Conversion delay in Google Ads

This guide is built from Google Ads Help, starting with its pages Find out how long it takes for your customers to convert and About conversion delay estimates, plus the pages linked in each section below. It explains what conversion delay (also called conversion lag) is, why the latest days in your reports look worse than they will end up, the reports that show your delay and how to judge results after a change. How to set up tracking, counting and conversion windows is in our Google Ads conversion tracking guide.

What conversion delay is

Conversion delay is the time between someone interacting with your ad and the conversion showing up in Google Ads. Google's tips on measuring Smart Bidding performance describe it as "the time from click to the time the conversion is shared back to Google Ads", and add that some conversions take "up to days or even weeks". Google's delay page notes that conversion delay can make your cost per action (CPA) "seem higher" and your return on ad spend (ROAS) "seem lower than they actually are".

How long the delay can run depends on the conversion window. Google says conversions "can be reported up to 90 days after the click, depending on the conversion window you've chosen." A conversion that happens after the window ends is never recorded.

A related term is the conversion cycle. Google's definition is "the amount of time it takes for a click to result in a conversion", and for imported conversions it "will also include the time it takes for conversions to be reported in your account." Google uses the conversion cycle as the unit for most of its advice on how long to wait, covered below.

Why recent days look low

Google Ads puts each conversion on the date of the ad interaction, not the date the conversion happened. Its page on understanding your conversion tracking data says the primary conversion columns "are calculated based on the time of the click, not the time of the conversion." Its example: an ad clicked last week that converts this week has "both the click and the conversion" reported "back to last week". That keeps cost per conversion and ROAS honest, because spend is also reported by click date.

The side effect is that the last few days are always unfinished. Spend for those days is complete, but some of the people who clicked haven't converted yet. Google puts it this way: "it may appear that you have fewer conversions, a higher cost per conversion, and so on." Those days fill in over time as the late conversions arrive and are added back to the click dates. If you compare this week with last week, or the days after a change with the days before it, the newer period is at a disadvantage until its conversions have come in.

Click date vs "by conv. time" columns

Google Ads also has columns that report conversions on the day the conversion happened. Google lists them as:

• "Conversions (by conv. time)"
• "Conv. value (by conv. time)"
• "Value / Conv. (by conv. time)"
• "All conv. (by conv. time)"
• "All conv. value (by conv. time)"
• "Value / all conv. (by conv. time)"

Google recommends these for comparing Google Ads with other tools such as Google Analytics or Shopify, which count conversions on the day they happen. It notes that data for these columns is available from March 2019, that store visit and store sales conversions aren't included, and that differences can remain because of attribution models, lookback windows and processing. It also says to allow for a 24 to 48 hour processing delay before comparing final results.

The two views answer different questions. By click date tells you what a day's spend produced, which is what you need for CPA and ROAS. By conversion time tells you how many conversions arrived on a day, which is closer to what your shop or CRM sees. Mixing them, such as dividing today's spend by today's "by conv. time" conversions, gives a number that matches neither.

The Days to conversion segment

To see how long your own customers take, Google's steps are:

1. Open Campaigns, Ad groups or Search keywords from the left menu.
2. Set a date range that ends at least 30 days ago, or longer if your conversion window is longer, so the conversions for those clicks are complete.
3. Click the segment icon and choose Conversions, then Days to conversion.

The conversion columns are then split "into up to 19 rows", one per delay band. Read it as a share: if most conversions sit in the first rows (the shortest delays), your delay is short and recent data settles quickly. If a large part arrives after a week or more, treat the latest week or two as incomplete in every report.

Path metrics and the time lag report

Attribution reports give a second view. Google's page on attribution reports says the "Path metrics" report "shows how long it takes and how many interactions occur before users complete a conversion." By default it shows "Avg. days to conversion", with a row for each day from the last ad interaction. You can measure from the first or the last interaction and switch between days and hours. Google suggests using it to understand your sales cycle and "determine the best conversion window for each conversion action."

Two limits apply, from Google's page about conversion windows. The time lag report is capped at your conversion window: with a 7-day window, it won't show what happened after day 7. And it "reflects the time lag only for ad interactions on google.com", not the Display Network or search partners.

How Smart Bidding and estimates handle delay

The bid strategy report has a conversion delay section to help you "understand how long it takes most of your users to convert", with the advice to "wait until all your conversions have been reported before evaluating the performance of your bid strategy." When more conversions are likely to arrive in the selected range, Google says you can hover over "Conversions", "Cost/conv." and "Conv. rate" to see the average delay and how many conversions it predicts haven't been reported yet, and the performance chart marks the dates that may still change.

