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GTM & GA4 glossary

GTM · Google Ads glossary

Conversion Linker

A GTM tag that saves ad click details (like the gclid in a Google Ads URL) in first-party cookies, so conversions that happen later can be matched to the ad click.

Also known as: Conversion Linker tag

On this page
  1. In plain English
  2. Example
  3. Official documentation
  4. Related terms

In plain English

When someone clicks a Google Ads ad, the landing page URL includes a click identifier such as gclid. If nothing saves it, that identifier is lost as soon as the visitor moves to another page, and Google Ads may not be able to credit the conversion.

The Conversion Linker tag reads those identifiers and stores them in cookies on your own domain. When a conversion tag fires later, Google Ads can link it back to the click.

In most Google Ads setups in GTM it fires on all pages.

Example

Google Ads reports far fewer conversions than your enquiry inbox. In Preview mode you notice there's no Conversion Linker tag in the container. You add one firing on all pages, and new conversions start matching back to their ad clicks.

Official documentation

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