How to Connect Wetracked to Google Ads: Full Shopify Setup

You can launch a perfect Google Ads campaign and still lose money because one setting is wrong. In this setup, the setting is called Primary. Most new stores leave it on for everything.

This guide follows that video step by step. Every step below is what Chris clicks on screen. Where something changed since he recorded it, you will see a note.

What You Need Before You Start

You need four things open in tabs:

• Your Shopify admin, for the domain and the collaborator request code.
• Your Wetracked account (wetracked.io).
• Your Google Ads account, where you create the conversion actions.
• Your email inbox, because the store connection waits for an approval email.

If you are still choosing how to track at all, read our full guide to Google Ads conversion tracking on Shopify first. It compares the setup options. This post is for the store that already picked Wetracked.

Why a Tracking Tool Matters for Google Ads

Google Ads learns from what you tell it is a sale. If the purchase never reaches Google, the algorithm bids blind. If the wrong events reach Google as sales, it bids on the wrong people.

Wetracked sits in the middle. It catches the events on your store and sends them to Google Ads. In the setup from the video, you do not install the Google tag on your site. A viewer asked about exactly that, and Chris answered: "Correct, you have Wetracked for that."

The point of the whole job is clean purchase data. That is why Step 6 matters more than any other step in this guide. Dropshippers run into the same problem, and our conversion tracking guide for dropshipping stores covers it for that model.

Step 1: Grab Your Shopify Domain and Collaborator Code

Wetracked needs two things from Shopify to connect your store.

• Shopify domain: in Shopify, go to Settings, then Domains. Copy your Shopify domain.
• Collaborator request code: still in Settings, open Users and permissions and scroll down. Copy the collaborator request code.

Step 2: Connect Your Store in Wetracked

Paste the domain and the collaborator code into Wetracked.

Then pick your time zone. Chris picks Berlin. Pick yours. Choose native checkout and click Continue.

Step 3: Pick Google Ads and Add a New Pixel

Wetracked asks which platform you want to track for. Pick Google Ads.

Click Add new pixel. You will not have one yet. Name it after your store, so you know which pixel belongs to which shop later.

The pixel now waits for two things from Google Ads: the conversion ID and the conversion labels.

Step 4: Create Four Conversion Actions in Google Ads

Open Google Ads and go to Goals. Start a new conversion action and pick Website.

Google changes how this screen looks every so often. Chris says so on camera: the design was new when he recorded, but the process is more or less the same. Do not panic if your buttons sit in a different spot.

Create a manual event for each of these four:

1. Purchase
2. Add to Cart
3. Begin Checkout
4. Page View

Give each one a clear name. You will match these names to events in Wetracked in the next step, so clear names stop mix-ups. Save and continue.

Step 5: Paste the Conversion ID and Labels in Wetracked

Pick the Google Tag Manager option. That screen shows everything Wetracked needs.

First, copy the conversion ID and paste it into your Wetracked pixel. You only need it once.

Then copy each conversion label and paste it into the matching event: the Purchase label into Purchase, the Add to Cart label into Add to Cart, and so on.

Check the name, the conversion ID and every label one last time. Then click Complete and Finish.

The pixel still shows as inactive at this point. That is expected. You use it later, once the store connection is approved.

Step 6: Set Every Action Except Purchase to Secondary

This is where most new stores go wrong, and it costs real money.

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You do not want to have anything on primary except purchase. That's one of the most common rookie mistakes.

Any action set as an account-default goal and as Primary gets counted as a conversion in Google Ads. So if Page View, Add to Cart and Begin Checkout are all Primary, Google treats each one as a win. The algorithm then optimizes on page views and carts. You only want it to chase purchases, because purchases are the revenue.

Open each of the three actions and click Edit settings. Google explains both choices right there:

• Primary - the action is used for optimization.
• Secondary - the action is tracked, but only for observation. Google does not optimize on it.

Set Add to Cart, Begin Checkout and Page View to Secondary. You still see them in the account, which is useful data. They just do not steer your bids. Purchase stays Primary.

A related mistake is counting one sale twice. If your numbers already look too good, read how to fix a Shopify pixel that double counts.

Step 7: Approve the Collaborator Request in Shopify

Back in Wetracked, the store connection now shows as under review. You will get an email soon.

When it arrives, approve the collaborator request in Shopify. The connection has to be verified and accepted before you start ads.

Step 8: Turn On Enhanced Conversions

Go back to Google Ads and reload the page. Open the settings again.

Accept the customer data terms. Then turn on enhanced conversions.

Step 9: Start Ads and Watch the Data Come In

Once Shopify approves the request and everything is verified, you are done. Start running ads.

Data starts coming in pretty soon. You will see page views, add to carts and checkouts first. Purchases follow once the ads start bringing buyers.

Do not judge the setup before you spend anything. A pixel with no traffic shows no events, and that does not mean it is broken.

Wetracked or Another Tracking Tool?

Chris has also made a video on a second tracking tool he likes for Google Ads. His take: both are valid and both are great for Google Ads. Compare them and pick the one you prefer. If you land on TrackBee, here is how to install TrackBee for Google Ads, step by step.

Whichever you pick, the rule from Step 6 stays the same: Purchase is your only Primary goal.

Wetracked also works beyond Google. Chris notes it is a popular tracking tool for Facebook ads and the other ad platforms too.

Where This Fits in Your Google Ads Setup

Tracking comes first. Every bid, budget and campaign you build after it learns from this data.

If you run a dropshipping store, tracking is one step of a bigger build. The full Google Ads dropshipping guide walks through the rest, from feed to scaling. And if you would rather not touch Goals, labels and Primary settings at all, you can have us run your Google Ads dropshipping account for you.

For the Shopify stores we manage, we run tracking through our own Shopify app. See how we set up Google Ads for Shopify stores.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I pick Google Ads API or Google Tag for enhanced conversions in Wetracked?

The video picks Google Ads API. A viewer pointed out that Wetracked's help docs say Google Tag, and Chris agreed: the video is older, so follow the Wetracked guide. He calls that guide pretty good and spot on.

Do I still need the Google tag on my site if Wetracked sends the data?

Not for the setup shown in the video. A viewer asked if using the Google Ads API meant no gtag on the site, with Wetracked handling everything. Chris answered: correct, you have Wetracked for that.

Do I really need to set every action except Purchase to Secondary?

Yes. Chris asks why you would keep the rest on Primary when you only want to optimize on purchases. You can also pick Purchase as the campaign-specific goal, but he still says to put the others on Secondary. Keeping them Primary makes no sense.

Is Wetracked free?

No. When a viewer asked, Chris answered that nothing is free in this world. Wetracked is a paid tool. Check their site for the current price before you sign up.

Does Wetracked only work with Google Ads?

No. Chris shows the Google Ads setup, but he notes Wetracked is a popular tracking tool for Facebook ads and the other ad platforms too.