Contents8
- 01Why send CRM sales back to Google Ads?
- 02GCLID or enhanced conversions: which method should you choose?
- 03Which time limits make imports fail?
- 04How do you set up the flow without a native integration?
- 05What do you need to sort out on consent?
- 06What does the import not solve?
- 07Where to start
- 08Frequently asked questions
In B2B, a Google Ads ad produces an enquiry, and the sale is signed weeks later, by phone or in a meeting. Sending those stages from the CRM back to Google Ads is what Google calls importing offline conversions: the platform finally learns which clicks ended up as customers. This guide describes the data flow for a CRM with no native integration; it complements our articles on online advertising.
In short
Google recommends the hashed email (enhanced conversions for leads), with the GCLID as well when you have it.
A conversion must follow the click by 90 days at most with the GCLID, and 63 with hashed data: send the intermediate stages too.
Without a native integration, a nightly workflow reads the CRM and drops the stages where Google reads them back.
In the European Economic Area, sort out consent before the first upload.
Why send CRM sales back to Google Ads?
A Google Ads campaign optimises for what it is shown. If the only conversion reported is “form submitted”, the algorithm looks for people who fill in forms, students and suppliers pitching their services included. The cost per enquiry falls; revenue does not follow.
In B2B, the real conversion comes later and elsewhere: a qualification call, a quote, a signed sale. These stages live in the CRM. Sending them back to Google Ads changes two things:
- reports show which campaigns bring in customers, not just contacts;
- automated bidding can aim for the enquiries that succeed, provided it receives them regularly.
According to Google’s FAQ on importing offline conversions, you send them through Data Manager, the Google Ads API, or Google’s integrations with Zapier and Salesforce. With Twenty or an in-house tool, you build the flow yourself.
GCLID or enhanced conversions: which method should you choose?
The GCLID, the click identifier
When auto-tagging is switched on in Google Ads, every click on an ad adds a unique identifier, the GCLID, to the page address. Google’s procedure asks you to do the following before the first import:
- switch on auto-tagging;
- add a hidden GCLID field to every enquiry form;
- save the GCLID with the prospect’s record;
- create an offline conversion action in Google Ads, linked to a data source.
The GCLID is case-sensitive: copy it exactly as it is.
Enhanced conversions for leads
The second method sends the data entered in the form (email, phone number), hashed before sending, which Google matches against its own. Google calls it enhanced conversions for leads and recommends it: its FAQ advises starting with it, and switching to it if you already import offline conversions.
That does not make the GCLID redundant. According to the page Google devotes to this method, you should include it whenever possible, and it is mandatory if no tag collects the form data. So keep both with every enquiry.
Watch out
A new connector targets the Data Manager API, not the Google Ads API
On its page devoted to enhanced conversions for leads, Google announced that from 15 June 2026 these imports would go through the Data Manager API and would be blocked in the Google Ads API, except for connections already active in the first half of 2026.
Which time limits make imports fail?
Google’s FAQ sets two time limits that a B2B sales cycle quickly runs into:
at most can separate the click from a conversion tied to its GCLID
at most for the age of a conversion sent with hashed personal data
Pace matters too: Google recommends importing at least once a day, or failing that at a regular pace.
If your sales cycle is longer than these limits, the signed sale will arrive too late: send the intermediate stages as well (qualified enquiry, meeting held, quote sent). The same FAQ advises one conversion action per stage of the funnel, but generally bidding on only one, and only after importing it every day for at least one conversion cycle.
How do you set up the flow without a native integration?
Here is the set-up we propose, with Twenty, the CRM we have run ourselves since early 2025, and n8n for the automation. It carries over to any CRM that has an API.
The flow, from the click on the ad to the import into Google Ads
- On the website
A script reads the GCLID in the landing address and places it in the form’s hidden field. Keeping it from one page to the next requires storage on the visitor’s device, and therefore consent (see below).
- On submission
The server function saves the enquiry in the database with the GCLID, the originating page and the campaign parameters, creates it in the CRM, then sends the email. An enquiry that lives only in an email is lost at the first failed send: see our guide to forms on a static site.
- In the CRM
The record gets two more fields (GCLID, click date), and the pipeline stages are named like the Google Ads conversion actions.
- Every night
An n8n workflow prepares one row per stage reached the day before (GCLID or hashed email, action, date and time, value) and drops it in a Google Sheet or an SFTP file. Data Manager re-reads these sources over 90 days on each pass, compared with 14 days for a PostgreSQL or MySQL database.
