The difference is where the sale happens: enhanced conversions for web improves measurement of conversions on your website using hashed customer data from the conversion page, while enhanced conversions for leads matches hashed lead form data with offline sales you import later. Google is combining both into one on/off setting, starting June 2026.
Both features do the same basic job. They take first-party customer data you already collect, such as an email address or phone number, hash it with SHA256, and send it to Google. Google matches it with signed-in Google accounts that engaged with your ads, so more conversions can be credited to the right campaign.
The difference is which conversions they help you measure.
How do they compare?
| Enhanced conversions for web | Enhanced conversions for leads | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Sales and sign-ups completed on your website | Website leads that turn into sales offline, like a signed contract |
| Improves | Measurement of online conversions | Measurement of offline sales that came from a website lead |
| Data comes from | Your conversion tag, at the moment of conversion | Your lead form via the tag, plus the conversions you import later |
| Extra work | None after setup | Importing closed leads with at least one of email, phone or address |
If people buy on your site, you need the web version. If they fill in a form and your sales team closes the deal later, you need the leads version.
How does enhanced conversions for leads work?
Google calls it "an upgraded version of offline conversion import". The Google tag captures hashed data, such as the email address, when someone submits your lead form. When that lead later becomes a customer, you import the conversion with the same identifier, and Google uses it to connect the sale back to the ad.
- A GCLID (the Google click ID) is required only if you do not use a tag to collect customer data. Google still recommends sending it whenever you have it.
- Google strongly recommends filling in the consent field in your uploads, because conversions without it may not be attributable.
- Since June 15, 2026, offline conversion and enhanced conversions for leads uploads go through the Data Manager API and are blocked in the Google Ads API, apart from legacy access for some developer tokens. If a CRM integration sends your leads, check that it has moved.
For imports without a click ID, see Can you import offline conversions without a GCLID?
What changed in 2026?
Google is merging the two into one feature:
- From April 2026: Google Ads accepts customer data from website tags, Data Manager and API connections at the same time, so you no longer have to pick one method.
- From June 2026: enhanced conversions for web and for leads become a single on/off setting, and the separate method choices disappear.
Existing users move to the unified setting automatically if they have already agreed to Google's customer data terms. You can still opt out for individual conversion actions. To turn it on, go to Goals, then Settings, open Customer data use, check Turn on enhanced conversions, and accept the terms.
So the useful question is no longer "web or leads?" but "what data do I send, and when?" For lead gen, the tag alone only improves measurement of form fills. In my experience, the bigger gain comes when you also import which leads became customers, so bidding can tell good leads from bad ones. My step-by-step enhanced conversions tutorial covers the tag setup.
Sources
- Google Ads Help: About enhanced conversions - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9888656?hl=en
- Google Ads Help: Updates to your enhanced conversions settings - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/16884284?hl=en
- Google Ads Help: Configure the Google tag for enhanced conversions for leads - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11021502?hl=en
- Google Ads Help: About enhanced conversions at the account level in Google Ads - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14664077?hl=en