How do I track Google Ads conversions from Bookings?

A click-based conversion (quick, but it counts intent)#

Create a Google Ads conversion action for clicks on your "Book now" button or link, using Google Tag Manager or the Google tag on your own site. It takes minutes and gives Google Ads a signal right away.

The drawback is that it counts people who start booking, not people who finish. If it's your primary conversion action, Smart Bidding optimises toward clickers. Mark it as secondary and use it for reporting while you set up the gclid import below.

Import real bookings using gclid#

This counts appointments that exist in Bookings. In short: save the gclid on your landing page under a short key, send visitors to Bookings with ?RefID= plus that key, catch each new appointment with the Power Automate trigger When a appointment is Created (its TrackingData field carries the key), and upload the matching gclid to Google Ads as an offline conversion. The Google Ads conversion tracking guide has the capture script, the flow, the upload columns and the test plan.

Before you build it, check three things:

• RefID on your page. RefID values can only contain letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens, and Microsoft doesn't document a length limit. Users have reported RefID links returning Bad Request and blank tracking data, so make a test booking first. See RefID tracking not working.
• The connector. The Bookings connector is in Preview. Only Bookings admins can create flows with its triggers, and Microsoft allows 5 flows per Bookings mailbox.
• Ads that point straight at Bookings. If an ad's final URL is the Bookings link, auto-tagging appends gclid to it, and Microsoft doesn't document how the page handles that. Point ads at your own landing page, where you can capture the gclid, and test any tagged link that goes to Bookings. See UTM parameters breaking Bookings links.

What not to rely on#

• Tagging the Bookings confirmation screen. It's on a Microsoft domain, so you can't add tags to it.
• Detecting the booking inside an embedded iframe. Your page's tags can't see into a cross-origin frame. See GTM and the Bookings iframe.
• Counting confirmation emails. They don't carry the gclid, and they aren't a browser event Google can attribute.

A reasonable setup#

Most advertisers run both options. The click conversion stays as a secondary action for fast feedback, and the imported booking conversion becomes the primary action once it has a few weeks of data. If you can't get RefID working, you can still judge performance by comparing booking counts from the Bookings export against campaign dates, but that isn't attribution.

Doing this with BookingsXP#

With the BookingsXP widget on your page, the booking is completed in front of your Google tag. The widget fires your Google Ads conversion on booking_completed, with transaction_id set to the booking ID to prevent duplicates, and optional enhanced conversions hash the booker's email with SHA-256 in the browser. It also writes the source, including the gclid, into the booking notes: our test booking through the widget showed that summary (source and medium, campaign, first page, booked-from page, reference) in the notes of the Outlook event. See analytics or try it with your booking page. BookingsXP is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.