Data Manager API adds Google Ads call conversions

What this means for specialists

Call conversions can now be sent to Google Ads through the Data Manager API. For accounts that already use this API for other supported events, it may be worth considering whether call conversions belong in the same upload. Whether that is worth doing depends on how your calls reach Google today. If a call-tracking vendor handles the upload, the question is for them: whether they plan to use the Data Manager API, and on what timing. The post does not say anything about vendors.

The diagnostics change is the more immediately useful one. A successful ingestion request does not guarantee every record was processed; record_indices now identifies the affected records. With record_indices, an error count can be tied back to specific positions in the file or payload you sent. That makes it possible to separate a systematic problem, such as the same reason across many rows, from a handful of bad records. It also gives you something concrete to show a client when reported call volume in the platform is lower than the call volume in the tracking system.

The warning behaviour deserves attention. Google says warned records were not rejected but some of their data was ignored. Warnings still need investigation because some of the record's data was ignored. Treat warnings as a data quality list, not as noise.

The lead_id caveat is a reason not to rebuild around it yet. Google says attribution using lead_id and match_id is not available, so any workflow that depends on them alone would leave events unattributed. Sending them alongside other identifiers is the route the post describes.

What to do this week

• Find out how each lead-gen account's call conversions reach Google Ads today, and who owns that upload (you, a developer or a call-tracking vendor).
• Open the "Upgrade call conversions from the Google Ads API" guide and compare its steps with your current setup before deciding whether to move.
• Check that the call data you hold includes the time each call started, since call_info uses start_timestamp, and a phone number you can send hashed in user_data.
• Open the "Check affected records" section of the diagnostics guide and read how record_indices is returned for a request.
• For a recent upload, check request status and diagnostics and list every ErrorCount and WarningCount, with its reason and the affected positions in the original request.
• Where records failed with PROCESSING_ERROR_REASON_CLICK_NOT_FOUND or any other reason, correct them and resend, then note what caused each group of failures.
• If you plan to send lead_id or match_id, keep sending your other identifiers too, as Google instructs, and read the release notes for the full list of changes.

What we do not know yet

The post gives no date for attribution using lead_id and match_id, only that it is not available yet. It does not say which other identifiers will attribute events in the meantime beyond "other identifiers", so check the documentation for your destination.

It also does not say whether the Google Ads API route for call conversions will be retired, whether any accounts or markets are excluded from the new support, or whether call-tracking vendors have been told. It does not say how long diagnostics are kept after a request, or whether record_indices is limited to particular destinations. Google says nothing about what difference moving to the Data Manager API makes to reported conversions, and no result should be assumed.