

  • Conversions use different attribution settings
  • One of the conversions works without taking consent into account, the other takes consent into account
  • Overreporting one of the conversions, i.e. the conversion is additionally triggered for example in the site code.

Technically and actually server tracking cannot perform worse than web tracking if everything is configured correctly. If you observe such a problem - it is definitely related to implementation problems. So you need to debug your implementation and find problems in it.

3

Thanks a lot Alex.
Options 1 and 3 are for sure not the case.
About consent, Google ads web tag has in-built consent, but server tag doesn’t. Shouldn’t this be working already? Or, where is the possibility for misreported consent settings? Thanks again.

4

Hi Javier,

That could be the reason. Built in tag consent checks its state and the tag will work or not depending on that.
For this to work correctly, you need to:

  1. Make sure your CMP sends the status of the consent in google consent mode format
  2. Your tag is triggered when the actual state of the content is known (usually you use a trigger group for this: the event itself + the consent event that sends the content banner).