Sending SwitchLive Order Events to Google Ads

Prerequisite: Complete the SwitchLive GTM Core Setup first. The Data Layer Variables and SwitchLive Event Listener from that guide are required here.

Step 1: Create a Product Price (Number) Variable

Google Ads requires the conversion value to be a number. The product_price field from SwitchLive comes through as a string (e.g., "1899.99" with quotes). This Custom JavaScript variable converts it to a clean numeric value.

Skip this step if you've already created SwitchLive - Product Price (Number) as part of the Meta integration — the same variable works for both.

1. In GTM, go to Variables > New > Variable Configuration > Custom JavaScript.
2. Paste the following:

function() {
  return parseFloat({{SwitchLive - Product Price}}) || 0;
}

3. Name the variable SwitchLive - Product Price (Number) and save.

Step 2: Create an Order Placed Trigger

The Google Ads tag should only fire when an order is completed.

Skip this step if you've already created SwitchLive - Order Placed Trigger as part of the Meta integration — reuse the same trigger here.

1. Go to Triggers > New > Trigger Configuration > Custom Event.
2. Set Event Name to SwitchLiveEvent.
3. Check Some Custom Events.
4. Set the condition: event_description equals Modal - Order Placed.
5. Name the trigger SwitchLive - Order Placed Trigger and save.

Step 3: Create a Conversion Action in Google Ads

Before building the GTM tag, create the conversion action in Google Ads to get the Conversion ID and Label you'll need.

1. In Google Ads, go to Goals > Conversions > Summary > + New conversion action.
2. Select Website.
3. Choose Create a conversion action manually.
4. Configure:
   • Category: Purchase
   • Conversion name: Locally Purchase
   • Value: Use different values for each conversion
   • Count: Every conversion
   • Click-through conversion window: 30 days (recommended)
   • Attribution model: Data-driven (recommended)
5. Save and note the Conversion ID and Conversion Label — you'll need both for the GTM tag.

Set as Secondary action: Keep "Locally Purchase" as a Secondary conversion action (not Primary). This lets you track the data without letting it influence bidding until you've validated volume and accuracy. You can promote it to Primary later.

Step 4: Create the Google Ads Conversion Tracking Tag in GTM

1. Go to Tags > New > Tag Configuration > Google Ads Conversion Tracking.
2. Fill in the fields:
   • Conversion ID: your Conversion ID from Step 3
   • Conversion Label: your Conversion Label from Step 3
   • Conversion Value: see the critical note below
   • Transaction ID: {{SwitchLive - Cart Hash}}
   • Currency Code: USD
3. Assign the SwitchLive - Order Placed Trigger.
4. Name the tag Google Ads - Locally Purchase Conversion and save.

⚠️ Critical — use the variable picker for Conversion Value: When setting Conversion Value, do not type {{SwitchLive - Product Price (Number)}} as text. Instead, click the small brick/lego icon next to the field to open the variable picker, then select SwitchLive - Product Price (Number) from the list. If the variable name is typed rather than picked, GTM treats it as a literal string and sends $0 to Google Ads. This is the most common configuration error with this integration.

Step 5: Publish the GTM Container

1. In GTM, click Submit.
2. Add a version description (e.g., "SwitchLive Google Ads conversion tracking") and click Publish.

Step 6: Test the Integration

Confirm the tag fires in GTM Preview

1. Open GTM in Preview mode.
2. Navigate to your site via an actual Google Ads ad click — click through from a live Google Ads campaign. This is required to generate a gclid (Google Click ID) in the session (see the note below on gclid).
3. Complete a test order through the Locally widget.
4. In Tag Assistant, find the Order Placed SwitchLiveEvent.
5. Confirm the Google Ads - Locally Purchase Conversion tag fired.
6. In the tag details, verify:
   • Conversion Value shows the actual numeric price (e.g., 1899.99), not the variable name as text.
   • Transaction ID shows a cart hash value (e.g., EKVNV25).

Check Google Ads Conversions

1. In Google Ads, go to Goals > Conversions > Summary.
2. Set the Status filter to All (not Primary only — "Locally Purchase" is a Secondary action and won't appear if the filter is set to Primary).
3. Find Locally Purchase in the list and check the All conv. and All conv. value columns.
4. Note: Conversions typically take 4–6 hours to appear, sometimes up to 24 hours. If you don't see data immediately, check back the next day before troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting

Conversion value shows $0.00 or the variable name as text in Tag Assistant
The Conversion Value field has the variable name typed as literal text instead of inserted via the variable picker. Open the tag, click the Conversion Value field, delete everything in it, then click the brick/lego icon to open the variable picker and select SwitchLive - Product Price (Number). Save and republish.

Tag fires correctly but no conversions appear in Google Ads
The most likely cause is a missing gclid. Google Ads conversion tracking only attributes a conversion when the user arrived via an actual Google Ads ad click (which appends a gclid parameter to the URL). Test orders placed by navigating directly to the site — even if the GTM tag fires correctly — will not be counted as conversions. To verify, perform a test by clicking through from a live Google Ads campaign, then completing a Locally order.

"No Google tag found in this container" warning
This warning is safe to ignore. It means there's no standalone gtag.js in the GTM container, but that's not required for conversion tracking. The Google Ads Conversion Linker tag (which should be active on All Pages) combined with the Conversion Tracking tag is all you need. Conversions will track correctly.

Transaction ID shows SwitchLive - Cart Hash as text instead of a hash value
Same root cause as the Conversion Value issue — the Transaction ID field has the variable name typed as text. Use the variable picker to insert {{SwitchLive - Cart Hash}} properly.

Conversion showing Needs attention status
Check the Diagnostics tab on the conversion action in Google Ads. Common causes: the tag isn't firing on the right event, the conversion value is malformed, or the conversion action was recently created and hasn't processed data yet.

For additional assistance, reach out to your Implementation Manager or CSM.