Google Ads Shows 0 Conversions but You're Getting Leads? Here's Why

Quick answer: If Google Ads shows 0 conversions while you are still getting calls and form fills, your conversions are probably being tracked but left out of the campaign's goals. They land in the "All conversions" column instead of "Conversions," so Smart Bidding cannot see them. Fix it in Campaign Settings > Goals by switching to account level goals or adding the right goal categories.

"Google Ads isn't working. It says zero conversions."

We hear some version of this all the time. And often the ads are working fine. The tracked calls and form submissions are there. Google just isn't allowed to count them.

Here's a typical home service scenario, what is usually going on behind it, and a quick checklist you can run on your own account today.

Why does Google Ads show 0 conversions when I'm getting leads?

There are two columns in Google Ads that look almost identical and mean very different things:

• Conversions: only the actions included in the campaign's goals. This is what Smart Bidding (like Maximize Conversions) optimizes toward.

• All conversions: every tracked action, including ones set to Secondary or ones that aren't included in the campaign's goals.

If your real tracked calls and form submissions only show up in All conversions, your reporting says zero and your bid strategy is optimizing toward nothing. Google explains this split in its help pages on conversion goals and "All conversions".

A typical scenario: the phone rings, the report says zero

Picture a local HVAC or plumbing company running a Search campaign on Maximize Conversions. The owner sees zero conversions in the dashboard and is ready to pull the plug. Meanwhile the office is booking jobs from people who say they found the business on Google.

When you dig in, the pattern is familiar:

• Quote request forms and click to call taps are being recorded

• Every one of them sits in the All conversions column only

• The campaign is bidding toward a goal it can't see, so Google has no signal to learn from

The tracking itself is fine. Test the form and the call button in a real browser and both fire correctly. The problem is what the campaign is told to count.

What causes conversions to show only in "All conversions"?

In this scenario, the cause is campaign level goals.

Every conversion action in Google Ads gets a category (Submit lead form, Contact, Phone call lead, Book appointment, and so on). Campaigns can either use the account's default goals or their own custom goal list.

Here the campaign uses its own list, which only includes Phone call lead and Book appointment. The real conversions are categorized as Submit lead form (the quote form) and Contact (call button taps). Different categories, so they never count.

Other common causes of the same symptom:

1. The conversion action is set to Secondary instead of Primary

2. The conversion window or attribution settings exclude recent clicks

3. A GA4 import was set up but the key event was never marked, so nothing flows through

4. The conversion tag fires on the wrong page (or on every page)

Primary actions can be used for bidding when the campaign optimizes toward that goal. Secondary actions are for observation only and show in All conversions, not in Conversions. Google's guide on primary and secondary conversion actions spells that out clearly.

How do you fix Google Ads campaign goals?

The fix is a handful of clicks:

1. Open the campaign goals

Open the campaign > Settings > Goals.

2. Switch to account level goals

Choose "Use account level goals" if your account defaults already include the categories your real leads use, such as Submit lead form and Contact.

3. Clean up junk actions first

In Goals > Conversions > Summary, set old or dead actions to Secondary so they don't clutter bidding. Typical examples are a call action tied to a number you no longer use, or legacy GA4 imports that have never recorded anything.

4. Confirm real leads are counting

Check the Conversions column again after a few days to confirm real tracked calls and form submissions are counting.

One important order of operations note: fix any junk conversions before you switch goals on, or you'll feed bad data straight into bidding. Which brings us to the second half of the story.

Can Google Ads count things that aren't leads?

Yes, and it's just as expensive as counting nothing.

Two things we see constantly on home service accounts:

• Newsletter signups counting as leads. The form trigger watches a "thank you" message that a footer signup or popup also uses. Every email signup looks like a quote request. The fix is scoping the trigger so it only fires on the actual quote or contact form.

• Local actions inflating reporting. Directions requests and website clicks from Google Maps pile up in All conversions. They're useful signals, but they aren't leads, so they stay out of bidding and out of the headline number.

Map taps and button clicks can look like cheap leads until you strip them out. Our fleet services case study is a clear example of inflated conversions versus real phone calls.

Our rule for every account: a conversion only counts if a real person could pick up the phone and sell to it. Everything else is a signal. That's the same tracking first approach behind our Google Ads services and the Lead Portal every client gets.

What should a home service business count as a conversion?

For most HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and landscaping companies, a clean setup looks like this:

• Primary: quote or contact form submissions, calls from ads, and calls from the website that last long enough to be a real conversation.

• Secondary: directions requests, button clicks, page views, and anything else that shows interest but isn't a lead.

• Separate tracking for your best jobs. If replacements or installs are worth far more than repairs, give those request forms their own conversion so you can see what's actually worth paying for.

If you want the broader setup for service businesses (what to mark Primary, what to leave Secondary, and how attribution breaks bidding), read Why Your Ad Account Strategy Fails Without Clean Tracking.

Quick conversion tracking checklist

• Does each campaign use account level goals (or the right custom goals)?

• Are your real lead actions (forms, calls) set to Primary?

• Are dead or duplicate actions set to Secondary?

• Does your form conversion fire only on the real quote or contact form?

• Are local actions (directions, map clicks) kept out of bidding?

• Do "Conversions" and your actual phone and inbox roughly match?

If that last box doesn't check, stop judging the bid strategy until it does. Judging Maximize Conversions on zero data is judging nothing.

We run this exact audit on every account we take over. If you want a team that checks the measurement first and explains it in plain English, see who we are at Built To Optimize.

FAQ

What is the difference between Conversions and All conversions in Google Ads? Conversions includes only the actions in a campaign's goals and is used by Smart Bidding. All conversions includes every tracked action, including Secondary ones and ones outside the campaign's goals.

Why is my Maximize Conversions campaign not getting conversions? Often it's because the campaign can't see your conversions: they're outside its goals or set to Secondary. The algorithm then has no signal to optimize toward. Check Settings > Goals first.

Should directions clicks count as conversions for a home service business? Track them, but keep them Secondary. They're useful for trends but aren't leads, and counting them in bidding pushes Google toward cheap, low value actions.

Want someone to check your goals with you?

If your Conversions column says zero while the phone is ringing, we can walk through goals, Primary vs Secondary actions, and what should count as a real lead. Book a call with the people who actually run your ads.