> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Conversion Drop Alert, Google Ads > Earliest signal of broken tracking, landing-page regression, or auction-side shift. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ad Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Earliest signal of broken tracking, landing-page regression, or auction-side shift. ## At a glance > Real-time alert that fires when daily conversions fall sharply against a same-day-of-week baseline. The earliest signal of broken pixel-tracking, a landing-page regression, or an auction-side shift. Read this card BEFORE making any "ROAS dropped" decisions, often the conversion drop is measurement, not performance. | | | | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **The formula** | `(today.metrics.conversions vs same_dow_avg.metrics.conversions) - 1`. Compares today's conversion count against the average of the same day-of-week over the prior 7 days (so Mondays compare to Mondays). Alert fires if the drop is greater than 25%. | | **GAQL resource + metric** | `FROM customer` with `segments.date` for daily aggregation. Field: `metrics.conversions`. Conversion-rate variant: `(metrics.conversions / metrics.clicks) * 100` for the same comparison. | | **Account currency (single by design)** | Not currency-relevant (conversion count is unitless). The downstream impact is currency-dependent, but this card flags the count drop. | | **Conversion attribution model (configurable)** | Whatever you have set in Google Ads. DDA is default for new accounts, Last click for older. **Critical**: if you switched the model recently, this alert may fire spuriously because the new model credits conversions differently. Always check Tools > Attribution before assuming a real drop. | | **View-through inclusion (excluded by default)** | Uses primary `conversions`. A drop here does NOT flag if all-conversions held but primary tanked, that pattern usually means a primary conversion action was disabled or the pixel for it broke. | | **Bot / IVT filter** | Google's Invalid Click Filter applies. A sudden bot-spike in clicks (without conversions) does NOT inflate this alert because the comparison is on conversions, not the conversion rate. The conversion-rate variant of this alert IS sensitive to bot spikes, see [CTR Decline](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/ctr-decline-alert) for that pattern. | | **Micros conversion** | Not applicable to this card. | | **Real-time vs ingestion lag** | This is a real-time alert. It runs hourly against fresh data, but conversions take 1-4 hours to ingest. Daily totals can swing materially in the first few hours. The alert is suppressed until 14:00 local time to allow morning ingestion to settle, otherwise it would fire every morning. | | **MCC aggregation** | Per child account. MCC managers see one alert per affected account, the engine does not roll up. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time). Comparison baseline is prior 7-day same-day-of-week. | | **Alert trigger** | `drop > 25% vs prior 7D same-DOW`. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Google Ads data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK fashion brand. Tuesday 14 Apr 26, 18:00 local time. The alert fires. | Day | Day of week | Conversions | Vs same-DOW avg | | ----------------------------- | ----------- | ----------- | --------------------- | | **Tue 7 Apr 26** | Tue | 38 | baseline | | **Tue 14 Apr 26 (today)** | Tue | 14 | **-63%** vs prior Tue | | Tue (prior 7-day rolling avg) | Tue | 36 | (the alert baseline) | Spend was £905 today vs £880 same Tue last week. Clicks were 1,124 today vs 1,080 same Tue last week. So: | Metric | Today | Same-DOW avg | Delta | | ---------------- | ------ | ------------ | -------- | | Spend | £905 | £880 | +3% | | Clicks | 1,124 | 1,080 | +4% | | **Conversions** | **14** | **36** | **-61%** | | Conv. rate | 1.25% | 3.33% | -62% | | ROAS (estimated) | 1.5x | 4.2x | -64% | What this pattern tells the analyst: 1. **Spend and clicks are normal, conversions cratered.** This is the textbook signature of a tracking break. If targeting/auction had shifted, clicks or spend would have moved too. 2. **The ROAS card will look catastrophic** (1.5x vs 4.2x baseline). The instinct is to pause campaigns. **Do NOT pause campaigns yet.** Run the diagnostic checklist: * **Step 1: Pixel check.** Open the brand's checkout success page in incognito, complete a £1 test order, watch Tag Assistant or the GTM debugger for the conversion fire. Most likely cause: a developer pushed a code change to the checkout page yesterday and broke the conversion tag. * **Step 2: GA4 cross-check.** Look at GA4 Realtime > Conversions for the last 4 hours. If GA4 also shows the drop, the conversion broke. If GA4 shows normal conversions, only the Google Ads pixel broke. * **Step 3: Commerce platform check.** Look at Shopify or BigCommerce orders for the same window. If orders held normal volume, only Google's measurement broke; revenue is fine. If orders also dropped, traffic is converting in real life too, this becomes a real performance issue. * **Step 4: Attribution model check.** Tools > Attribution. If someone switched DDA -> Last click overnight, conversions get re-attributed away from Google Ads to other channels. Real conversions, just credited elsewhere. 