How to use it
Tap Rate, Conversions or Visitors in the equation. "Visitors or clicks" is whatever you count underneath: website visitors, sessions, ad clicks, email recipients or sales calls. Decide on one and stick with it, because the choice changes the answer more than anything else.
The formula
Conversion rate = conversions ÷ visitors × 100
Conversions = visitors × rate ÷ 100
Visitors = conversions ÷ rate × 100
Google Ads uses ad interactions as the denominator: conversions divided by the ad interactions that can be tracked to a conversion in the same period. Its help page example is 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions, a 5% rate.
Worked examples
Finding the rate. A store had 3,200 visitors last week and 84 orders. 84 ÷ 3,200 = 0.02625, times 100 = 2.63% (2.625% rounded half up).
Traffic you need. You want 120 sales and your site converts at 2.5%. 120 ÷ 2.5 × 100 = 4,800 visitors.
Sales to expect. A landing page will get about 12,000 visitors and converts at 1.8%. 12,000 × 1.8 ÷ 100 = 216 conversions.
| Conversions | Visitors | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 84 | 3,200 | 2.63% |
| 120 | 4,800 | 2.50% |
| 216 | 12,000 | 1.80% |
Choosing the denominator
- Visitors (users). One person, one chance to convert in the period. Good for asking "what share of people buy?"
- Sessions. Every visit counts. A person who visits three times and buys once converts at 33%, not 100%. Many analytics tools report e-commerce conversion rate per session.
- Ad clicks or interactions. What ad platforms use. Good for comparing campaigns and keywords.
None of these is the "right" one. A rate per user and a rate per session for the same site can differ a lot, so compare like with like.
Rates above 100%
If you count every conversion, one visitor can produce several (two purchases, or a sign-up and a purchase). Google Ads notes that conversion rate can go above 100% when you count every conversion. The calculator allows it and adds a note so you can check whether that is what you meant.
Turning a rate into money
A conversion rate on its own is half the picture. Multiply conversions by your average order value for revenue, then compare with spend in the ROAS calculator, or divide spend by conversions for cost per acquisition in the CAC calculator. To plan forward from a budget, the ad budget calculator chains CPM, CTR and conversion rate together.
How this calculator handles your numbers
Conversions and visitors must be whole numbers. Rates are entered and shown as percentages and rounded to two decimals, half away from zero, after exact-fraction arithmetic; 2.625% shows as 2.63%. A conversion or visitor count that comes out fractional is rounded to the nearest whole number and the exact value is shown. Zero visitors, or a zero rate when solving for visitors, gets a message instead of a result.