Set up Web to App Connect to improve campaign performance

Web to App Connect helps you provide a web-to-app journey and experience for your customers and can help improve performance of your web campaigns, including Search and Performance Max campaigns. This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up Web to App Connect in Google Ads.

On this page

• Get started
• How to access Web to App Connect
• How to set up conversion tracking
• How to set up deep linking

Get started

If you're unfamiliar with Web to App Connect, learn more About Web to App Connect. To help you get started on your Web to App Connect implementation, use the dedicated Web to App Connect interface in Google Ads.

How to access Web to App Connect

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click App advertising hub. This will take you to the Web to App Connect interface.

How to set up conversion tracking

When you set up conversion tracking, you’ll learn what happens after a user interacts with your app, from in-app purchases to newsletter signups. Follow the steps below to completely set up conversion tracking:

Step 1 of 4: Implement SDK & link accounts

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Conversion tracking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Implement SDK and link Ads account”.
3. In the new page, depending on your app measurement provider, click on Manage & link.
   • Note: The new page will show you if you have Google Analytics for Firebase or a third-party app analytics provider linked.
4. Follow the prompts to complete the SDK linking process.

Step 2 of 4: Import in-app conversion actions

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Conversion tracking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Import in-app conversion actions”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view your linked SDK, your app, and how many conversion actions are available.
4. Click Import next to the app and platform that you’d like to set up app conversions from.
5. Follow the prompts to select the specific in-app conversions to import.

Step 3 of 4: Optimize performance through bidding

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Conversion tracking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Optimize performance through bidding”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view your imported conversions.
4. In the “Purchases” table, click on the drop down under the “Action optimization” column.
5. Switch “Secondary” to “Primary”.
   • Note: Primary will indicate that specific in-ap conversion can be used in bidding.

Step 4 of 4: Adopt a Smart Bidding strategy

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Conversion tracking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Adopt Smart Bidding strategy”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view different campaigns within your account that are currently not using a Smart Bidding strategy.
4. Under the “Bid strategy optimization” column, click Edit bid strategy in the row of the campaign that you want to edit.
5. In the campaign setup page, click on the “Bidding” drop down.
6. Select Smart Bidding.

If you’ve successfully completed all the steps in the conversion tracking set up, you should find “Completed” beside every step under the “Conversion tracking setup” section in the Web to App Connect interface.

How to set up deep linking

When you set up deep linking, you can take a customer from your ad directly to a specific page in your app. You can optimize each of these steps after your initial set up. Follow the steps below to completely set up deep linking:

Step 1 of 3: Identify deep linking opportunities

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Deep linking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Identify deep linking opportunities”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view the top opportunities where you can implement a deep link in your app.

Learn more About deep links.

Step 2 of 3: Fix implemented deep links

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Deep linking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Fix implemented deep links”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view how many misconfigured deep links you have on an app level, as well as the type of error detected.
4. Click Validate deep links in the row of the deep link that you want to view or fix.
5. In the “Deeplink validator” page, you’ll learn of any issues with your deep link and how to fix it.
6. Follow the prompts to fix your deep links.

Step 3 of 3: Use deep links in campaigns

1. In the Web to App Connect interface, go to the “Deep linking setup” section.
2. Click Get started next to the “Use deep links in campaigns”.
3. In the new page, you’ll get to view your current top performing deep links and their performance.
4. Under the “Action” column, click Create campaign to easily create new campaigns using the same top performing deep links.
5. Follow the prompts to finish creating your new campaign.

Related links

• About auto-tagging
• About deep links
• About mobile app conversion tracking
• About the Deep link impact calculator
• About Smart Bidding
• About Web to App Connect
• [GA4] Measure and optimize your App campaign performance using Google Analytics 4
• Track app conversions with third-party app analytics