Store Visits and Local Conversions: Tracking Offline Impact of Google Ads

The Online-to-Offline Attribution Gap

For businesses with physical locations — retail stores, restaurants, car dealerships, service centres — a significant portion of the value generated by Google Ads shows up offline. A user sees your ad, searches for directions, and visits your store. No online conversion fires. Your Google Ads account shows zero conversions for what was actually a successful customer acquisition.

Store visit conversions address this gap by tracking the offline impact of online ads as part of your broader Google Ads conversion tracking setup.

How Google Measures Store Visits

Google uses aggregated, anonymised location data from users who have Location History enabled on their Google accounts. When someone clicks a Google Ad and is later detected at or near the advertised business location, Google models this as a store visit attributed to the ad click.

This is not individual-level surveillance — Google uses statistical modeling across large populations to estimate store visit rates, then applies these rates to clicked impressions. The result is an estimated store visit count, not a precise individual-level record.

Eligibility Requirements

Not all advertisers qualify for store visit measurement. Requirements typically include:

• A Google Business Profile with verified physical location(s)
• Sufficient ad volume and click traffic — Google needs statistical confidence to model visits
• Campaigns targeted to relevant geographic areas
• Account in operation for at least some months with trackable history
• Industry eligibility (some categories, such as healthcare, may be excluded for privacy reasons)

If your account qualifies, store visits will appear automatically as a conversion action under Tools and Settings then Conversions.

Local Conversion Actions Beyond Store Visits

In addition to store visit measurement, Google tracks several other local conversion actions that can be attributed to ad clicks:

• Get directions clicks: users who clicked "Get Directions" from your ad or Business Profile listing
• Phone call clicks: clicks on your phone number in call extensions or call-only ads
• Website visits from Business Profile: users who visited your website via your Business Profile after seeing your ad
• Order placements: for restaurants and food businesses using supported ordering partners

These appear in the "Local" conversion category in your conversion action list.

Using Store Visit Data in Bidding

Store visit conversions can be set as primary or secondary conversion actions:

• As secondary: store visits appear in All Conversions reporting for visibility but do not influence Smart Bidding. This is the safer starting point — especially if store visit volume is high relative to your online conversions, as including them in bidding could shift budget toward physical-visit optimisation.
• As primary (store-visit optimisation): Smart Bidding optimises specifically for driving in-store visits. Use this when your primary business goal is foot traffic — retail campaigns with a store-visit Target CPA, for example.

Assigning Value to Store Visits

You can assign a monetary value to store visit conversions if you have data on average in-store transaction value and visit-to-purchase conversion rate. For example: if your average in-store sale is £80 and 30% of store visitors make a purchase, you can assign a value of £24 per store visit.

With assigned values, ROAS bidding strategies can account for in-store revenue alongside online revenue — giving Smart Bidding a complete picture of campaign profitability.

Summary

Store visit conversions provide an estimated measure of how Google Ads drives physical foot traffic. For location-based businesses, this is often the most important but least-tracked conversion type. Setting up store visit tracking — and optionally including it in bidding — creates a more complete picture of true ad performance.

See our Google Ads Conversion Tracking service for a comprehensive local conversion setup.

Want to track the offline impact of your ads? Contact Adslytics.