Short answer: Only when the click is the result itself: a tap on your phone number or email address, or a click out to a partner where the sale happens. A click on Book a demo, Start free trial or a submit button is not a lead: count the form success or the account created. On 5 Nov 2026, 280 of the 886 sites with Google Ads conversions in our 1,727-site study (31.6%) fired one on a click other than a phone or email link.
How many sites count a click as a conversion?
On 5 Nov 2026 we read the public Google tag and GTM containers of 1,727 sites. 886 had a readable Google Ads conversion. We counted a site when one fires on a click other than a phone or email link.
| Sites with Google Ads conversions | Fire one on a click |
|---|---|
| B2B SaaS (684) | 33.5% (229) |
| Ecommerce (73) | 17.8% (13) |
| Agencies (129) | 29.5% (38) |
| All 886 | 31.6% (280) |
Which clicks do they count?
On 4 Nov 2026 we scanned 349 hand-picked B2B SaaS sites (homepage, /pricing, /signup, /demo): 258 had a public container and no sister domain, 225 a Google Ads conversion tag. A script sorted every click trigger by button text, link URL, class or ID.
| What the click is on | Sites of 225 |
|---|---|
| "Book a demo", "Start free trial", "Contact sales" | 51 (22.7%) |
| "Download PDF", "Watch now" (download conversions) | 22 (9.8%) |
Submit button (hs-button, mktoButton) |
14 (6.2%) |
| Sign in or "Continue with Google" | 11 (4.9%) |
| App store, marketplace links | 7 (3.1%) |
| Class, ID or event we can't read | 43 (19.1%) |
| Any of the above | 102 (45.3%) |
Not counted: tel: and mailto: (11 sites, 4.9%; see phone number clicks). A site can sit in several rows.
Why are most click conversions weak signals?
A CTA click comes before the lead. Many people open the form and never send it. As a primary action, it teaches Smart Bidding to find button clickers. If the form success is tagged too, each signup counts twice (Google Ads Help: primary and secondary actions).
A submit click fires on failed submits too (14 sites). The Form Submission trigger with Check Validation fires only on a sent form (Tag Manager Help); HubSpot and Marketo push hubspot-form-success and mkto.form.success. A login is an existing user: 11 sites fire on sign in or OAuth clicks. Count the account created.
When is a click conversion fine?
Phone and email links: Google's own example is a click on a phone number on a mobile site (Google Ads Help). A click out to a reseller or app store where the sale happens and you can't tag. A secondary click action is fine, since it doesn't steer bidding.
Should opening a chat count as a conversion?
Not as a primary one. On 11 Nov 2026, 25 of 874 readable study sites with Google Ads conversions (2.9%) fired one from a chat widget: 21 when the chat opens, 4 on a lead or meeting booked in the chat.
An opened chat is a click: many people close it without typing. Put the Ads tag on the event your chat tool sends when someone leaves an email or books a meeting. Keep "chat opened" secondary or in GA4.
How do I check my own site?
DevTools, Network, Preserve log, filter conversion. Click your main CTA, open the chat, submit an empty form, click "Log in". A request with label= means that click is a conversion. In GTM, list each Click - All Elements or Click - Just Links trigger on an Ads tag; in Google Ads (Goals, Conversions), see which are Primary.
How do I fix it?
Tag the step behind each click: form success for a demo CTA, account created for a trial CTA, with a transaction ID if you can (Google Ads Help).
Make the click action secondary, don't delete it. Note 30 days of Conversions first: the count drops by the clicks that never became a lead. See also duplicate conversions in GTM and primary vs secondary.
What can't we see from outside?
Primary or secondary. The 31.6% and 45.3% are sites where a click is set up as a conversion, not where it is bid on.
What a class or ID points to (some of the 43 may be real lead actions), server-side tags, and GA4 key events imported into Ads.
The 349-site sample is hand-picked and sorted by script, so some may sit in the wrong row.
Updated 11 Nov 2026: chat section (11 Nov re-read, our study data). Click table: 1,727-site study (our study data, finding click, 5 Nov 2026). "Which clicks" table: 4 Nov rescan (our study data). First published 4 Nov 2026. Method.
Timer or scroll instead of a click? Engagement triggers.
Lead form built with HubSpot? Which GTM trigger counts a sent HubSpot form. Native Webflow form? Fire on its success message. Booking a demo instead? Fire on the confirmed booking.
FAQ
Should a "Book a demo" click be a Google Ads conversion?
Not a primary one. Many people open the form and don't send it. Make the form success primary and keep the click as secondary.
Is a click on a phone number a valid conversion?
Yes. It is Google's own example for click conversions. We left phone and email links out of the 45.3%.
Originally published on fireshift.ai. We built Fireshift, a free scan that reads what a site sends to Google Ads and GA4 from the outside.
Top comments (1)
The submit button firing on failed submits is a good catch.
One thing from the voice side: a tel tap has the same weakness as your chat open. The dialer opens, the person still has to press call, and then the call has to connect and get answered. On desktop it often goes nowhere. Calls over a set duration are the firmer signal.
Did any of the 11 tel sites also track the actual call?