Google Ads has two columns with almost the same name. “Conversions” counts the primary conversion actions that bidding learns from. “All conversions” (labelled “All conv.” in the table) counts everything else as well. You can find it in any section of the left menu, such as Campaigns, using the Columns icon above the statistics table. If you cannot see it, it is simply hidden in your report by default.
What should count as a conversion at all is covered in my guide to what counts as a conversion in Google Ads. Here it is only the gap between the two columns.
What it means
“All conversions” contains the data of the “Conversions” column, the conversion actions you chose not to include there, store visits, certain phone calls and more. That is why its number is usually larger. The gap comes from these things:
- Secondary actions. They are for observation only. How to choose a status is covered in my piece on primary and secondary conversion actions.
- View-through conversions. They are not part of “Conversions” and appear only in “View-through conversions” and “All conversions”.
- Calls placed after viewing your ads on a tablet or computer, if you use call assets or call-only ads with Google forwarding numbers. Calls from mobile search ads go into “Conversions”. More in my article on call conversions in Google Ads.
- Store visits and other special conversion types, where available.
How to read and set it
Here is how I read the columns.
| Column | What is in it | What to use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Conversions | Primary conversion actions | The signal for bidding, if the goal is used for bidding. Judge campaign results and set budgets by it. |
| All conversions | Everything in “Conversions” plus secondary actions, view-through conversions, some calls, store visits | The full picture of what your ads set off. A check, not an enquiry count. |
| View-through conversions | People who saw the ad without clicking and acted later | A separate column for observation. It is included in “All conversions”. |
You can segment “All conversions” by conversion action, to see how many each action produced whatever its status, by device type, and by where the conversion came from. When you segment by device, a cross-device conversion is credited to the device where the click happened. That is how Google’s help page on “All conversions” describes it.
What to do
- Open Campaigns, click the Columns icon above the table, and add “Conversions” and “All conv.” side by side.
- Compare the numbers per campaign. The gap is what does not take part in bidding.
- Segment “All conversions” by conversion action. This shows which actions create the gap.
- For each of those actions, decide whether it should teach bidding (then make it primary) or only be observed.
- Check “Conversions” for junk: soft events, and leads counted as “Every”. That setting means every conversion after a click is counted, not just one.
- Make budget and bidding decisions from “Conversions”, and keep “All conversions” as your check.
What not to do
- Treat “All conversions” as your number of enquiries. It also takes in view-through conversions and calls from computers and tablets.
- Treat the gap between the columns as a tracking error. It is a deliberate split between “for bidding” and “for observation”.
- Make an action primary just to see it in a report. “All conversions” is there for that, and it leaves bidding untouched.
The mistake most often hides in the “Conversions” column itself. In my published Doctor Ads cut on thedoctorads.com (a 2026 snapshot of settings), in four out of five accounts I analyse that feed leads into bidding, at least one lead action in that column counts every conversion. In about six in ten, soft events sit there: page views, engagement, clicks on outside links. This is a convenient group, accounts that came to me for an audit, so it may be messier than the market.
When this does not apply
- The account has few conversions. The help says you need enough of them for meaningful insight; otherwise the gap between columns is noise.
- The action sits in a custom goal. Then even a secondary action is used for bidding, and the gap between columns does not mean it stays out of bidding.
- You are looking at keyword level. Call conversion data for computers and tablets is not available there, so the columns will diverge differently by keyword.
The step-by-step version of reading and setting this in your own account is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →Questions and answers
Why is “All conversions” higher than “Conversions”?
Because it also takes in secondary actions, view-through conversions, some calls and store visits. “Conversions” holds only the primary actions.
Can bidding learn from “All conversions”?
Bidding learns from primary actions. “All conversions” can suggest what to change, but for an action to influence bidding it has to be made primary.
Are view-through conversions part of “Conversions”?
In most cases no. They appear only in “View-through conversions” and “All conversions”, apart from the exceptions Google’s help describes.