Conversion
A desired action completed by a user after interacting with an ad, such as a purchase, sign-up, or download.
What Conversion means
A conversion is any predefined valuable action a user takes after engaging with an advertisement — purchases, form submissions, app downloads, phone calls, or custom events. Conversion tracking is fundamental to measuring ad effectiveness and optimizing campaigns. From a compliance perspective, conversion tracking involves processing personal data (user identifiers, action data, timestamps), requiring compliance with privacy regulations. The shift from pixel-based to server-side conversion tracking (CAPI) has been driven by privacy regulations and browser restrictions. Misrepresenting conversion events, inflating conversion counts, or using non-compliant tracking methods can result in both platform enforcement and regulatory penalties.
Related terms
CAPI
Conversions API — a server-side tracking method that sends conversion data directly from the advertiser's server to the ad platform.
Pixel
A piece of code installed on a website that tracks user actions and sends data back to an ad platform for measurement and optimization.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of users who complete a desired action after clicking an ad, calculated as conversions divided by clicks.
Attribution
The process of determining which ads and touchpoints contributed to a conversion, used for optimizing ad spend allocation.