Offline Conversion
What is an offline conversion? It is a result such as a paid job that you report back to Google with the click ID. Here is why it matters and how it is miscounted.
What Is an Offline Conversion? The Definition
An offline conversion is something that happens after the click, away from the ad platform: a booked job, a payment. You report it back to Google with the GCLID of the click that started it. Google can then count that click as a win.
Why It Matters
Google's bidding optimizes toward what you feed it. Feed it calls, and it buys more calls. Feed it paid jobs, and it learns which clicks pay. Google publishes one number on this: switching from lead-count bidding to value bidding raised median conversion value 14% at similar return on ad spend (Google internal data, global, March 2021). That is Google's own claim about its own bidder, not ours.
A Worked Example
Example. A caller clicks an ad and books a $2,400 door. After the door and the sub, $1,100 is left. You report to Google: this click, a paid job, $1,100. The $150 lock-out click that booked nothing sends nothing. Over weeks, Google sees that clicks like the first one pay and clicks like the second do not.
How It Is Usually Miscounted
- Sending calls. A call is not a job.
- Sending a typed lead value. A flat $100 for everything makes a door and a lock look the same.
- Sending revenue and calling it profit. Pick one basis, and know which.
- Sending with no click ID. Without it, Google cannot tie the job to a click.
- Sending twice. Use a ticket number as an order ID, so repeats are recognized.
In HeadHoncho
The screen is Send Booked Jobs to Google Ads. It sends booked and paid jobs once a week by default, valued at profit after the sub. See its docs page.
Related Terms
GCLID, ROAS. Learn the whole chain in Tracking a Lead All the Way to the Job, or do it by hand with the import tutorial.