--- title: "Shopify Google Ads Conversion Tracking Not Working? Fixes" url: https://advizify.com/blog/shopify-google-ads-conversions-not-tracking description: "Shopify sales not showing in Google Ads, or counted twice? The usual causes in 2026, including Shopify retiring old checkout scripts, and how to find yours." published: 2026-11-06 updated: 2026-11-06 --- # Shopify Google Ads Conversion Tracking Not Working? Fixes **The short answer:** If conversions **stopped** recently, a likely cause in 2026 is Shopify retiring the old ways of adding tracking code to the order status page: a Google Ads tag added that way may no longer run. If conversions are **too high**, two tags are probably counting the same order. If they're **too low but not zero**, look at consent settings and whether purchase is your primary goal. Shopify shows orders. Google Ads shows none, or far fewer, or suddenly twice as many. Either way, the number your campaigns optimize toward is wrong, and every bid Google makes is based on it. This guide is a troubleshooter for when Shopify Google Ads conversion tracking isn't working. It starts with the symptom you're seeing, lists the likely causes for each, and explains how to confirm which one you have. If you want the background on how tracking should work, read our [Google Ads conversion tracking for Shopify](/blog/ads-conversion) explainer first. ## How far apart are Shopify orders and Google Ads conversions? Before changing anything, get two numbers for the same 30 days: - **Google Ads:** purchase conversions (Goals → Conversions → Summary, or the Conversions column for your campaigns). - **Shopify:** orders attributed to Google ads in your marketing or sales reports. Some difference is normal. Google assigns a conversion to the date of the ad click within a conversion window that defaults to [30 days](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/3123169); Shopify uses the order date and its own attribution. But a large or sudden gap is a signal. Note which direction it goes, then use the matching section below. ## Why did Google Ads conversions stop (or drop to almost zero)? ### Cause: Shopify retired the old ways of adding checkout code For years, purchase tags were often added to the order status page as code snippets: pasted into checkout script settings, or injected by an app as a "script tag". Shopify has been moving all of this to **pixels**. Its [pixels overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/pixels/overview) notes that ["previously, merchants could manually add JavaScript snippets in several places in their online store: in online preferences, in checkout scripts, and in apps"](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/pixels/overview), and that pixels are now managed in the **Customer events** section of your Shopify admin. For app script tags, Shopify's developer documentation gives exact dates: script tags [stopped running on the Order status page](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/online-store/script-tag-deprecation/order-status) on **August 28, 2025 for Plus stores** and on **August 26, 2026 for all other stores**. ["After a store's date passes, any customization that your app made to the Order status page with a script tag stops working for that store."](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/online-store/script-tag-deprecation/order-status) If your conversions stopped around one of those dates, an old tracking method is the first suspect. Pixels, by contrast, ["automatically load on the Storefront, Checkout, Thank you page, and Order status page"](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/pixels/overview), whether they're app pixels (installed by apps such as the Google & YouTube channel) or custom pixels added in the pixels manager. **How to confirm:** Check the conversion action's status and the date its numbers fell. Then find out how purchases were tracked: if it was a pasted checkout snippet or an app's script tag rather than a pixel or the Google & YouTube channel, it has likely stopped. **What to do:** Move purchase tracking to a supported method, usually by connecting Google Ads through the Google & YouTube channel, which Shopify says is how you ["get conversion measurements for your ads"](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/marketplaces/google/getting-setup/connect), or through a pixel. Then make sure only one method counts purchases (see the next section, on too many conversions). ### Cause: The Google Ads account was disconnected or changed The Google & YouTube channel connects to one Google Ads account, and Shopify notes that ["the connected Google account must be an administrator on the Google Ads account"](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/marketplaces/google/getting-setup/connect). If the person who connected it left, lost access, or someone reconnected a different account, purchases may be going to the wrong account or nowhere. **How to confirm:** In Shopify, open the Google & YouTube channel and check which Google Ads account is connected. Compare the account ID with the one you advertise from. ### Cause: The purchase action isn't primary or was replaced If a new purchase action was created (for example by reconnecting the channel) and the old one stays primary while receiving nothing, your Conversions column will look empty. Google says only primary actions are ["reported in the 'Conversions' column in your reports and used for bidding"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11461796). **How to confirm:** In Goals → Conversions → Summary, check which purchase actions are primary and which have recorded conversions