Why tracking comes first
Google Ads and Meta both bid automatically based on the conversions they receive. If a purchase is counted twice, or a lead is never reported, the platforms learn the wrong lessons and spend accordingly. Fixing tracking is often the single biggest improvement an account can make, as the 1,200% revenue case study shows.
What a proper set-up includes
- A measurement plan: which actions matter, how they are named and which count as key events in GA4.
- Google Tag Manager: clean, documented tags instead of scripts scattered through the site.
- Server-side signals: Meta Conversions API and Google enhanced conversions to recover data lost to browser restrictions.
- Consent: a consent banner and Google Consent Mode, so tracking respects GDPR, UK GDPR and US state privacy laws.
- Offline conversions: sales that close by phone or email fed back from your CRM.
Checked against reality
The final test is simple: do the platforms' numbers line up with your actual orders and qualified leads? I test every event and compare totals before calling the job done. The method is explained in fix your conversion tracking before you scale your ad spend.
Kept working
Website changes break tracking more often than anything else. I check tracking after releases and report the numbers in a live dashboard.