- Every week
A check records the rows sent, the rows rejected and the reasons for rejection. A repeated “the click is too old” rejection means you need to send an earlier stage.
Two details avoid errors. Send a value with each stage (quote amount or average value): Google asks for one for the “Target CPA”, “Target ROAS” and “Maximize conversion value” strategies. And beware of duplicates: Google counts rows with the same GCLID, the same action and the same timestamp only once, but a sale sent again with a different time counts twice. So send the time of the stage, kept in the CRM.
The same flow works for Meta: according to its documentation, its Conversions API receives offline conversions from a CRM. To choose between the two, see our comparison of Google Ads and Meta for a small B2B company.
What do you need to sort out on consent?
In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google’s user consent policy requires valid consent for cookies and any other local storage where the law demands it, and for the use of personal data for ad personalisation. You must keep proof of it, say how to withdraw it and name every party that receives data.
In practice: a banner that works, Google’s Consent Mode to pass the visitor’s choice on to the tags, and the sending of hashed data to Google mentioned in the privacy policy. According to Google, in basic mode the tags send nothing if consent is refused; in advanced mode they send cookieless signals. In both cases, some conversions are modelled: these are estimates, to be presented as such.
Consent is not the only rule that affects your campaigns: labelling AI-generated visuals is another, which we cover in our analysis of AI and disinformation.
What does the import not solve?
- Volume. Bidding learns from the conversions it sees: three contracts a month is little. Aim then for a more frequent stage, such as the qualified enquiry.
- A poorly maintained CRM. If stages are not updated on time, Google receives false data. The tool reveals the discipline of the pipeline; it does not create it.
- Attribution. A prospect who came from an ad and later returned through a recommendation will be attributed to the ad: measurement becomes more refined without becoming exact.
Where to start
Getting started comes down to three steps:
- Sort the pipeline.
List the stages of your pipeline and keep those that fall within 90 days of a click.
- Create the actions.
Name the stages you keep in the CRM and create them in Google Ads, one action per stage.
- Check the enquiries.
Then check that every new enquiry arrives with its GCLID.
To connect your CRM to Google Ads before raising a budget, describe your pipeline to us: we start from what the CRM can already measure. This flow is part of our digital marketing in one block offer, where every signed sale tells your campaigns where to bet.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a CRM to import offline conversions?
Not necessarily. According to Google, any system that collects prospect information can be used, including a Google spreadsheet. With few enquiries, a sheet kept by hand (one row per enquiry, with its GCLID, stage and date) is enough to get started. A CRM becomes useful when several people move deals forward.
How long before conversions show up in Google Ads?
Google asks you to wait four to six hours after creating a conversion action before importing anything into it: if you import sooner, conversions can take up to two days to appear. A row can also be rejected because the click is still being processed: send it again twelve hours later, or wait six hours with a scheduled import.
Can you correct a conversion that has already been imported?
Yes, within limits. According to Google, conversion adjustments let you change a conversion or its value up to 55 days after it was recorded, for example when a signed quote is revised downwards. A retracted conversion can no longer be adjusted. It is therefore better to send the real value of the stage from the start.
How do you avoid poor-quality leads on Google Ads?
By changing what the campaign is looking for. As long as the goal is “form submitted”, bidding aims for any form. Google recommends taking a qualified lead or a converted lead as the goal, two stages that are decided in your CRM. Screening therefore starts with you: a written qualification rule, applied by everyone, and the stage sent back to Google every day.
Sources
- Google’s FAQ on importing offline conversions (new tab)support.google.com
- Google’s procedure (new tab)support.google.com
- Google’s user consent policy (new tab)google.com
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
Also in online advertising
Choose and price7 min
Google Ads or Meta for a B2B SME: how to choose
Google Ads answers a search, Meta interrupts a news feed. In B2B, that difference decides which platform to start with, and how to judge the test.
Practical guide7 min
How to add a form and search to a static site
A static site is not a frozen site: a form, a newsletter, internal search or an on-demand page can each be wired in separately. The options, and the rule that stops enquiries being lost.
Stepping back7 min
AI and disinformation: lying machine or remedy?
One study shows that AI writes more convincing false information than humans do, another that it reduces conspiracy beliefs, but its journal has expressed a reservation. What we can take from them, and what the law requires of those who publish.