Tracking checklist · For owners who pay for ads and want real numbers

Google says 14 conversions. You got 4 customers.

The small-business tracking checklist that shows whether your ad reports count real sales and leads, or phone clicks, duplicate forms and page views.

Find out what your "conversions" actually are Catch double-counted purchases and broken forms Give the platforms real data to optimize for
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Madalina Gherman
Written by Madalina, performance marketer since 2018 · €1M+ in ad spend managed
PDF checklistDeveloper brief templateMonthly reality check sheet

Does this sound familiar?

"The report looks great. My bank account doesn't."
"Google Ads and Meta both say they brought the same sale."
"I don't know what GTM, GA4 or CAPI are, but I pay for them."
"My agency says it's working. I can't prove it either way."

Ad platforms optimize for whatever you tell them is a conversion. If that's a page view or a phone click, they'll get you more of those, very efficiently. You're not buying customers. You're buying the wrong signal.

The method

Count, Match, Trust

Three passes over your setup. No coding, only checks you can do yourself with the access you already have.

1 Count List every conversion each platform records, and what action triggers it.
2 Match Compare platform numbers with your real orders, leads and calls for the same period.
3 Trust Fix, remove or downgrade what doesn't match, so reports mean sales again.
What's inside

Everything you get today

Plain language. No jargon without an explanation. Built to be used with your own numbers open next to it.

01
The 14-conversions trapWhy reported conversions and real customers drift apart.
02
Google Ads conversion checksPrimary vs secondary actions, calls, duplicates.
03
GA4 and Google Tag Manager checksWhat should fire, when, and how to see it yourself.
04
Meta Pixel and Conversions API checksDouble-fire purchases, missing events, event quality.
05
Forms, calls and WhatsApp clicksWhen a click is a lead, and when it's noise.
06
The monthly reality checkA 15-minute sheet comparing ads with real sales.
Bonus: Developer & agency briefA ready-to-send brief listing what to fix, so you don't need to speak tracking to get it done.
This is for you if —You pay for Google or Meta Ads and numbers don't match your sales—Someone else set up your tracking and you've never checked it—You're about to scale your budget and want clean data first—You want to judge your agency's reports yourself
Not for you if —You don't run any ads yet—You're a tracking specialist—You want a full server-side implementation done for you
Madalina Gherman
Who's behind this

Hi, I'm Madalina. I've been inside the accounts since 2018.

GTM, GA4, Meta Pixel, CAPI, purchases firing twice, forms counted three times: I've untangled all of it in client accounts. Almost every account I audit has at least one conversion that isn't what the owner thinks. This checklist is how I find it.

8+years running paid ads
€1M+ad spend managed
12.32×ROAS, eCommerce case study

What buyers say

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Read what clients say about working with me

Less than one wasted day of ad spend.

Scaling a budget on wrong data costs more every month you do it. One fixed conversion action often changes how the whole account performs.

Agency retainerfrom 449 € / month
1:1 consulting session249 €
Guessing for another 3 monthsyour budget
Is Your Marketing Actually Working?Free
Get it free
Free. Really. Download it, use it, keep it. All I ask for is your email address, so I can send you the link and the occasional practical ads tip. Unsubscribe with one click whenever you like.

Questions, answered

Yes. Every check says where to click and what you should see. Anything that needs a developer goes into the brief template.

Before you spend more, check what you're counting.

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