ReferenceTracking error
Missing Primary Conversion
Missing Primary Conversion appears on Performance Max and Smart campaigns even when other conversions are set up. Business Profile local actions, such as direction clicks and website visits, are created automatically and locked for standard reporting. Open the campaign settings, turn on campaign-specific goal settings, choose the primary actions you want, and exclude the locked local actions from bidding.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- On the campaign, as an alert about its goals.
- What stops
- Without a chosen primary action, the campaign's goals can include actions the business does not count as leads.
- How serious
- Moderate. A bidding goal can drift toward cheap actions such as direction requests.
What it means
Google's page says Performance Max and Smart campaigns can show this alert even when conversions are set up. The reason is the local actions Google creates from a linked Business Profile: directions, website visits and similar. They are locked for standard reporting.
The alert is about choice. The fix is to select the primary actions the campaign should use and remove the locked ones from its bidding strategy, so the goal is set by the business rather than left to the defaults.
What actually triggers it
A linked Business Profile that creates local actions
Once the profile is linked, Google creates local actions automatically. They are locked for standard reporting, so editing them is not the fix.
A campaign left on the default goals
The fix Google gives is campaign-specific goal settings. A campaign that still uses the default goals can carry the locked local actions into its bidding.
Fix it in this order
- Open the campaign settings.
- Turn on campaign-specific goal settings, then choose the primary conversion actions you want the campaign to use.
- Exclude the locked local actions from the bidding strategy.
- Read the Conversions column for the leads the campaign drives, and the All conversions column for the wider view of the business.
Google's page says to use the Conversions column to guide Smart Bidding and the All conversions column for a broader audit. Do not judge the campaign on All conversions alone, since it includes the locked local actions.
Often confused with
Eligible (Misconfigured)
That status is about a tag missing from the site. This alert is about the goal setup, and the tags can all be present.