ReferenceTracking error
Missing conversion linker
Tag Diagnostics reports a missing conversion linker when the Tag Manager container holds a Floodlight or Google Ads tag but no conversion linker. Without the linker, the click ID can be lost after the visitor leaves the landing page, so conversions are harder to match to the ad click. Add the tag, check when it fires, and publish the container.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- The Tag Diagnostics report in Google Tag Manager, as the Missing conversion linker diagnostic.
- What stops
- Matching a conversion to the ad click, once the visitor has moved on from the landing page.
- How serious
- A diagnostic status, not an account penalty.
What it means
A conversion linker is the tag that keeps the Google Ads click ID with the visitor after the landing page. Google's diagnostic fires when the container holds a Floodlight or Google Ads tag but no linker, because the conversion tags then have nothing that carries the click forward.
The message is about the container, not the conversion tag itself. A conversion tag can be correct and still lose clicks when the linker is absent or fires too late.
What actually triggers it
A Google Ads conversion tag added without a linker
The diagnostic names this case directly. A container that has the conversion tag and never received the linker shows the message on its first check.
A linker that fires on only some pages
Google recommends the All Pages trigger for the conversion linker. A linker limited to certain pages, or paused, misses the clicks that land anywhere else. Check the trigger, not only whether a linker exists.
A visitor who keeps browsing after the landing page
Without the linker, the click ID the ad carried is lost once the visitor moves on, so a conversion later in the visit has nothing to match. The diagnostic is the early sign, before the mismatch shows in reports.
Fix it in this order
- Open the container in Tag Manager and confirm the Missing conversion linker diagnostic in Tag Diagnostics names this container.
- Check the tags list for a conversion linker tag. If one exists but is paused, resume it, then go to the trigger step.
- If there is none, add a conversion linker tag to the container.
- Check the linker's trigger. Set it to the All Pages trigger, which Google recommends, and confirm it fires on a landing page.
- Publish the container. Until it is published, the linker is not on the live site.
Check the diagnostic again after publishing. A cleared message shows the linker is in the published container. It does not prove the click ID survives every landing page, so run the test on the page about missing Google Ads data.
Often confused with
Conversion action recording nothing
The Google Ads conversion action exists but records no conversions. A missing linker is a container-level message that can sit beside a working conversion tag, so check the action in Google Ads on its own.