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Conversion adjustment

A conversion adjustment is a correction a store sends to Google Ads for a conversion already recorded, usually to cancel it or change its value.

How it works

Google Ads records a purchase when the order is placed. If the goods come back, the order is cancelled, or it proves to be a test or an outlier order, the store uploads an adjustment:

  • Retraction removes the conversion from the Conversions and Conv. value columns and from CPA and ROAS bidding.
  • Restatement changes the conversion value but keeps the count, for example after a partial return. It affects value columns and ROAS bidding. A restatement to 0 works as a retraction.

The adjustment finds the conversion by its transaction ID, so website conversions without one cannot be adjusted. Retracting a website conversion is final.

Upload at least 24 hours after the conversion. Google Ads accepts adjustments for 55 days (54 through the API), but bidding reads only those made within 7 days. Retracting conversions for returns shows how to set this up for your return rate.

Where you see it

Google Ads: Goals → Conversions → Uploads, with adjustment templates.

Example

Example store, not client data.

In a month the tableware shop records 301 conversions worth 204,000 on 40,000 of spend. They are 300 orders worth 180,000 and one wholesale order of 24,000: 40 times the average order of 600. Reported ROAS is 204,000 ÷ 40,000 = 5.1. Retracting the wholesale order brings it to 180,000 ÷ 40,000 = 4.5.

How GetProfit reads it

The portal treats a conversion as anomalous when its value is more than 30 times the account’s typical order value, per product and day. The 24,000 order would be flagged. Such conversions appear in the conversion check under “Anomalous conversions — review”, with date, campaign, product and multiple, exportable to CSV. You confirm each one or retract it; the portal changes nothing in your account.

Not to be confused with

  • Data exclusion — tells Smart Bidding to ignore all data from a period when tracking broke. An adjustment corrects individual recorded conversions.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “We retracted last month’s returns, so bidding has learned from them.” Right: bidding reads adjustments only within 7 days of the conversion; later ones correct only the reports.

Sources