How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Tell Smart Bidding to ignore days your conversion tracking was broken
Updated October 11, 2026
20 minutes
If conversion tracking was broken for some days, add a data exclusion so Smart Bidding ignores them as soon as you find it. Open Adjustments in the Tools menu, pick Exclusions, and start the dates earlier than the outage by your usual click-to-conversion delay. Then fix the tracking and keep the exclusion; reports will still show the gap.
Before you start
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Google's access levels page lists editing campaigns for those two levels only.
- Your own lead or sales records for the weeks around the problem, from a CRM, call log or order system.
- How many days customers usually take to convert after a click.
- A Search, Display, Shopping or Performance Max campaign on a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategy, such as Maximize conversions or Target CPA.
Find the days tracking was broken
Compare Google's conversions with your own records, because broken tracking can show up as a run of zeros with no error message.
- In Campaigns, click the columns icon above the statistics table, choose Modify columns, expand Conversions, tick Conversions (by conv. time) and click Apply. Google says this column dates conversions by when they happened, not by the ad click, which compares better with your own records.
- Narrow the date range a few days at a time to find the first and last day conversions dropped while clicks carried on and your records still show leads.
- Treat steady clicks with zero conversions as a tracking question first. A conversion tag removed in a website update reports zero, the same as a week with no customers. So does a Google Analytics property that stopped receiving data, if your conversions come from Analytics.
- Fix the tracking, and note when it started working again. Google advises adding the exclusion as soon as you find the problem, so if the fix will take a while, add it now with the end date set to when you expect tracking back.
Add the data exclusion
Exclusions work on click dates, so start the exclusion earlier than the outage by your usual conversion delay and end it when tracking came back or is expected back.
- Go to Adjustments within the Tools menu and select the Exclusions tab at the top.
- Click the plus button. Next to Settings, enter a name and a description of what broke.
- Enter the start and end date and time, in the account's time zone. Google's example: if uploads failed from October 15 to October 18 and the conversion delay is 5 days, exclude October 10 to October 18. Google advises covering at least 90% of the clicks with affected conversions.
- Next to Scope, choose campaigns or the entire account, then devices. If only mobile tracking broke, exclude just mobile.
- Click Save, then Create data exclusion.
Google says excluding clicks also excludes their conversions. The exclusion is set by campaign and device, not by conversion action, so conversions from actions that kept working on those clicks are dropped too; keep the dates no wider than the delay and the 90% rule need.
Leave the exclusion alone while bidding settles
Keep the exclusion in place and do not upload the missing conversions afterwards; Google advises against both.
- Do not remove the exclusion, even after the data is corrected. Google says removing one can cause more issues.
- Do not backfill the missing conversions; Google generally recommends against it. If you need them for reporting, wait at least 5 days after the exclusion was applied.
- To avoid overspending, Google suggests you can set the budget closer to historical spend for a few conversion cycles. Bids and spend may also dip briefly; on Target ROAS, lowering the target can help, then reset it once the exclusion takes full effect.
Google says exclusions are not meant for frequent or extended use: keep them for real outages.
Check it worked
In Adjustments, Exclusions, confirm the exclusion shows the dates, campaigns and devices you meant.
For past dates, Google says performance should begin to stabilize after a few days. If a week or more of clicks were affected, fluctuations may last 1 to 2 conversion cycles. Reports still show the low days: an exclusion changes only what Smart Bidding uses.
What if the outage has not happened yet?
If you know tracking will be down, such as during planned site maintenance, set the exclusion ahead of time. Google says an exclusion for future dates usually takes effect within a day.
Does this fix a tag that counted too much instead of too little?
Yes. Google lists an incorrectly placed conversion tag that produced inaccurate counts as a case for a data exclusion, along with broken tracking and failed offline uploads. The same date rules apply.