Track Pardot form submissions as conversions in Google Ads

Running Google Ads is one of the quickest ways to generate new leads, but nailing down conversion tracking is a different challenge altogether.

Pardot forms load in an iFrame, so the default ‘Form Submission’ trigger in Google Tag Manager doesn't work. Instead, you need to write custom code that listens for form submissions, then wire up triggers, tags, and variables just to get started.

Simpler methods, such as watching for a visit to a thank you page, are easier to configure but aren't exactly accurate. Bots can hit thank you pages; they can get indexed in search engines; people can land on them when their browser auto-completes the page, etc. More importantly though, these days Google Ads wants you to send them the lead's name, email, phone, etc in order for them to better match the conversion back to the original ad click, and you can't get that from a thank you page.

So what's the fix?

This guide shows you the most reliable way to send conversions to Google Ads whenever someone submits a Pardot form on your site.

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

Google Ads offers advertisers a set of smart bidding strategies (Maximise Conversions, Target CPA, and others) that look at thousands of signals (location, past behaviour, time of day, and much more) to estimate how likely a given searcher is to convert, then raises or lowers your bids automatically.

It's a genuinely powerful system and a great way to bring in more leads for less cost, but only works if your conversion tracking is accurate. Google's bidding models need to know exactly who converted and who didn't, so they can learn what a good lead actually looks like for your business.

The problem with older approaches, like thank you page tracking or a standard Google Tag Manager set up, is that they use the visitor's own browser to report the conversion back to Google. That introduces a few issues.

• Ad Blockers - Ad blockers keep the Google Tag from ever loading in the visitor's browser, so nothing that visitor does ever gets recorded.
• Privacy Features in Browsers - Browsers like Safari limit how long the Google Tag can track someone (often to a single day), so a prospect who clicks your ad and converts three days later can't be tied back to that original click.
• Using multiple devices - Someone might click your ad on their phone, then come back later and complete the Pardot form on their laptop, and browser-based tracking has no way to connect those two sessions because they happened in different browsers on different devices.

Server-side tracking removes all of those issues. Instead of relying on the visitor's browser to play nicely, you send the lead's details straight to Google's servers, so the data can't be affected by ad blockers and browser privacy features.

The numbers back this up too. Google's own research shows server-side tracking typically drives a 23% increase in recorded conversions and cuts cost per conversion by around 10%, mostly because Google's bidding algorithms finally have accurate data they can use to understand who your ideal customer is and go and serve your ads to more of them.

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

Here's how to get server-side conversion tracking working between Pardot 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 Pardot to Google Ads.

The screenshot above shows Converly's workflow builder, which will feel familiar right away if you've used something like Zapier or Pardot's Engagement Studio before.

You pick your trigger (like a Pardot form being submitted), then choose what should happen next, like sending a conversion to Google Ads.

That's the entire process. A handful of clicks and your server-side conversion tracking in Google Ads is live.

Step 2: Add the Converly code to your website

Once your Conversion Flow is built and published, Converly will give you a bit of code to add to your site.

Drop the snippet into your website's Custom Code or Header section (most CMS platforms and website builders have one). If you already run Google Tag Manager on the same site, you can add it there instead.

Step 3: Test it works

To confirm everything is wired up correctly, head to your live site and fill out the Pardot form yourself.

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

From the logs page, click into the entry from your test submission to see the full details, including whether it reached Google Ads successfully.

You can drill in even further to see exactly what was sent to Google Ads and how the server responded.

If your test entry shows up in the log and it made it to Google Ads without errors, your tracking is set up correctly. Start to finish, this whole process usually takes less than 5 minutes.

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

There's more than one way to get Pardot form submissions into Google Ads, so what makes Converly worth choosing over the alternatives? A few reasons stand out.

1. Easy to set up

Most marketers use Google Tag Manager to send conversions to Google Ads, but doing this properly means writing custom code to listen for the form submission, more custom code to push the lead's name and email into the DataLayer, hashing all of that with SHA256 (which Google requires), then building out variables, triggers, and tags by hand.

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

Converly cuts all of that out. You just pick a trigger (a Pardot form submission) and choose the action that should follow (a conversion sent to Google Ads). No custom code, no complicated setup, just conversion tracking that works.

And if you use AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude, you can simply connect your account and say ‘Send conversions to Google Ads from Pardot forms’ and it will do the set up for you!