3. **Don't pause until you've cleared steps 1-3.** A spurious pause based on broken measurement costs more than a few hours of accurate measurement. 4. **If steps 1-3 all show normal conversion behaviour**, the issue is between Google's reporting and your account. Wait for the next ingestion cycle (typically 4 hours). Some Google Ads conversion-pipeline lags do produce one-day-only "ghost drops" that resolve overnight. 5. **If steps 1-3 confirm a real drop**, then check landing-page status (down? slow? was a Magento/Shopify deploy at the same time?), then check competitor activity (CPC spike?), then promo timing (did a 30%-off promo end yesterday?). In that order. Quick reaction protocol: * Pixel check first, always. * Don't restructure campaigns on a single-day alert. * 7-day rolling average is the rebound test, if today is a one-day blip, wait. * If the alert fires three days in a row, escalate (the gap is structural). * If it fires on a Monday after a sale ended Sunday, expected, not actionable. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Conversion Drop | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Google Ads Clicks vs Conversions](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/clicks-vs-conversions) | The diagnostic chart. If clicks held while conversions dropped, the cause is measurement (tag), not auction. Open this card immediately when the alert fires. | | [Google Ads ROAS](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/roas) | The headline that will look catastrophic when this fires. Don't act on the ROAS drop until you've diagnosed this alert. | | [Google Ads Spend Anomaly](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/spend-anomaly) | If spend held stable but conversions dropped, tag breakage. If spend also dropped, auction-side shift. Two different fixes. | | [Google Ads Alert: Conversion Tracking Broken](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/conversion-tracking-broken-alert) | The deeper diagnostic, watches click-to-conversion ratio over time and surfaces a likely tag-break. | | [Google Ads CTR Decline](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/ctr-decline-alert) | If CTR dropped at the same time, the cause is more likely auction (creative fatigue, competitor entry) than tracking. | | [Google Ads Conversion Rate Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/conversion-rate-trend) | The longer-window context. A one-day drop is noise; a 7-day decline is structural. | | [GA4 Revenue by Channel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/revenue-by-channel) | Critical cross-check. If GA4 also shows the drop, the conversion really broke. If GA4 is fine, only Google Ads pixel broke. | | [Shopify Total Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) | The truth side. If commerce-platform orders held while Google Ads conversions cratered, no real performance issue, just a measurement gap to fix. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Google Ads UI:** [Google Ads > Overview](https://ads.google.com/aw/overview) shows daily conversions on the main chart. Hover the latest day to see today's count vs trailing average. [Google Ads > Reports > Predefined > Time > Day](https://ads.google.com/aw/reports) gives the day-by-day tabular view this card runs over. Filter to last 14 days, compare today vs same-DOW prior week. [Google Ads > Tools > Conversions > Status](https://ads.google.com/aw/conversions) shows pixel-fire status per conversion action; this is where a tag-break shows up FIRST as "No recent conversions" warnings. Other Google Ads views that *look* like the same number but aren't: * **All conversions trend**: includes view-through. A primary-conversion drop with All-conversions stable suggests one specific conversion action broke (often the primary purchase pixel), not all of them. * **Conversions by conversion action**: per-action breakdown. If one specific action dropped to zero while others held, that's the broken pixel. Diagnostic gold. * **Search Lost IS**: a coverage metric, not relevant to a conversion drop unless lost-IS-budget shows a budget-cap kicked in. * **Conversions modelled vs observed**: Google's modelled conversions can fluctuate independently. A drop in observed but stable modelled may indicate a Consent Mode issue, not a tag break. **Why our number may differ from Google Ads UI (rare):** | Reason | Direction of divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Real-time event-ingestion lag (1-4 hour). The card runs hourly; Google Ads UI updates at variable cadence. | This card may flag a drop slightly earlier than Google Ads' own anomaly indicator. | | Suppression window. The alert is suppressed before 14:00 local time to allow morning ingestion to settle. | Google Ads UI shows the partial day raw and may look like a drop when in fact it's just incomplete. | | Attribution-model change. If model switched mid-window, Google Ads UI re-renders all rows; this card's baseline (prior 7-day) does not retroactively update. | Card may flag a drop where Google Ads UI shows none, until the baseline rolls forward. | | Currency. Not relevant for conversion count. | None. | **Why the BUSINESS metric often differs (the IMPORTANT one):** A "conversion drop" in Google Ads can mean any of: * **Tag broke** but real orders held (most common; cross-check commerce platform). * **Real demand dropped** (promo ended, season turned, competitor launched). * **Attribution shifted** (someone switched DDA \<-> Last click; some channels lost credit, others gained). * **Conversion action was disabled** in Google Ads (someone toggled it off; orders are still happening, just not tracked). * **Consent Mode v2** denial rate increased (more EU/UK users opted out; observed conversions drop, modelled conversions fill some gap). The BUSINESS question is "did real orders drop?" That is answered by the commerce platform, not this card. Cross-connector reconciliation: | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`shopify.