Sometimes Adwisely customers may notice that the Google Ads dashboard shows a different number of sales and a higher ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) compared to what they see in Adwisely. This difference happens because Google Ads includes interim conversions used by Adwisely for faster campaign optimization, while the Adwisely dashboard displays only real purchase data.
What Are Interim Conversions?
Interim conversions are pre-purchase actions, like when a shopper adds a product to their cart or begins the checkout process.
Adwisely temporarily uses these events for bidding optimization, allowing campaigns to learn and perform effectively before enough purchase data becomes available.
Why Does Adwisely Use Interim Conversions?
Adwisely has developed a quick campaign launch method based on experience with hundreds of online stores.
When your store receives fewer than 10 purchases per week, Google’s algorithm doesn’t have enough data to optimize for purchases directly.
To address this, Adwisely adds interim conversions (Add to Cart, Begin Checkout) for smart bidding optimization — ensuring your campaigns start gathering meaningful signals right away.
This helps:
Launch campaigns faster without waiting for purchase volume
Give Google enough conversion data to start optimizing effectively
Build a foundation for purchase-based optimization later on
How Long Will This Last?
The use of interim conversions is temporary.
Once your campaign gathers enough actual purchase data, Adwisely will gradually remove interim conversions, one by one.
At that point, both dashboards will align closely — with Google Ads reflecting only real purchase conversions.
Why Do the Numbers Differ?
The Adwisely dashboard shows accurate purchase and ROAS data, based only on real sales.
The Google Ads dashboard, however, includes interim conversions and their values, which can make ROAS appear inflated by around 20% during the learning phase.
This difference is normal and expected until your campaign fully transitions to purchase-only optimization.
How Can I Understand the Performance?
You can rely on the Adwisely dashboard metrics for the most accurate reflection of sales and ROAS.
As the campaign progresses:
Interim conversions will be phased out automatically.
Google’s reported ROAS will gradually align with Adwisely’s figures.
In short:
Adwisely’s dashboard always reflects the real number of sales and actual ROAS, while Google Ads may temporarily overstate results due to interim conversions.
This is a normal part of the learning process — and once your campaign gathers enough purchase data, the numbers will align automatically.