Configuration

Google Ads Integration

TrakIt streams storefront events from your Shopify store directly to Google Ads. Bypass ad-blockers and cookie restrictions using our hybrid tracking setup.

Offered Tracking Events

TrakIt standardizes Google Ads tracking around four core Shopify events:

Event NameTrigger DescriptionTracking Strategy
Page ViewFires when any storefront page is loaded by a visitor.Client-Side Only
Add To CartFires when a customer adds a product to their shopping cart.Browser + Server (Dual Tracking)
Begin CheckoutFires when the customer clicks to initiate the checkout flow.Browser + Server (Dual Tracking)
PurchaseFires on order completion / payment confirmation page.Browser + Server (Dual Tracking)

Choose Your Integration Method

Select your preferred integration method from the TrakIt dashboard tab bar depending on your permissions preference:

Option A

Manual Setup

Manually copy Conversion ID and Labels from Google Ads. Recommended if you do not want to connect Google account OAuth. Requires manual download and upload of the GTM container file.

View Manual Setup Steps
Recommended
Option B

Automatic Setup

Grant secure OAuth access. TrakIt will query your account, register dual browser/server conversion actions inside Google Ads, and sync GTM triggers automatically via API — no files to download.

View Automatic Setup Steps

1. Manual Setup Walkthrough

Follow this section to configure Google Ads step-by-step without providing OAuth access.

Step A: Retrieve Your Conversion ID

  1. Log into your Google Ads Account.
  2. In the top menu, go to Tools and Settings → Measurement → Conversions.
  3. Click + New conversion action and choose Website.
  4. Enter your Shopify store URL, click Scan, and select manual setup.
  5. Under tag setup options, select the Use Google Tag Manager tab.
  6. Copy the numeric Conversion ID (e.g., 17691609925) and paste it into TrakIt's Conversion ID input field in the Configuration section.

Crucial Interface Note

In the Manual Setup pathway, the **Save** button under the *Event Selection* panel is disabled initially. You must enter your **Conversion ID** first, click **Save** in the Configuration panel, and once saved, the Event Selection fields and its Save button will become editable.

Step B: Retrieve & Save Conversion Labels

To track specific events, you must create matching website conversion actions inside Google Ads and copy their unique alphanumeric labels:

  1. Create conversion actions inside Google Ads for the events you want to track:
    • Page View (Category: Page view)
    • Add To Cart (Category: Add to cart)
    • Begin Checkout (Category: Begin checkout)
    • Purchase (Category: Purchase)
  2. For each action, select Use Google Tag Manager under Tag Setup.
  3. Copy the alphanumeric Conversion Label string (e.g. HJPLCOWhrbocEl2sz-VD) for each action.
  4. Paste the labels into the corresponding event selection input fields in TrakIt.
  5. Click Save at the bottom of the Event Selection panel.

Step C: Download and Import the GTM Container

Because TrakIt cannot write directly to your GTM workspace without API OAuth access in manual mode, you must import the tag configuration manually:

  1. In TrakIt's right-hand panel, click the Download Container button. This downloads a custom .json file.
  2. Open your Google Tag Manager account dashboard.
  3. Navigate to the Admin tab → Import Container.
  4. Choose the downloaded JSON file.
  5. Select your active workspace.
  6. Choose Merge (with 'Overwrite conflicting tags' or 'Rename' selected) as the import option.
  7. Click Confirm. Review and publish the workspace changes to make tracking live.

Configuration Changes

If you ever change your Conversion ID or any event labels in TrakIt, you **must re-download and re-import** the container JSON file into GTM to sync the updates.

2. Automatic Setup (OAuth) Walkthrough

Automatic Setup is the fastest and most reliable way to connect Google Ads to your store. TrakIt handles the complex API configurations on your behalf:

  1. Under the Automatic Setup tab in the Configuration panel, click Connect with Google.
  2. Log in and grant TrakIt OAuth access to manage your Google Ads account and Google Tag Manager containers.
  3. Once redirected back, choose your target Google Ads Account from the dropdown menu.
  4. Click Create & Setup Google Ads.
  5. TrakIt executes the setup in the background:
    • Calls Google Ads API to query the account and create conversion actions automatically.
    • Generates and stores conversion labels in TrakIt automatically.
    • Updates your Google Tag Manager container tags and variables directly via GTM API — no downloads required!

Performance Dual-Tracking Strategy

In Automatic Setup mode, TrakIt implements a specialized tracking architecture to audit browser-side block rates and verify server-side lift:

Browser vs Server Attribution Auditing

For each of the three e-commerce events (Add To Cart, Begin Checkout, and Purchase), TrakIt automatically creates and links **two conversion actions** inside your Google Ads account:

  • A browser-side conversion action (e.g. Add To Cart - TrakIt - browser side)
  • A server-side conversion action (e.g. Add To Cart - TrakIt - server side)

Because browser-side triggers are frequently blocked by customer adblockers, browser-level privacy controls, and cookie deprecation rules, they lose substantial attribution data.

By running both side-by-side, you can check conversion counts inside your Google Ads Dashboard conversion tab to compare attribution metrics. This allows you to verify exactly how much server-side conversion tracking outperforms standard browser-side tracking and how many lost sales TrakIt is active in recovering.

Settings & Disconnection

Once Google Ads is configured, a third panel titled **Disconnect Google Ads** becomes visible at the bottom of the left column.

If you need to change your setup mode, replace your Google accounts, or remove the integration:

  1. Click Disconnect.
  2. TrakIt will trigger a secure deletion process:
    • For Automatic Setup: TrakIt uses the GTM API to automatically delete all tags, triggers, and variables injected during setup to clean your workspace.
    • For Manual Setup: Clears local TrakIt configurations. (You must manually delete the imported tags from your GTM dashboard).