Google Ads Conversion Value Rules: Valuing Some Leads Higher

Everything below comes from Google Ads Help: About conversion value rules, Set up conversion value rules, Impact of conversion value rules on Smart Bidding and performance, View your conversion value rules report, Google's pages on Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value, and the restricted targeting policy for personalized advertising. Setting up conversion actions and giving them a value in the first place is covered in our Google Ads conversion tracking guide; this page starts where that one ends.

What conversion value rules do

Most lead businesses give every lead the same value in Google Ads, because the tag on the thank-you page cannot know who will become a good customer. Conversion value rules let you correct that inside Google Ads. Google puts it this way: rules let you easily adjust values for conversions based on geographic location, device and audiences at auction time bidding in real time.

Google's own example is a lead business: You're an online leads business that currently values all leads at $5 USD through Google Ads. However, you know that Californian leads are typically worth $10 USD. A rule that multiplies conversions from California by 2 makes Google Ads report $10 for those leads, and value-based bidding then treats them as worth twice as much.

Two things make rules different from changing the value in your tag. They need no code change (Google lists this as a benefit: without having to change tagging code). And they work in two places at once: the adjusted value shows in your reports, and Smart Bidding uses it when it bids. The report page says The same adjusted value that is determined at bidding time will be used for reporting.

When they are worth using

Rules are for knowledge Google Ads does not already have. Google describes them as a way to provide additional value information that isn’t already reflected in your account (for example, different margins for different types of users, or lifetime value considerations). The situations Google lists on the Smart Bidding impact page are:

• some types of customers are worth more to you, but nothing in the account shows it (the California example);
• you want to bid toward customers with a higher expected lifetime value, using audiences that reflect it;
• you give fixed values to actions today (Google's example: calls at $5 and sign-ups at $20) but want those values to rise for certain customers;
• you report store visits or store sales and want to value them differently by campaign or overall.

Google also adds a warning worth reading twice: Smart Bidding already uses signals like geography, device, and first-party audience lists (when applied). If a user in one of those segments converts better, and this is reflected in your reporting, Smart Bidding already accounts for that. In plain terms, a rule should describe a difference in value (bigger orders, better margins, leads that close more often), not a difference in conversion rate, which bidding already sees.

Where does that value knowledge come from? Usually from your own sales data. If you already send closed deals back to Google Ads with offline conversion import, compare value by region, device or customer list there before you write a rule, so the multiplier rests on real numbers rather than a guess.

Conditions you can use

Google lists four kinds of condition:

• Audiences: your first-party lists and Google audience segments, for the type of users that you know are higher value to your business. The segment types are explained in our audience segments guide.
• Geographic locations: adjust value for people converting in particular places.
• Device: adjust value by the type of device used to convert.
• No condition: only for store visits or store sales. Google says it will only appear if you have an option to select ”Store visits” or “Store sales” as a conversion goal, and applies to that store conversion action as a whole.

Each rule has a primary condition and an optional secondary condition of a different type, so at most two conditions per rule. If you use both, a conversion has to meet both. Choosing several options inside one condition works as "or": Google's example is that picking New York and California applies the rule to customers in either state.

One restriction catches people later: All value rules in your account must use the same type of primary and (optional) secondary conditions. If your first rule is Location plus Device, every other rule must use Location as primary and, if it has a secondary condition, Device. To change condition types, Google says you have to delete all value rules and create new ones. Plan the structure before you build the first rule.

Google also notes that Some value rules conditions may not be available for advertisers with ads related to housing, employment, or credit due to Google Ads policies. That policy limits targeting by certain demographics and by ZIP code for housing, employment and consumer finance ads in the United States and Canada.

Add, multiply or set

For each rule you choose how the value changes when the conditions match:

• Add: Adds a positive value (greater than 0) on top of whatever conversion value is being passed. Useful when a segment brings a fixed extra amount, such as a service add-on.
• Multiply: multiplies the value passed in by the number you enter. Google says this value ranges from 0.5 to 10, so a rule can also lower value, down to half.
• Set: sets a specific value. Google labels it beta and says to contact your Google representative if you do not see it.

Google's other pages describe rules mostly as a multiplication factor, and a multiply rule wins over an add rule when two audience rules tie. For leads valued with one flat number, multiply is the simpler choice: a lead worth twice the average gets ×2.

Setting up a rule

1. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, then Value rules, and select Create conversion value rule.
2. If you use cross-account conversion tracking, Google says you must create the rules in the manager account.
3. If you report store visits or store sales, choose which goal the rule covers: all conversion goals, store visits or store sales.
4. Pick the primary condition and its options, then an optional secondary condition.
5. Check the preview, which shows the rule as an "If / And / Then" statement.
6. Set the adjustment (add, multiply or set) and save. The rule appears in the Value rules table, where you can later edit or remove it.

Google's impact page also mentions rules applied at the account or campaign level and says Conversion value rules created at the campaign level will not affect bidding performance or reported conversions for other campaigns. The exception is a portfolio bid strategy, where a change to one campaign can slightly affect the others in the portfolio.

