Track Fillout Forms submissions as conversions in Google Ads

Google Ads can be a great way to get new leads for your business, but unless you get proper conversion tracking set up, then you're not getting the most out of it.

The problem is, setting up conversion tracking is weirdly difficult to do.

The default option, Google Tag Manager, expects you to write your own code to catch a form submission before you even get to the part where you wire up triggers, tags, and variables.

There are easier paths of course, like counting how many people land on your thank you page, but they miss a surprising amount of real conversions because they rely ont he visitor's browser to send conversions to Google, and ad blockers, privacy protections baked into browsers like Safari, and people clicking an ad on their phone before finishing the form later on a laptop can all cause up to 30% of conversions to go unrecorded.

So what actually works?

This guide shows you how to send accurate conversion data to Google Ads every time someone completes a Fillout form on your site, using a method called server-side tracking.

Why you need to send conversions to Google Ads server-side

Google Ads has a series of smart bidding strategies (things like Maximize Conversions and Target CPA) that weigh up thousands of signals, from location to time of day to past purchase behavior, to work out how likely a given searcher is to convert and then raises or lowers your bid accordingly.

It's genuinely useful technology that can get you more leads at a lower cost, but it's only as good as the conversion data feeding it. Google's algorithms need to know exactly who converted and who didn't so they can learn what a good lead looks like for your business.

Older tracking methods, whether that's thank-you page counting or a standard Google Tag Manager setup, all share the same weakness. They depend on the visitor's own browser to report the conversion back to Google, and that creates a few issues.

• Ad Blockers - Ad blockers prevent the Google Tag from ever loading when they visit your website, so nothing the visitor does gets recorded at all.
• Privacy Features in Browsers - Browsers like Safari limit how long the Google Tag can track someone (often to a single day), which means a conversion that happens three days after the original ad click never gets connected to it.
• Using multiple devices - Someone might click your ad on their phone during their commute and then complete the form later that night on their laptop, and browser-based tracking has no way of linking those two moments together because they happen in different browsers on different devices.

Server-side tracking gets around all of this. Instead of relying on the visitor's browser to send the conversion to Google Ads, you send the lead's details directly to Google's servers, so the conversion arrives even when ad blockers or browser privacy settings would normally interfere.

There is genuine upside to this approach too. Google's own research shows server-side tracking typically delivers a 23% increase in recorded conversions and a 10% drop in cost per conversion, purely because the bidding algorithms finally have reliable data to learn from.

3 simple steps to send server-side conversions to Google Ads from Fillout Forms

Here's how to get server-side conversion tracking running between Fillout Forms and Google Ads in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Build your Conversion Flow in Converly

Converly makes it easy to send server-side conversions from Fillout Forms to Google Ads.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Converly's comes with a simple workflow builder that will feel familiar if you've used anything like Zapier or an email automation tool before.

All you need to do is pick your trigger (like someone submitting a Fillout form), then choose what should happen as a result, such as sending a conversion event to Google Ads.

That's genuinely all there is to it. A few clicks and your server-side conversion tracking is live and sending data to Google Ads.

Step 2: Add the Converly code to your website

Once your Conversion Flow is built and published, Converly gives you a small code snippet to add to your site.

Because Fillout forms are typically embedded into an existing website, how you install the snippet depends on what website builder you use. Most website builders and CMS platforms have a settings area with a section labelled something like Header, Scripts, or Custom Code where the snippet can go. WordPress users can also drop it in through a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers, and if you're already running Google Tag Manager, pasting the snippet into a Custom HTML tag works just as well.

Step 3: Test it works

To make sure everything is wired up properly, go to the page where your Fillout form is embedded and submit a test entry yourself.

Then head back into your Conversion Flow, open the 3 dots menu in the top right corner, and select View Logs.

From the logs page, click into the entry for your test submission to see the full details, including whether it made it through to Google Ads.

You can dig in further still to see the exact data that was sent to Google Ads and how the server responded.

If the test entry shows up in the log with no errors reported, your tracking is set up correctly. The whole process usually takes less than 5 minutes from start to finish.

Why Converly is the best way to send conversions to Google Ads from Fillout Forms

There's more than one way to get Fillout Forms conversions flowing into Google Ads, so why go with Converly instead of building it yourself? Here's what sets it apart.

1. Easy to set up

Most people try to use a tool like Google Tag Manager to set this uo, but that means writing custom code to catch the form submission, writing more custom code to push the lead's name and email into the DataLayer, hashing that data with SHA256 (because Google requires it), and then manually building out variables, triggers, and tags.

Unless you're comfortable writing code and already know your way around Google Tag Manager, that's a lot to take on.

Converly makes it much easier. You just choose a trigger (a Fillout form submission) and pick the action that follows (a conversion sent to Google Ads). No custom code, no complicated configuration, just conversion tracking that works out of the box.

Or if you are using an AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT, then it's even simpler. Just install the Converly plugin and then say something like ‘I want to send conversions to Google Ads from Fillout forms’ and your AI tool will set everything up for you.