2. Not affected by ad blockers and privacy restrictions

If you use Google Tag Manager, or do something basic like tracking thank you page visits, a meaningful share of your conversions will never reach Google. Ad blockers and privacy-focused browsers stop the Google Tag from loading in the visitor's browser, so nothing they do on your site can be tracked.

One study covering more than 7 million conversions found these methods missed close to 30% of conversions (around 5% came down to ad blockers, with the remaining 25% or so caused by browser-level privacy restrictions).

Converly isn't impacted by this as it sends conversions directly to Google's servers, so ad blockers and privacy browsers can't get in the way.

3. Works across devices

It's common for buyers to first click your ad on one device (liek their phone), then wait until they're back at their desk to actually fill out your Pardot form.

Browser-based conversion tracking methods (like using Google Tag Manager or tracking thank-you page visits) can't bridge that gap, because the initiala d click and then eventual conversion happened on separate devices.

Converly handles this by sending the lead's details (name, email, phone, and so on) directly to Google's servers. This gives Google the data it needs to connect the eventual conversion back to the original ad click, even though it happened on a different device. That means your ads 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 passes all of it through to Google Ads.

That gives Google Ads a much fuller picture of who converted, which makes it easier for them to match a conversion back to the original ad click (even one that happened weeks earlier on a completely different device).

For you, that means more leads at a lower cost because Google knows what your ideal customer looks like and can serve your ads more prominently to people like them.

5. Supports multiple tools and platforms

Converly connects with more than 100 form builders, scheduling tools, chat widgets, and other website tools, and it can deliver conversions to Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Ads, ChatGPT Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Microsoft Ads, and more.

So if you add a new tool to your site down the line, or start advertising somewhere new, you won't 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 really have no way of knowing whether your conversion tracking is still working. You might test it carefully at launch, but unless you keep re-checking every week, a change to your Pardot form, your GTM container, or your Google Ads account can break things without you knowing. You'll see see 0 covnersions in your Google Ads account and your cost per lead skyrocket as Google goes crazy trying to find more conversions.

Converly solves this issue too. You get a full conversion log showing every conversion that fired, the data Converly captured, what was sent to Google Ads, and how Google Ads responded. You can also turn on email alerts, either for every conversion or just for failures, so you'll know as soon as something stops working.

What accurate Google Ads conversion data unlocks for you

Getting clean conversion data into Google Ads doesn't just tidy up your reporting. It changes what you're able to do with your campaigns.

Break down performance by campaign, ad group, and keyword

Once Google Ads is getting real conversions, your account starts showing conversion counts, conversion rate, cost per conversion, and return on ad spend. You can even slice that by campaign, ad group, keyword, individual ad, or even by country.

For a marketer like you, that's the difference between guessing which campaigns are working and actually knowing where to put next month's budget.

Let Smart Bidding do the heavy lifting

Manual bidding isn't the best approach. You're essentially telling Google to spend up to $3 a click (for example), and it obeys that instruction no matter who's actually searching or how likely they are to convert.

Smart Bidding works differently. You give it a target, like $45 per lead, and Google handles the bidding for you, taking into account signals about the searcher (like device, location, age, interests, and prior behaviour) and pushing bids up or down based on how likely Google thinks they are to convert.

It'a super powerful system, but none of it works if the conversion signal it's learning from is patchy. Give it incomplete conversion data, and it will happily keep spending your money on getting clicks from searchers who were never going to convert anyway.

But when you use Converly to send clean, server-side conversion data with every Pardot form submission, Google's algorithms finally have something reliable to learn from, and can start finding you more leads at a lower cost.

Build remarketing lists from visitors who didn't fill out your form

Accurate conversion tracking also means Google Ads can identify the people who visited your site but left without submitting a Pardot form, which means you can build a remarketing audience out of them.

Once that list exists, there are several ways to bring those visitors back.

• Search - Bid more aggressively on this group the next time they search for your target keywords.
• Display - Run banner ads across the Google Display Network so your brand stays visible while they browse other sites.
• YouTube - Put YouTube Ads in front of this same audience while they're watching video content elsewhere.

Wrap Up

If you want conversions flowing into Google Ads every time someone submits a Pardot form on your site, Converly is the best way to make that happen.

It sends conversions straight to Google's servers so ad blockers and privacy-focused browsers can't get in the way, 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 the original ad click.

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