Module 7 - Setting a 30 second timer as a conversion event

What is this conversion event actually tracking?

It tracks that people are spending at least 30 seconds on the website in question. This is a quick walkthrough of how to install that conversion event using Google Tag Manager, demonstrated on a customer's account.

In Google Tag Manager we create a new conversion, configure a tag, and within that choose Google Ads conversion tracking, which you conveniently cannot see because my head is over it, but trust me, it is that one there.

Where does the conversion ID come from?

From Google Ads, so that is where you start. We need a conversion ID to go into Google Tag Manager, so go into the customer account in Google Ads and add a conversion event.

Choose a website conversion event. This is time on site, so choose page view and give it a name. I am going to call it page view time on site over 30 seconds. For the user value of the conversion I am going to say it is worth a pound, or a dollar if you are in the US.

Count only one of these, because we do not want people making many visits and counting each one. It is about the first interaction in this instance. Set a view through conversion window of a day, because I want to count just the ones coming through, not the ones that come back.

For include in conversions, if you are going to optimise your campaign for this, so you are telling Google this is one of my conversion events and it is actually valuable, then yes. We will probably teach the campaign to do this to start with. We teach it to get people on the site, get them to spend time, then see what they do in terms of other conversion actions and events, and we can switch this one off eventually. This is one of your first stage conversion events. Attribution is last click. Create and continue.

That gives you the option to install the tag yourself, email the tag to a web designer if you have one who can do it, or use Google Tag Manager, which is the easiest way.

How do you wire it up in Google Tag Manager?

Copy the conversion ID and the conversion label from Google Ads into the tag. The conversion ID goes into that box, then minimise the window, copy the conversion label from the event code, and paste that back into Google Tag Manager.

Do not forget to have your conversion linking on, and you will need a conversion linking tag.

How do you set the timer trigger?

Add a trigger and choose timer as the trigger type. Give it a name, because we always want to do that, so that when we come back into any of these things we can actually understand what we did and why. Mine is time on site is greater than 30 seconds.

In trigger configuration, right down at the bottom of the trigger types on the right, is timer. The timer is in milliseconds, thousandths of a second, so you can time people who are on there for as long as you like, or a very specific amount of time. I think 30 seconds is 30,000 milliseconds. Let me just check that. Yes, 30 seconds in milliseconds is 30,000, so we put 30,000 in there.

Then enable this trigger when all of these conditions are met, and choose page URL contains and the customer's website. Set it to fire on all timers, then save, and save that.

What do you do once it is saved?

Submit and publish it, because saving alone does not put it live. In Google Tag Manager go to submit, create a version name, and give it a detailed description. I usually use my initials, so SY, and the date, 1805 2021, with a description like added 30 seconds on site conversion event. Then publish.

Once it has uploaded, it is on their Google Tag Manager and it is in place. Go back into Google Ads, into the campaign and into the tag manager section, and there is the conversion event. Save it, and just make sure when you get to the end that you click the done button, otherwise it is not going to save.

Then you can see the event listed, and silly Simon is in the way again, let me get out of the way, down here at the bottom: page view time over 30 seconds has been added. It is currently unverified because nobody has done it yet, but there you go. Hopefully that is useful.