recently. ## Why does Google Ads show more conversions than Shopify orders? ### Cause: Two tags count the same order The most common cause of inflated numbers is double tagging: the Google & YouTube channel tracks purchases, and a second Google Ads tag (from an older setup, Google Tag Manager or another app) tracks them too. Google's own guide warns platforms may manage tags for you, so ["ensure that you're not double-tagging your site, which can cause duplicate conversion reporting"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6095821). **How to confirm:** Look for more than one active purchase action in your conversion summary, or one action with roughly double the expected count. If you can, place a test order and see how many conversions appear. ### Cause: The same tag fires twice for one order If a customer reloads the confirmation page or returns to it, a tag can fire again. Google explains that a **transaction ID** prevents this: with the same ID twice, ["Google Ads will know the second conversion is a duplicate"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6386790). Google calls it ["the recommended option for purchases"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6386790). The ID must be unique for each order, so a fixed or empty value doesn't help. ### Cause: Non-purchase actions counted as conversions If add-to-cart, begin checkout or page views are primary, the Conversions column mixes them with purchases. This isn't double counting, but it looks like it. Set them to secondary so they're ["for observation only"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11461796). ## Why does Google Ads show fewer conversions than Shopify? ### Cause: Visitors declining cookies If your store asks for cookie consent, people who decline aren't tracked the normal way. With Google's **consent mode**, tags ["communicate your users' cookie or app identifier consent status to Google"](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10000067), and Google models some of the missing conversions. Under "basic" consent mode, tags are blocked entirely for people who decline, so modeling is less precise. Some gap is expected and can't be eliminated. ### Cause: Attribution differences Shopify may credit an order to Google that Google can't link to an ad click: for example, someone clicked an ad on their phone and bought later on a laptop, or came back through a free listing or organic result. That's not broken tracking; the two systems simply count differently. ### Cause: Enhanced conversions not set up [Enhanced conversions](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9888656) send hashed customer data (such as an email address) with the conversion to improve matching. Without them, some conversions that could be matched aren't. Whether to use them depends on your setup and privacy policy. ## A worked example Made-up but typical. A non-Plus store sees Google Ads purchases fall from about 45 a month to 3 in September 2026, while Shopify still shows around 40 orders from Google. Nothing changed in the ads. The conversion summary shows one purchase action, primary, recorded by an old tracking app that added its tag to the order status page as a script tag. Its numbers fell off at the end of August, matching Shopify's August 26, 2026 date for non-Plus stores. Automated bidding has spent September optimizing toward three conversions, so costs rose and sales from ads started to slip. The fix: connect Google Ads through the Google & YouTube channel, check that the new purchase action is primary, set the old action to secondary (or remove it) so nothing counts twice, and compare counts with Shopify after a week. ## What should you do after fixing conversion tracking? - **Give bidding time.** Automated bidding needs a few weeks of correct data to adjust. - **Re-check in a week**, comparing Google's purchases with Shopify's Google orders. - **Then look at spend.** With trustworthy numbers, you can see where money goes without producing sales. Our guide to [where Shopify stores lose Google Ads budget](/blog/google-ads-wasting-money) is the next step, and if Shopping ads still underperform, see [Google Shopping ads not converting](/blog/google-shopping-ads-not-converting). - **Check the rest of the setup.** [Five signs your Google Ads is set up right](/guides/is-my-google-ads-set-up-right) covers what else to confirm once tracking is trustworthy. [Advizify](https://app.advizify.com/go?from=blog) runs a read-only audit of your Google Ads account for Shopify stores. It ranks tracking problems first, because every other number depends on them, then measures wasted spend over the last 30 days. It never changes your campaigns ([what it checks](/checks)). Your first audit is free, and later audits are $19 each. ## FAQ **Why did my Google Ads conversions stop in August 2026?** If your purchase tag was added to the order status page by an app as a script tag, Shopify stopped running those for non-Plus stores on August 26, 2026 (August 28, 2025 for Plus). Move tracking to the Google & YouTube channel or a pixel. **Why are my Shopify conversions counted twice in Google Ads?** Usually two tracking methods count the same purchase, or a tag fires again on page reloads without a transaction ID. **How do I test Google Ads conversion tracking on Shopify?** Place a test order, then check the conversion summary for a new conversion after a few hours. Also compare 30 days of Google purchases with Shopify's Google orders. **Is some difference between Shopify and Google Ads normal?** Yes. They use different attribution, dates and consent handling. Look for large or sudden gaps, not exact agreement.