Fireshift / Guides

Google Ads enhanced conversions: check it from outside

By the Fireshift team · Updated 2026-11-07

What does enhanced conversions do?

On a conversion, the Google Ads tag also sends the email the visitor typed, hashed with SHA256 in the browser. Google matches it to signed-in accounts and recovers conversions cookies miss (Google Ads Help). For CRM uploads, see offline import.

How many sites turn it on?

On 5 Nov 2026 we read the public GTM containers of the 886 sites with Google Ads conversion tags in our 1,727-site study.

Sites with it on send a conversion value more often: 146 of 347 (42.1%) against 130 of 539 (24.1%). Of all 6,012 Ads tags, 1,417 (23.6%) have it on.

Is it a problem if only some tags have it?

76 of the 347 sites (21.9%) have it on every Ads conversion tag, 271 on some. On those 347 sites, 1,417 of 3,048 tags (46.5%) have it on. That can be fine: a page view, click or phone link has no typed email to send.

• Form success, signup, demo request, purchase: turn it on, with a variable that holds the email the visitor just typed.
• Click, page view or phone link: leave it, nothing is typed. If a click or page view is primary, fix the trigger: click conversions, conversions on every page.
• Two tags on one success step, one with and one without: remove the copy, often a duplicate conversion.

How many have it on with no consent signal?

On 5 Nov 2026, 80 of the 347 sites with it on (23.1%) showed no Consent Mode signal in their public container; 267 (76.9%) showed one. This is a static read: consent can sit in a CMP or server-side container we can't read. We claim nothing about what is sent after a visitor agrees, and no legal claim. Consent Mode check. Data: docs/research/ec-consent-2026-11-10.json.

How do I check my own site?

1. Find your container ID (GTM-XXXXXXX) in the page source and open https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-XXXXXXX. Each __awct is an Ads conversion tag; vtp_enableEnhancedConversion means the setting is on. Our free scan reads this file.
2. In GTM, open each form or purchase conversion tag and check "Include user-provided data from your website".
3. On your own site only (this sends a form), open DevTools, Network, filter on google and send your form. Open the googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion/ request (or google.com/pagead/1p-conversion/).
4. Look for em: tv.1~em. and a long hash. Phone shows as tv.1~pn. (Google Ads Help).

Why is the em parameter empty?

An empty tv.1~em means the tag had no email to hash. Usual causes:

• It fires on the thank-you page and the email stayed on the form page. Push it to the data layer at submit, or fire on the form's success event.
• The CSS selector broke after a form change. A cross-domain iframe (HubSpot, Typeform embeds) can't be read at all.
• Wrong field, like a name in the email slot. Google flags it as a formatting alert.

What does the diagnostics report add?

The match rate, inside Google Ads, within 24 hours. Alerts need 20 conversions in 7 days; codes e0 to e3 are hashing errors (Google Ads Help).

What can't we see from outside?

• Settings outside GTM (Google tag settings, gtag code), whether data arrives, and the account: data terms, match rate, primary or secondary. Our 39.2% counts the GTM setting, not the hit.
• The sample: 886 sites from the 1,727-site study, scanned 5 Nov 2026, not all advertisers.

Updated 7 Nov 2026. First version 5 Nov 2026. Data: docs/research/study-2026-11.json (field enhanced_conversion_tags), scanned 5 Nov 2026. Method.

FAQ

Do I need enhanced conversions if I already import offline conversions?

Yes. Enhanced conversions recovers online conversions that cookies miss. Offline import adds what happened later in the CRM.

Is the email sent to Google in plain text?

No. The tag hashes it with SHA256 first. That is the long string in em.