How-to · Updated October 20, 2026
Set up conversion value rules for leads in Google Ads
Updated October 20, 2026
40 minutes
Work out how much better leads from one area, device or audience close, as a multiplier from 0.5 to 10. In Google Ads, open Goals, Conversions, Value rules, click Create conversion value rule, pick the condition and enter the multiplier. Bidding acts on it only under Target ROAS or Maximize conversion value.
Before you start
- A real value on each lead action. A Multiply rule multiplies the value the conversion already carries, so an action left at 1, or set to use no value, gives the rule almost nothing to work with. The first part below says which value to set.
- Close rates by area, device or audience for the last three to six months: how many leads came from each, and how many became paying customers.
- The bid strategy of each campaign, from the campaign's settings or the bid strategy column on Campaigns.
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Google names no level for value rules; Read-only access can view the account but not change it.
Turn close rates into a multiplier
A rule multiplies the value already on your lead action, and leaves every lead it does not cover at that value. So the action's value should be what the uncovered leads are worth, and the multiplier compares the group with those leads, not with all leads together.
- Split the last three to six months of leads into the group you want to adjust, such as one county or leads from a computer, and everything else. Say 100 leads: 20 from the county and 80 from everywhere else.
- Work out the close rate for everything else: 8 sales from 80 leads is 10%. That rate times your average sale is the value the lead action should carry. If the action carries an average of all leads, lower it to this figure, or the rule inflates the total and Target ROAS loosens its bids.
- Work out the group's close rate: 6 sales from 20 leads is 30%.
- Divide the group's rate by the rate for everything else. Here 30% divided by 10% is 3, so the rule multiplies leads from that county by 3.
- If the group's average sale also differs from everyone else's, multiply the two ratios. A group that closes 3 times as often with sales 0.8 times the size gets 3 times 0.8, which is 2.4.
With several rules, everything else means the leads no rule covers, and each group is compared with them. A judgment, not Google's rule: only adjust a group with enough leads behind it to trust the rate, a few dozen at least, and round to one decimal place. A group worth less than half the rest cannot be expressed with Multiply, which stops at 0.5, or with Add, which only adds. Google lists a third action, Set, as a beta offered through a Google representative. Otherwise, exclude that area, or move it to its own campaign with its own budget.
Create the rule
Every rule in the account must use the same kind of primary condition, and the same kind of secondary condition if it has one. Pick the kind that covers all the groups you plan to adjust, because changing it later means deleting every rule.
- Click the Goals icon, open the Conversions drop-down and click Value rules.
- Click Create conversion value rule. If the account uses cross-account conversion tracking, do this in the manager account instead: Google says the rules must be set there.
- Under Primary condition, choose Location, Device or Audience, then pick the places, devices or audience lists. Several picks in one condition count as either one, so two counties in one rule means leads from either county.
- Add a secondary condition only if the multiplier holds only where both are true, such as one county on a computer. It must be a different kind from the primary one.
- Read the If, And, Then lines in the preview to make sure the rule says what you meant.
- Under Value, choose Multiply and enter the number you worked out, then click Save. The rule appears in the Value rules table.
Add puts a fixed amount on top of the value instead, and must be more than 0. Multiply fits close-rate differences better, because it keeps the gap in proportion if you later change the lead value.
Make sure bidding uses it
Google adjusts the reported value in every campaign the rule covers, including campaigns on manual bidding or Target CPA. Only value-based bid strategies, Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value, bid toward the new values.
- Check each campaign's bid strategy. A campaign on Maximize conversions or Target CPA counts conversions, not their value, so the rule shows in its value columns and changes nothing in its bids.
- For a campaign that should bid on the rule, moving it to Maximize conversion value or Target ROAS is its own change. A judgment: make that change on a different day from the rule, so you can tell which one moved the results.
- A judgment: leave a campaign on Maximize conversions if it records too few conversions for value bidding to learn from. The rule still adjusts its reported value there, and changes nothing in its bids.
Check it worked
Once new conversions arrive, open Campaigns, click the segment icon, then Conversions and Value rule adjustment. Original conv. value (rule applied) is the value before the rule on the conversions it touched, and the Location, Device or Audience row is the amount the rule added or took away. Google gives one row per kind of condition, so the Location row is the net adjustment from all your location rules together.
To keep the adjustment in view, add the Value adjustment and All value adjustment columns. Google says rule reporting covers all conversions, not just those in the Conversions column.
Two rules match the same lead. Which one counts?
Google applies only one rule to a conversion. Between two location rules, the more precise place wins, so a rule for a county beats a rule for its state. Between audience rules, Google follows its audience order, with Customer Match lists first. If two audience rules still tie, a Multiply rule beats an Add rule, and between two Multiply rules the higher multiplier wins. Device rules never clash, because a lead comes from one device.
Smart Bidding already sees location and device. Why add a rule?
Google's own note: if a group converts better and your reporting shows it, Smart Bidding already accounts for that. What it cannot see is how often each group's leads become customers, because a lead conversion is counted when the lead comes in. A close-rate rule tells it the part the conversion count leaves out.
A judgment: if the account already imports later stages, such as qualified leads or won sales with their real amounts, those values already carry the difference. A close-rate rule on top of them counts it twice.
What a campaign-level rule touches, and removing a rule
Google says a rule created at campaign level does not affect bidding or reported conversions in other campaigns, except slightly inside a shared portfolio bid strategy. Remove a rule and bidding goes back to optimizing for the values your actions carry without it.
Google also says some conditions may not be available to advertisers whose ads relate to housing, employment or credit.
Google's setup page says value rules apply to Search, Shopping, Display, Hotel and Performance Max campaigns.