Micro-conversion

How it works

Google Ads has its own categories for these steps: page view, add to cart, begin checkout. Each tracked step is a conversion action, and each action is primary or secondary. Bidding uses primary actions, and only they fill the Conversions and Conv. value columns. A secondary micro-conversion shows where shoppers drop off and stays in All conv.; it enters bidding only through a custom conversion goal.

If you make a micro-conversion primary alongside the purchase, it can become part of what Shopping and Performance Max optimise for: started actions instead of paid orders. Sent with the basket value, it also inflates Conv. value. Which steps to count as primary is the subject of primary vs secondary goals.

Where you see it

• Google Ads, conversion action list: each action is marked “Primary action used for bidding optimization” or “Secondary action not used for bidding optimization”.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop records 300 orders worth 180,000 on 40,000 of spend. Then it makes add to cart primary too and sends 1,200 add-to-carts with the basket value, 780,000 in total.

Conversions = 300 + 1,200 = 1,500; Conv. value = 180,000 + 780,000 = 960,000. Cost per conversion drops from 133 to 40,000 ÷ 1,500 = 27, and value per unit of spend rises from 4.5 to 24. Revenue is still 180,000.

How GetProfit reads it

The portal’s conversion check separates purchases and leads from other goals and shows which goals are primary and actually fire. It flags a campaign with at least 10 conversions whose value per conversion is between 0.8 and 1.2. Each conversion is then worth about 1, so the campaign probably counts a page view or a scroll as a conversion. The advice is to remove such goals from primary conversions.

Not to be confused with

• Primary conversion action — a status that any action can have, so a micro-conversion can be primary or secondary. In a store, the purchase should be the primary action.
• Add-to-cart rate — the share of sessions with an add to cart. The micro-conversion is the action itself, counted one by one.

Right and wrong readings

• Wrong: “Conversions went from 300 to 1,500 after we added a goal, so sales grew.” Right: orders stayed at 300, because a new kind of action entered the column.

Sources

• ConversionActionCategory — Google Ads API: page view, add to cart and begin checkout categories. Checked 2 October 2026.
• Conversion goals — Google Ads API: primary actions in bidding and in Conversions, secondary in All conv., custom conversion goals, interface labels. Checked 2 October 2026.