Hi all,

I'm very techie but not a PPC guru and I only got into PPC relatively recently so when I'm reading docs etc, a lot is taken for granted.

I have a couple of SME customers, I do their websites and a bit of PPC,nothing too complicated. Using GTM, GA4 and Google Ads.

I generally want to track the following conversions:

• Form filled in

• (Optional) Message sent via tawk.to chatbot

• (Optional) Link to phone number (tel: URL) clicked

I've always set up each conversion in Google Ads as a custom conversion action ("Create conversion actions manually using code") then gone to GTM and added a corresponding "Google Ads Conversion Tracking" tag which I get to fire on the relevant event.

So far, so good.

Then I came across a client who has (key?) events tracked in GA4 (also via GTM) which you then see in the Google Ads conversion screen which means I don't have to create the custom conversion action in Google Ads (but do have to in GA4 / GTM). What is the use case for this approach and when is it preferred to the method I'm using?

(Also GA4 seems to automatically track events like form_submit so I don't see the need to add them in GTM -> GA4 Event.)

Thanks in advance and hope it's not too silly a question.