Estimates use the delay too. Google says that when a period includes conversions not yet reported, conversion estimates in the bid strategy report and campaign tables "will reflect how many more conversions or conversion value you might get." In the bid, budget and target simulators, Search, Performance Max and App campaign simulators count conversions recorded so far "and also those that are expected to arrive". Simulators for other campaign types only count conversions recorded during the simulation period. Our bid simulator guide covers the rest of how simulators work.

If your customers take a long time to convert, Google notes that conversion estimates in the bid simulator may not appear at all.

Reading results after a change

Delay is the main reason Google tells advertisers to wait before judging a change. From its pages on target adjustments and Smart Bidding learning:

• After a target change, it "can take 1-2 conversion cycles to achieve the new target because of the delay in conversions." Google's example: if most clicks convert within 7 days, targets should adjust in about 7 days.
• Once that period is over, evaluate "over 2 conversion cycles or a 2 week window (whichever is longer) accounting for conversion delay."
• Avoid making several target changes within one conversion cycle unless there is a clear business need. Google says changing the target "before 100% of conversions have been reported makes it impossible to follow best practices for performance assessment."
• Changing conversion goals or actions also needs time: Google says Smart Bidding takes "1-2 conversion cycles in most cases" to learn after such a change, as its page on changing conversion goals explains.
• The "Learning" status can show for up to 7 days after structural changes, but Google says performance "typically converges to your new goal within 1 to 2 conversion cycles", which can be longer than 7 days.

The practical rule: compare periods only after both have had time to collect their late conversions, or compare the same number of days since the click for each. Our guides on Target CPA, Target ROAS and Maximize conversions apply this to each strategy.

Delay also matters when a tracking outage hits. Data exclusions work on click dates, so the excluded range has to start earlier by your conversion delay. The steps and Google's example are in our seasonality adjustments and data exclusions guide.

Imported and offline conversions

If you upload conversions from a CRM, the upload time is part of your delay. Google's conversion cycle definition counts "the time it takes for conversions to be reported in your account", so a CRM that uploads weekly adds up to a week to every cycle.

Google's attribution reports page adds a specific limit: the attribution reports modeling engine only processes conversions that occurred within the last 7 days, so an offline conversion uploaded more than 7 days after the event is left out of attribution reports such as Model comparison. Standard columns and Smart Bidding still record it within the conversion window ("up to 90 days for GCLID"). Google's advice is to keep upload latency under 7 days.

How we allow for conversion delay

This part is our own practice, not Google's guidance:

• We run the Days to conversion segment on a range that ended 30+ days ago before we read any account, so we know how many recent days to treat as unfinished.
• For weekly reports we leave out the most recent delay period, or show it marked as incomplete, instead of reporting a CPA that will improve on its own.
• We use "by conv. time" columns only when reconciling with Analytics, a shop or a CRM, and click-date columns for CPA and ROAS.
• We wait at least two conversion cycles after a target or goal change before changing it again.
• For lead accounts that import offline conversions, we aim for daily uploads so the cycle stays short.

If you want help setting up or reading Google Ads for your business, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

What is conversion lag in Google Ads?

It is another name for conversion delay: the time between an ad interaction and the conversion being reported. Because Google Ads puts conversions on the click date, recent days show full spend but not all their conversions yet, so CPA looks higher and ROAS lower until the late conversions arrive.

How do I see my conversion delay in Google Ads?

Segment a Campaigns, Ad groups or Keywords table by Conversions, then Days to conversion, using a date range that ended at least 30 days ago. If you use Smart Bidding, the bid strategy report also shows the delay and how many conversions Google predicts are still to come.

How long can a conversion take to show up?

Up to the length of the conversion window, which Google says can be up to 90 days after the click depending on the setting. Conversions after the window ends are not recorded.

Should I use the "by conv. time" columns?

Use them when comparing Google Ads with tools that count conversions on the day they happen, such as Google Analytics or Shopify. For CPA and ROAS keep the standard columns, because they match conversions to the same day as the spend.

How long should I wait after changing a bid target?

Google says 1 to 2 conversion cycles for performance to adjust, then evaluate over 2 conversion cycles or 2 weeks, whichever is longer, allowing for conversion delay.