How-to · Updated October 12, 2026
Change what kind of lead a Google Ads conversion counts as
Updated October 12, 2026
20 minutes
In Goals, Conversions, Summary, hover over the action, click the three-dot icon and choose Change to another conversion goal. First check which goals each campaign bids on: a campaign normally uses an action only when it is Primary and its goal is one the campaign uses. Filed anywhere else, campaigns do not bid toward it.
Before you start
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Google names no level for editing goals; these are the levels that can edit campaigns. Read-only access can view campaigns but not change them.
- Your lead types written down: which actions record a form, a call, a booking or a quote request, so each goes to the goal that names it.
- A settled week for bidding, if you can choose. Google says Smart Bidding needs time to learn after a change to an action's category, 1 to 2 conversion cycles in most cases.
See which goals your campaigns bid on
Do this before moving anything. The goal an action lands in decides which campaigns can bid on it.
- Open Campaigns, click the Columns icon, then Modify columns. Under Attributes, tick Conversion goals and click Apply.
- A campaign on account-default goals bids on every goal marked account-default goal in the conversions summary. A campaign on campaign-specific goals uses only the goals chosen for it, and Google says changes to account-default goals never reach it.
- Open the Goals menu, then Conversions, then Summary. On the Goals tab, scroll to All your goals and note the goal each lead action sits in now, and which goals are account-default.
- On Campaigns, click Segment, then under Conversions choose Conversion category. A lead type that appears under All conv. but never under Conversions is recording but is not one the campaign bids toward.
Move the action to the goal that names it
Google's best practice is to file each action under the standard goal that describes it, not under Other or Page view when a closer goal exists. For leads that usually means Submit lead forms (Submit lead form on some help pages) for a form and Phone call leads for calls.
- In the conversions summary, hover over the action, click the three-dot icon and select Change to another conversion goal.
- Pick the new goal from the drop-down. The panel that opens shows where the action is moving, how it changes each goal's makeup, if and how it changes conversion volume and value, and whether it affects campaign goal settings.
- Click Review campaigns, then Download campaigns in CSV to keep a record of the campaigns affected. If the action is the only one in its old goal, Google says a campaign on campaign-specific goals whose goal is left with no actions reverts to the account-default goals, so look for such campaigns in this list. Click Back.
- Click Save.
Google says some conversion actions cannot be set to Primary or Secondary. For Performance Max or Smart campaigns, local actions from a linked Business Profile are locked for standard reporting, and Google's fix is to choose the primary actions in each campaign's goal settings.
Make the campaigns bid on the new goal
A moved action drops out of any campaign that does not use its new goal. Google's own example: a Primary action in a goal no campaign selects does not influence bidding for any campaign. A campaign on a custom goal is the exception: it bids on every action in that goal, Primary or Secondary.
- Back on the Goals tab, click Edit goal on the new goal and expand Conversion action optimization. Make sure the moved action reads Primary. If you change it, click Save.
- If your campaigns use account-default goals, expand Account default in the same panel and turn on Make this an account-default goal if it is off. Click Save.
- For campaigns on campaign-specific goals, select them on Campaigns, click Edit, choose Update conversion goals, then Add goals. Pick the new goal and click Apply.
- Take the old goal out of those campaigns only if nothing left in it is a lead you want to bid for. That is a judgment, not Google's rule: taking out a goal that still holds a lead action stops those campaigns bidding on it.
A judgment, not Google's rule: make every change in one sitting. Google says frequent changes to conversion goals during Smart Bidding's 7 to 14 day learning phase reset it, and that when you change a campaign's conversion goals, a target CPA or target ROAS should be moved gradually as bidding adjusts.
Check it worked
On the conversions summary, hover over the new goal's campaign count, or All campaigns, to see which campaigns now use it. Every campaign meant to bid on the lead type should be there.
Once new conversions come in, segment Campaigns by Conversions, then Conversion category. Conversions from the moved action should show under the new category inside the Conversions column for those campaigns, not only under All conv.
Should a call be filed as a form, or the reverse, to fit what campaigns bid on?
No. This is a judgment, and it follows Google's best practice of semantic goals: file the action under the goal that describes it, then add that goal to the campaigns. A call filed as a form makes the category report wrong, and the next person to tidy the goals can move it back without knowing why it was there.
Actions created from Google Analytics
Google says the goal category and Primary or Secondary setting of a conversion created from Google Analytics can only be changed in Google Ads, not in the Analytics interface. Where that feature is available to the Analytics property, such actions also arrive as Secondary by default, so check that setting after the move.