Conversion actions not active
Google Ads says Conversion actions not active when no conversion type was defined when the click happened. Create at least one Import from clicks action before uploading, then send from that point on. Clicks from before the action existed will not be credited by a later upload, however often you resend them.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- The offline data diagnostics page in Google Ads, and the Uploads page for file imports.
- What stops
- Rows for those clicks are not credited. The ad keeps serving.
- How serious
- No policy risk. The cost is history that does not reach the account, and bidding that learns only from later leads.
What it means
Google credits an uploaded click only if a conversion type existed in the account when the click happened. An action made later cannot be backdated to cover clicks from before it existed.
The message is therefore a question of timing, not of the file. The file can be correct and still refused for every row older than the action.
What actually triggers it
An action created after the clicks
The account connected or the action was created after the leads came in, so every earlier click has no conversion type to count against. Google's page says to create one before uploading.
No import action in the account at all
An account with only website or call actions has no Import from clicks action. Google's page names this directly as the cause.
Early clicks that are accepted and then never recorded
Not on Google's help page
In real accounts, uploads whose clicks predated the action's creation were not always refused. Google's upload summary rated them successful, and only the action's totals showed they had never been recorded.
Fix it in this order
- In the account you upload to, create at least one Import from clicks conversion action before the next upload.
- When a business first connects an account for uploads, create the offline and stage actions straight away, before the clicks that should be credited.
- Send the leads from clicks after the action was created. Those will be credited.
- For older clicks, accept that the later upload will not credit them, and record the gap in your own reporting so the figures are read with it.
Earlier history stays uncredited. Plan the action before connecting, so the leads that matter for bidding have a conversion type behind them.
Often confused with
Wrong Google Ads account for clicks
The action is missing in the account now. Here it did not exist when the click happened.
Invalid conversion times
The timestamp is wrong. This message is about the conversion type, not the time.