Smart bidding is only as smart as the conversions you feed it. Before raising budgets, make sure the data is clean.
1. Define what counts
Write down every conversion action and decide which ones are primary: the ones bidding should optimize toward. A newsletter signup and a purchase should not carry the same weight.
2. Check for duplicates
Thank-you pages that reload, tags firing twice, or both GA4-imported and native Google Ads conversions counting the same action. Duplicates inflate results and mislead bidding.
3. Confirm values
For ecommerce, check that purchase values match your store’s order data. For lead gen, consider assigning values that reflect how likely each lead type is to close.
4. Test in Tag Manager preview
Walk through each conversion path yourself in GTM preview mode. Confirm the right tags fire, once, with the right parameters.
5. Check consent and cross-domain
If you use a consent banner or send users to a separate checkout domain, confirm tracking survives both.
6. Reconcile with the business
Compare platform-reported conversions against your CRM or store. A small gap is normal. A large one means something’s broken.
If you can’t trust the numbers, you can’t make decisions with them.