How to calculate your conversion rate

Conversions ÷ visitors × 100

Say your site had 1,000 visits last month and 20 of them ended in a sale. 20 ÷ 1,000 × 100 = 2. Your conversion rate is 2%.

What counts as a conversion

Count the thing you get paid for. That’s a finished order, booking or sign-up, not a click on “Buy now”.

The best signal is the page people see after they pay, like a confirmation or thank-you page. Most checkout and booking systems can send that event to Google Analytics and Google Ads.

Calls and forms count too, if they’re how you sell. Keep them apart from sales, so you know which is which.

Where to find the numbers

• Google Analytics 4. Go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. The “Session key event rate” column is your conversion rate. It only works if your sale is set up as a key event.
• Google Ads. In Campaigns, the “Conv. rate” column shows conversions divided by clicks on your ads. It only counts what you set up as a conversion.
• Your sales or booking system. If neither is set up, take the sales that came from your site last month. Divide them by that month’s sessions in Analytics.

Look at your ads on their own

People who come from an ad are not the same as people who already know you. Someone who searched your name is close to buying. Someone who searched “running shoes” is still shopping.

In Traffic acquisition, filter by “google / cpc” to see only your ad visits. If that rate is much lower than the rest, the page your ad opens is a good place to start.

Count conversions, not just visits

You can work out your rate with any number of visits. What makes it worth trusting is the number of conversions behind it.

2 sales from 100 visits is 2%. But one sale more or less moves it a whole point, so you can’t tell a 2% site from a 5% one yet. 20 sales from 1,000 visits is also 2%, and that one tells you something.

Wait until you have about 10 conversions before you compare. If one month doesn’t get you there, add months together.

See where it goes wrong

The teardowns are short examples from real ads and the pages they open. Each one shows what gets in the way before anyone converts. See the teardowns