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) (UTM-filtered to Google CPC) | If Google Ads conversions dropped but Shopify orders from Google CPC held, the issue is measurement, not performance. | Pixel breakage, Consent Mode denial increase. | | [`bigcommerce.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/total-revenue) | Same logic as Shopify. | Same. | | [`google_analytics.ga_revenue_by_channel`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/revenue-by-channel) (Paid Search) | GA4 should show a similar shape if the underlying drop is real. If GA4 is normal, only the Google Ads pixel broke. | Different attribution windows; GA4's last-non-direct may credit conversions Google Ads attributes to different campaigns. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **The alert just fired. What's the FIRST thing I should do?** Open [Clicks vs Conversions](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/clicks-vs-conversions). If clicks held but conversions dropped, you have a tag-break, fix the pixel. If both clicks and conversions dropped, it's an auction or demand issue, different fix path. This 30-second triage saves hours of misdirected investigation. **Why doesn't the alert fire on Mondays?** Mondays after a weekend sale routinely show 25%+ drops because the sale ended. The same-DOW comparison helps: Monday 14 Apr is compared to Monday 7 Apr (also after a weekend). But if last weekend had no sale and this weekend did, the comparison can still trigger. We suppress duplicate alerts within 24 hours, so a follow-on Tuesday won't double-fire. **My alert fired but our orders are normal in Shopify, what's going on?** That's the textbook tag-break signature. Real revenue is fine; only Google Ads' measurement of it is broken. Action: check the conversion pixel on the order-confirmation page (Tag Assistant in Chrome makes this 60 seconds of work). A developer pushed code somewhere that removed or broke the tag. Once fixed, conversions will start flowing again, but you typically lose 24-72 hours of attribution data while the gap is closed. **Can I trust this alert if I just changed my attribution model?** No. Switching DDA \<-> Last click rewrites which channel gets credit for past clicks; conversions can drop sharply on Google Ads while rising elsewhere. The alert may fire spuriously for 7-14 days after a model change. Note the date of any model switch and treat alerts in that window with extra scepticism. **Why does this alert use 25% and not 10%?** Conversion data is noisy at the daily level, especially for accounts with \< 50 conversions/day. A 10% threshold would fire constantly on noise. 25% catches the structural drops without the noise floor. Larger accounts (200+ conversions/day) might want a tighter threshold, but the standard is 25% to keep false-positives down. **What if I have very low daily conversion volume (\< 10/day)?** This alert will fire often by chance, the day-to-day variance is high. For low-volume accounts, the 7-day rolling [Conversion Rate Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/conversion-rate-trend) is more reliable than the per-day alert. Adjust the alert threshold to 40-50% drop or disable for very low-volume accounts. **My PMax campaign drop fires often, can I exclude it?** PMax has higher inherent volatility because it shifts spend across channels (Search, Display, YouTube) without exposing it. A PMax conversion drop may reflect Google reallocating spend rather than performance regression. Cross-check with [PMax campaign trends](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/roas-by-campaign) and look at PMax asset-group reports inside Google Ads. **The alert fires, but I think it's seasonal demand, what do I do?** Cross-check (1) GA4 channel revenue (does it show the same pattern?), (2) commerce-platform total orders (are they down too?), (3) prior-year same-period (was last year similar at this time?). If all three say "real demand drop", document it and don't pause campaigns, you'd just hand share to competitors. **Multi-currency setup?** The alert is conversion-count-based, currency-independent. Each Google Ads account fires independently per its own conversion stream. **Can I tune the alert window?** Default 7-day same-DOW baseline. For accounts with weekly cycles (B2B, weekend-heavy DTC), this is right. For accounts with strong daily noise, a 14-day same-DOW or 21-day rolling baseline is more stable. Raise this with VortexIQ support to adjust. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Conversion Drop Alert* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Google Ads and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.