{"id":1586,"date":"2026-03-02T22:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:32:14","slug":"confusing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/confusing","title":{"rendered":"confusing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey PPC friend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think:\u00a0secondary conversion actions, are they used for bidding?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, or no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple question, but no obvious answer here, I am afraid. (Ask your colleagues during lunch.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cEach goal needs at least one primary conversion action to be used for campaign optimization. Primary conversion actions represent the most important actions customers or potential customers can take on your website, because Google Ads will optimize your campaign to achieve these primary actions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/support.google.com\/sa360\/answer\/9455412?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUT also…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cSecondary actions<\/strong>: These conversion actions are\u00a0for observation only<\/strong>. They are used for reporting in the \u201cAll conversions\u201d column in your reports, but\u00a0not for bidding, even if the goal they are included in is used for bidding.<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0one exception is if the secondary action is part of a custom goal, in which case it\u2019s used for bidding.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/11461796?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the answer to my initial question is: it depends \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Nils<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS: I like to use secondary conversion actions to test value-based bidding for different types of values that are reported back to Google, for the same conversion (think: profit VS revenue, non-capped revenue values VS capped revenue values, predicted LTV VS initial purchase value, browser-based tracking VS OCI, etc.). I create custom goals for them so that I can use them as campaign-specific conversion goals in my campaign experiments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey PPC friend, What do you think:\u00a0secondary conversion actions, are they used for bidding? Yes, or no? Simple question, but no obvious answer here, I am afraid. (Ask your colleagues during lunch.) Google says: \u201cEach goal needs at least one primary conversion action to be used for campaign optimization. Primary conversion actions represent the most … Continue reading “confusing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-ads"],"yoast_head":"\nconfusing - Nils Rooijmans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/confusing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"confusing - Nils Rooijmans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hey PPC friend, What do you think:\u00a0secondary conversion actions, are they used for bidding? Yes, or no? 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