Connect Google Ads

Ledion uploads conversions to Google Ads through Google’s Data Manager API. During the beta, you connect by adding Ledion’s email as a user on your Google Ads account. There’s no Google sign-in yet. That comes once Google approves Ledion’s sign-in, and it’s described at the end of this page.

Before you start

Ledion installed in HubSpot (Install Ledion).
Admin access to the Google Ads account, or to a manager account above it.
Your 10-digit Google Ads customer ID. Dashes are fine.
Auto-tagging on in your Google Ads account settings. Without it, ad clicks carry no GCLID and Google can only match on email and phone.
If you create a new conversion action: 4 to 6 hours before Google takes uploads to it.

1. Create a conversion action for Ledion

Ledion uploads to conversion actions of type Import from clicks. Use one you have, or create one per stage you send, like “Ledion: SQL” and “Ledion: Closed won”.

In Google Ads, go to Goals → Summary and click + Create conversion action.
Choose Conversions offline.
When Google asks for a data source, choose Skip this step and set up a data source later. Ledion uploads through Google’s API.

Screenshot to come: Google Ads, + Create conversion action: Conversions offline selected, then the data source step with Skip this step and set up a data source later

Then check the action’s settings:

Category: Qualified lead or Converted lead. Google recommends one of these.
Count: Every. Actions that count one conversion per click reject GBRAID and WBRAID, the click IDs Google uses for iOS traffic.
Attribution: anything but External attribution.
Primary or secondary: start it as Secondary. See Avoid double counting.

2. Give Ledion access to the account

In Ledion, open Connections and add Google Ads. Ledion shows a service-account email that ends in iam.gserviceaccount.com. Copy it from there, then in Google Ads:

Sign in as an admin and go to Admin → Access and security.
On the Users tab, click +.
Paste Ledion’s email, choose Standard, then click Add account.

Standard is enough. Ledion doesn’t need Admin, and Google doesn’t offer Email only for service accounts.

Agencies: add the email to your manager account instead. Ledion can then reach every client account under it. Enter the manager’s ID in the next step.

Screenshot to come: Google Ads, Admin → Access and security → Users tab: Ledion's service-account email pasted, Standard selected, Add account button

3. Finish the connection in Ledion

Back in Ledion, enter your 10-digit customer ID. If you added Ledion to a manager account, enter the manager’s customer ID too.
Check Sending to Google Ads, the confirmation that Ledion may send Google Ads each conversion your workflows send.
Click Connect Google Ads. Ledion checks that it can reach the account.
When you create a conversion, pick the conversion action from the Google Ads list. It shows the account’s enabled Import from clicks actions.

If the list doesn’t load, Ledion asks for the conversion action ID instead. Open the action in Google Ads: the ID is the ctId value in the page’s URL.

4. Turn on enhanced conversions

Ledion sends a hashed email and phone with each conversion, next to the click ID. Google calls this enhanced conversions for leads. Until you turn it on and accept Google’s customer data terms, Google can reject Ledion’s uploads.

In Google Ads, go to Goals → Settings.
Expand Customer data use.
Check Turn on enhanced conversions, then click Agree and save.

Two more things Google asks for:

Send every lead, not only the ones from Google ads. Google says this “is required for enhanced conversions for leads to function correctly”. Don’t filter your workflow down to Google traffic.
A Google tag on your site, with user-provided data on. Google recommends it for the best matching. Ledion works without it, because it sends the click ID and the hashed email and phone itself.

Avoid double counting

HubSpot’s built-in Google Ads events and Ledion only double count if they send to the same conversion action. Give Ledion its own action, as in step 1.

Keep Ledion’s action as Secondary for 2 to 3 weeks, so bidding doesn’t react to data you haven’t checked yet. Compare its counts with what you see in HubSpot.
Once the counts look right, make it Primary. Bidding then learns from Ledion’s real values.

A new action also spends its first 14 days in a trial. Google reports its conversions but doesn’t use them for bidding yet, and value updates are off.

Check it worked

Send test. On Ledion’s Conversions page, Send test uses Google’s validate-only mode: Google checks the upload and records nothing. A pass means the upload is well formed. Google says it “doesn’t guarantee that there will be no errors during processing”.
Activity. Google accepts an upload first and judges it later. Ledion checks back after 30 minutes, keeps checking for up to 24 hours, and shows Google’s verdict on the send.
Google Ads. A day after your first real sends, look at the action’s All conv. (by conv. time) column. If Activity shows them confirmed and Google Ads still shows nothing 2 days later, email santi@ledion.io.

Common problems

Ledion can’t reach the account when you click Connect. Check that the email is a user on this customer ID, or on the manager whose ID you entered, with Standard access.
“Ledion can’t access [customer ID] in Google Ads. Check that access is still granted.” Ledion’s email was removed from the account, or the manager ID is wrong. The connection now says Needs reconnect. Add the email again as in step 2, then click Reconnect on the connection. The customer ID and manager ID are already filled in. Then use Retry failed sends in Activity for anything that failed in the last 7 days.
“Google Ads can’t find ‘[action name]’. It may be deleted, paused or renamed in Google Ads.” The action was removed or paused, or it isn’t an Import from clicks action. Turn it back on, or pick another one in the conversion.
“Google Ads isn’t ready to accept this conversion yet. A new conversion action takes a few hours; an older one may need a setting changed in Google Ads.” Usually the action is less than 4 to 6 hours old, and Ledion retries after 2 hours and again after 6. If the action is older, the cause is a setting: enhanced conversions is off or its terms aren’t accepted (step 4), the action uses External attribution, or it counts one conversion per click while the send carries an iOS click ID (step 1).
“Google Ads didn’t recognize the click ID (wrong account or too old).” The click came from a different Google Ads account than the one you connected, or it’s older than 90 days. When Google finds this only after accepting the upload, the send’s Network verdict in Activity says Rejected, and the rejection email names the reason.
Google’s verdict is Rejected for consent (“Google rejected the event for missing or denied consent. Check Google consent in Ledion’s Settings.”, in the rejection email). Google asks whether each person agreed to ad tracking, and it matters most for people in the EEA. In Ledion’s Settings, set Consent for Google Ads to the option that fits: Use my Google Ads account settings, Everyone I send has agreed or Read it from a contact property.
The send shows as Too old (“Too old for Google Ads (90-day limit).”). Google takes clicks up to 90 days old, and conversions matched only on email or phone up to 63 days. Ledion marks older ones expired instead of sending them.
“Google Ads: the conversion time is earlier than the ad click or the lead. Check what the step maps to Occurred at.” Check which property the step maps to Occurred at, and its time zone.

To disconnect, remove the connection on Ledion’s Connections page, then remove Ledion’s email from your Google Ads users (Disconnect and uninstall).

Google has to approve Ledion’s sign-in before it opens to everyone, and that can take several weeks. Until then, use the steps above. Once it’s live:

In Ledion’s Connections, click Connect Google. Google’s sign-in opens in a new tab.
Sign in with a Google account that’s a user on your Google Ads account, or on a manager account above it, and allow Ledion’s access.
A page says “Connected to Google Ads.” Close the tab and go back to HubSpot.
Pick the account from the list.

The conversion action and enhanced conversions are set up the same way as above.