// glossary
Enhanced Conversions.
Google Ads hashed-user-data conversion uplift
Enhanced Conversions is a Google Ads feature that sends hashed user data (email, phone, address) to Google for cookie-independent conversion matching. Typically recovers 5-15% in conversions.
// detail
Classic conversion counting works on the Google Ads gclid cookie. Cookie loss (Safari ITP, ad-blockers, iOS ATT) breaks the match — even when the user converts, Google can't attribute it.
Enhanced Conversions opens a parallel path:
- When the user completes an order, plain email + phone are pushed to the dataLayer.
- GTM (or sGTM) SHA-256 hashes the data.
- The hashed data goes to Google Ads.
- Google matches against signed-in users in its own systems; matches happen without cookies.
Two implementation paths:
- Tag-side (web): tick 'Include user-provided data' on the Google Ads Conversion tag in GTM.
- API-based: sGTM or direct Google Ads API offline conversion upload.
Critical rules: lowercase + trim email, phone in E.164, normalize before hashing.
Example: An e-commerce account with 5000 monthly orders was reporting 4250 conversions before Enhanced Conversions. Afterwards: 4825 — a 13.5% recovery. The cleaner signal lowered Smart Bidding's CPA by 18% within 30 days.