2. Not affected by ad blockers and privacy restrictions

If you're relying on Google Tag Manager for covnersion tracking (or something even simpler like thank you page tracking), then a real chunk of your conversions will never reach Google at all. Ad blockers and privacy-focused browsers like Safari stop the Google Tag from loading when the visitor land son your website, so nothing they do can be tracked.

In fact, one study covering more than 7 million conversions found that tag-based tracking was missing close to 30% of all conversions (round 5% came down to ad blockers, with the remaining 25% or so coming from privacy restrictions built into modern browsers).

But with Converly, you don't have this this problem because it sends conversions straight to Google's servers, where ad blockers and privacy browsers can't get in the way.

3. Works across devices

It's extremely common for someone to first come across your business on one device (like their phone), but wait until they're back at a laptop or desktop to actually fill out a form.

Tools like Google Tag Manager can't bridge that gap because what happens on one device is considered completely separate to what happens on another device.

Converly solves this by sending the lead's details (name, email, and so on) directly to Google's servers, which gives Google the data it needs to tie the eventual conversion back to the original ad click, even if that click happened on a completely different device. That means your ads finally get proper credit for the leads they actually generated.

4. Sends more data

On top of the lead's name, email, and phone number, Converly also captures technical signals like the GCLID, IP address, and User Agent, and forwards all of it to Google Ads.

That gives Google Ads more data to match the covnersion back to a real person and the ad they originally clicked, even if the conversion happened weeks later on an entirely different device.

The end result for you is more accurate conversion data and better results from your Google Ads.

5. Supports multiple tools and platforms

Converly works with more than 100 form builders, scheduling tools, chat widgets, and other tools you might be running on your site. It can also deliver conversion events to Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Ads, ChatGPT Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Microsoft Ads, and more.

So if you add a new tool to your website down the road (like a Calendly booking widget for example), or decide to start advertising on a new platform, there's no need to rebuild your tracking from scratch. Just connect it inside Converly and you're set.

6. Gives you a full conversion log and email alerts

With a setup like Google Tag Manager, you have no reliable way of knowing whether your conversion tracking is actually still working. You might test it carefully when you first set it up, but unless you keep retesting every week, a change to your Fillout form, your GTM container, or your Google Ads account can break things without you knowing.

Converly takes that guesswork away. You get a complete conversion log showing every conversion that fired, exactly what data Converly captured, what was sent to Google Ads, and how Google Ads responded. You can also turn on email alerts, either for every single conversion or just for failures, so you'll know the moment something stops working.

3 things you can do when you properly send conversions to Google Ads from Fillout Forms

Once accurate conversion data is flowing into Google Ads, a whole range of things become possible that weren't available before.

1. Report on conversions by campaign, ad group, keyword, etc.

With real conversion data inside your account, Google Ads shows you a lot more than impressions and clicks. You get conversion counts, conversion rate, cost per conversion, return on ad spend, and more.

You can also break that down by campaign, ad group, keyword, individual ad, country, and other dimensions.

That level of visibility makes it much easier to see exactly where your Google Ads budget is working best, and which campaigns, ads, keywords, etc aren't pulling their weight.

2. Use Google's Smart Bidding technology

Manual bidding is essentially telling Google "I'm willing to spend up to $3 per click", regardless of who the searcher is or how good a fit they are for your business.

Smart bidding flips works differently. You give Google a target (say $45 per lead) and Google handles the bidding for you in every auction. It weighs everything it knows about the searcher (age, location, device, interests, past purchases, and more) to decide whether to bid higher or lower, based on how likely that person is to convert.

It's a genuinely powerful system (Google knows an enormous amount about searchers), but it only works if your conversion tracking is solid. Without that, Google has no idea what a good lead looks like for your business and ends up overpaying for the wrong clicks, which eats into your budget and pushes your costs up.

Getting accurate, server-side tracking in place with Converly gives Google the data it needs to understand your ideal customer, which means it's algorithms can help you generate more leads for less money.

3. Retarget people who visited your site but didn't convert

Sending accurate conversion data to Google Ads also lets you build remarketing lists made up of people who visited your site but never completed your Fillout form.

From there, you've got a few ways to bring them back into the funnel.

• Search - Bid higher (or lower, if it makes sense) for these visitors the next time they search for your keywords.
• Display - Run display campaigns across the Google Display Network aimed specifically at this group, so your brand stays visible as they browse elsewhere.
• YouTube - Serve YouTube Ads directly to these visitors while they're watching videos, keeping your brand front of mind.

Wrap Up

If you want to send accurate conversion data to Google Ads every time someone completes a Fillout form on your site, Converly is a solid way to get there.

It sends conversions directly to Google's servers, so ad blockers and privacy-focused browsers can't interfere, and it passes along detailed lead information (name, email, phone, Google Click ID, IP address, User Agent, and more) so Google has everything it needs to match the conversion back to a real person and the original ad they clicked.

Setup takes just a few minutes and Converly comes with a 14-day free trial, so give it a try today!