How to get a Google Tag Manager data layer value to show up in a test Google Ads account?

Question

I have a test Google Ads account and a Google Tag Manager account. I have set up my conversion tracker in the test Google Ads account and I have deployed it to my site using Google Tag Manager.

What I am trying to do now is simulate an ad click so that the data layer value on my purchase success page shows up in a report in my test Google ads account.

Here are my conversion tracker settings in the test Google Ads account:

Conversion name: myname
Category: Purchase/Sale
Value: Use different values. If there's no value, use $1.
Source: Website
Count: Every conversion
Conversion window: 1 week
View-through window: 1 day
Include in "Conversions": Yes
Attribution model: Last click

In Google Tag Manager I have setup a Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag and input the Conversion ID and Conversion Label from the test Google Ads conversion tracker - the trigger for this is set to fire on all pages. In Google Tag Manager I have also set up a Conversion Linker tag which is set to fire on all pages. And in Google Tag Manager under Variables > User-Defined Variables I have created a variable name called order_value .

I put the Google Tag Manager JavaScript on all my pages and on the purchase success page I put this above the Google Tag Manager JavaScript:

<script>
    dataLayer = [{
        'order_value': 131.77
    }];
</script>

If I turn on Preview/debugging in Google Tag Manager I see all the expected tags and data layer values in the debug pane on my site.

Now what I am trying to do is simulate an ad click so that when I complete a purchase the data layer order_value will show up somewhere in my test Google Ads account.

I have tried going to:

mysite.com?gclid=test

in order to simulate an ad click. But when I purchase after that nothing shows in my test Google ads account(no conversion nor the data layer order_value ). To clarify I specify the gclid on my home page and then I have to navigate to several other pages(cart, checkout, etc.) before I arrive at the purchase success page(which has the data layer order_value variable).

How can I get the order_value to show up in my test Google ads account when I purchase? Do you see any obvious issues with my setup? How would you approach figuring this out? Should I try something simpler first? The test Google Ads account and the Google Tag Manager account have a different primary email address - would that matter?

Answer 1

You will action this from within Tag Manager.

Step 1: Create a User-Defined Variable

Step 2: Pass that variable to Google Ads via the conversion tag setup.

Regards to your test conversions not appearing in Google Ads - please make sure that your conversion pixel is correctly firing on your conversion/thank-you page.

If it is, then I think the issue may lay with the fact that you aren't testing a real Google Ads served click, and thus Google Ads conversions is truly zero.