Why is my Google Ads conversion tracking inactive?

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Topic summary

Google Ads “Purchase” conversion shows Inactive despite the Google & YouTube app indicating tracking is set up. Screenshots and checkout-page code snippets are central to the thread.

Key actions and setup:

  • Checked Shopify “order status page” code; initial snippet lacked gtag. Advice given to include a proper gtag-based implementation.
  • Chose Google Tag Manager (GTM) over Google Tag; installed tags/triggers/variables; linked to GA and Google Ads. Purchase event now fires.

Issues and fixes:

  • GTM data layer variables for transaction_id and currency weren’t populating. Corrected in Shopify to use:
    • transaction_id: ‘{{ order_id }}’
    • currency: ‘{{ currency }}’
  • Remaining issue: ‘{{ order_id }}’ returns an internal ID, not the storefront order number with the # prefix. The correct variable for that was not confirmed in the thread.

Clarifications and alternatives:

  • If using the Google & YouTube app, GTM isn’t used; app screenshot is irrelevant when moving to GTM.
  • Note that gtag scripts load from googletagmanager.com even without using the GTM platform.
  • One suggestion: conversion status may activate after a few sales; recommended a third‑party tracking app. Another offered a free pixel script tutorial.

Status: Partially resolved. Purchase event fires via GTM; order-number variable remains unanswered.

Summarized with AI on December 23. AI used: gpt-5.
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Got the code to work. Got the code to work. The correct Shopify variable format is below:

transaction_id: ‘{{ order_id }}’,
currency: ‘{{ currency }}’,

The only issue is that the ‘{{ order_id }}’ is not pulling back the actual order Id. Seems to be pulling back a different code. Looking to pull back the Order ID which has the # prefix. Does anyone know any different shopify variables to use for the Order ID?