When more than one rule matches

Rules do not stack. Google is explicit: only one rule can be applied to a given conversion. When several could apply, Google picks one:

• Location: the most precise place wins. A California rule beats a United States rule for a customer in California.
• Audience: Google uses its audience order: Customer Match first, then your data segments and similar segments, then affinity and in-market segments, then detailed demographics. If two rules still tie, a multiply rule beats an add rule, and between multiply rules the highest multiplier wins.
• Device: device types do not overlap, so only one device rule can match.
• Store visits or sales: a store-goal rule is treated as more specific than a rule for all conversions, so a store visit in London gets the store visits rule rather than a London rule.

For hotel advertisers, Google also has itinerary rules (advance booking window, length of travel, travel start day), which it says only work with Hotel campaigns and Performance Max for travel goals.

Which campaigns and bid strategies use them

Google's set-up and impact pages say rules can be applied to Search, Shopping, Display, Hotel, and Performance Max campaigns. The pages are not fully consistent: the overview page lists Travel instead of Hotel while also saying the feature isn't compatible with Travel campaigns, and the report page names only Search, Display and Shopping. If you run anything other than Search, Shopping, Display or Performance Max, check the current page before relying on rules.

Values are adjusted for every campaign, whatever the bidding. The report page says this covers campaigns on manual or Target CPA or Maximize conversion value bidding, However, only value-based bid strategies like Target ROAS bidding or Maximize conversion value bidding (where supported) will automatically optimize to the new values. So a campaign on Maximize conversions or Target CPA shows the new values in reports but does not bid differently because of them. The bid strategies themselves are compared in our budgets and bidding guide.

Target ROAS has its own entry bar. Google's Target ROAS page asks for at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days for Search and Shopping, and says conversions must have a value greater than 0 to count. For Search, if you recently started reporting values or changed how you report them, Google recommends waiting 1 to 2 conversion cycles before switching. Treat a new set of value rules the same way: it changes what the bidding is aiming at.

Removing a rule is not a reset. Google says Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value aim at any rules that remain currently active, and If you remove a conversion value rule our system will resume optimizing for your current definition of value.

Reading the results

Adjusted values appear in the normal Conversion value columns across your reports. To see what the rules changed, segment a campaign report: open Campaigns, choose the segment icon, then Conversions, then Value rule adjustment. You get three kinds of row:

• Original conv. value (rule applied): the original value of conversions that a rule then changed.
• Original conv. value (no rule applied): value of conversions no rule touched.
• Audience, Location, Device or No condition: the net adjustment each rule type made.

The total conversion value is the two original rows plus the adjustments. Google's example: $50 of books sold in New York and $100 in California, with a ×2 rule for New York, gives a total of $200, made of $50 (rule applied), $100 (no rule) and a $50 Location adjustment. You can also add the "All value adjustment" and "Value adjustment" columns to the statistics table. Google notes that rule reporting applies to all conversions, not just the ones in the “Conversions” column.

Because every conversion value column includes the adjustments, ROAS in your reports is no longer pure revenue over cost once rules are on. Google says this directly for store visits and sales, where you have to use the segment to work out the value without rules. Keep that in mind before you compare Google Ads ROAS with your accounting.

Before you switch them on

• Start from real values. Rules multiply whatever value reaches Google Ads. If every lead is sent with no value or a placeholder, fix that first in conversion tracking.
• Base each rule on your own sales data. Look at average deal size or close rate by the condition you plan to use. If you cannot show the difference in your CRM, do not write the rule.
• Choose the condition type once. Because all rules must share the same condition types, pick the one or two dimensions that matter most for your business.
• Keep the count small. Only one rule applies per conversion, so a long list of overlapping audience rules is hard to reason about.
• Write down what you changed and when. Reported conversion value jumps on the day a rule goes live. A note in your reporting saves a confused meeting a month later.
• Change one thing at a time. If you are also moving a campaign to Target ROAS or Maximize conversion value, consider testing that bid strategy change with a Google Ads experiment first, so you know which change moved the numbers.

Frequently asked questions

What are conversion value rules in Google Ads?

Rules that adjust the value of a conversion when it matches conditions you set, such as an audience, a location or a device. The adjusted value shows in your conversion value columns and is used by value-based Smart Bidding at auction time.

Do conversion value rules work with Maximize conversions or Target CPA?

Values are adjusted in reports for all campaigns, but Google says only value-based strategies, such as Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value, optimize to the new values. Maximize conversions and Target CPA do not bid differently because of them.

Can I use more than one rule on the same conversion?

No. Google says only one rule can be applied to a given conversion. For overlapping locations the most precise wins; for audiences Google follows its audience order, then prefers multiply over add, then the highest multiplier.

What range can a multiply rule use?

Google says the multiplier ranges from 0.5 to 10, so a rule can halve a value or raise it up to ten times. Add only takes a positive value, and Set is in beta.

Do I need to change my tracking code?

No. Rules are set in Google Ads under Goals, Conversions, Value rules. Google lists working without tagging code changes as one of their benefits. The conversion actions still need to send a value in the first place.

Value rules only help if the leads behind them are tracked properly from your site. See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].