Choose what Google Ads bids on

On Integrations → Google Ads, the Conversion setup card gives you three options under What Google Ads bids on. Your choice applies across the entire Google Ads account.

Choice	What happens
Keep my current bidding (I’ll manage it in Google Ads)	Default when you connect. NMC uploads conversions for every stage as observation-only (Secondary) and never touches your Google Ads bidding or campaign goals.
Bid on Qualified leads	Only Qualified leads count toward bidding, so Google Ads optimizes for genuine requests for work you want.
Bid on Converted leads	Only Converted leads count toward bidding, so Google Ads optimizes for booked jobs and job value.

Google Ads never bids on New. A New conversion means someone reached out, which includes spam and wrong numbers, so NMC’s New conversion actions stay observation-only (Secondary) whichever option you choose.

Stay on Keep my current bidding if you or your agency manage conversion goals directly in Google Ads, if you’re still transitioning off another call tracker, or if you want NMC’s conversion history to build up before switching your bidding over.

Only bid on a stage your team consistently updates. For example, if you choose Bid on Converted leads, someone must mark booked jobs as Converted in the inbox. Make sure everyone handling leads agrees on what each stage means.

Calls from ads and iPhone app clicks reach Qualified only when someone confirms them or Auto-update inactive leads applies AI review’s suggestion, because Google Ads can’t take those conversions back. If you bid on Qualified and get leads from either, review your inbox regularly or turn that setting on.

Bid on a stage

1. Open Integrations → Google Ads.
2. Select Bid on Qualified leads or Bid on Converted leads. NMC marks its suggested option with a Recommended badge.
3. Review the preview. It lists every change NMC will make in Google Ads and flags anything blocking the switch.
4. Click Apply. The card shows Applying bidding on {Stage} leads… and then Applied: Google Ads bids on {Stage} leads.

You can select a stage as soon as NMC finishes creating its conversion actions and checking your Google Ads account.

When you click Apply, NMC makes four changes in Google Ads:

• Sets your chosen stage’s two conversion actions (Website and Calls from ads) to Primary.
• Makes that stage’s conversion goals the only account-default goals used for bidding.
• Switches all other Primary conversion actions to Secondary (observation-only) wherever Google allows it, so Google’s Conversions column matches what bidding optimizes for. That includes Google’s built-in Calls from ads action, so ad calls aren’t counted twice.
• Sets every campaign to use account-default goals and clears campaign-specific goal overrides.

Google Ads doesn’t allow NMC to switch certain system-managed conversion actions to Secondary. If one of those actions tracks the same type of conversion as NMC, the preview names it and blocks Apply until you change that action to Secondary in Google Ads yourself. If it tracks a different category, it stays Primary, its goal stops counting toward account-default bidding, and the preview notes the exception.

NMC never changes your budgets, bid strategies, or target CPA / ROAS numbers. Because fewer leads reach deeper stages like Qualified or Converted, your cost per conversion naturally rises when you move deeper, so review your targets in Google Ads when switching. Smart Bidding also takes time to adjust after goal changes, so avoid switching stages back and forth.

If someone edits Google Ads after you load the preview, or if applying the change fails partway through, NMC leaves your previous bidding in place and shows a notice on the card and at the top of the page. Review the updated preview and click Try bidding change again.

If an unchangeable conversion action in Google Ads blocks the switch, the page shows Bidding on {Stage} leads is blocked, and retrying won’t succeed until you make that action Secondary in Google Ads. Once you’ve updated it in Google Ads, click Check again and then Apply, or pick another bidding option.

If you switch back to Keep my current bidding and click Apply, NMC stops managing your bidding without altering anything in Google Ads. Your campaigns continue bidding on the last stage you applied until you change your goals in Google Ads.

The recommended stage

NMC recommends one stage for the whole Google Ads account: Qualified, until Google Ads has counted at least 15 Converted conversions over the last 30 complete days, and then Converted. That total combines the Website and Calls from ads conversion actions, including conversions Google recorded while those actions were Secondary.

The 15 comes from Google’s guidance on choosing a conversion goal for leads: “Make sure the action generated at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days at the account level.”

Message on the card	What it means
Start with Qualified leads. NMC suggests Converted once Google counts 15 Converted conversions in 30 days.	Google hasn’t counted 15 Converted conversions in 30 days yet.
Google counted 18 Converted conversions in the 30 days through Oct 5. Consider Converted leads.	Converted has enough conversion volume for Google Ads to bid on.

Below the card, Google-counted conversions shows the 30-day total for each stage. NMC refreshes these counts once a day (Checked shows when, and Check again refreshes right away). Google’s conversion counts can differ from your inbox lead counts. If your sales cycle takes several weeks to close jobs, give leads enough time to reach Converted before judging volume. NMC never switches your bidding stage automatically. Read the NMC method for why bidding on deeper stages improves lead quality as volume grows.

If bidding changes in Google Ads

Once you apply a stage, NMC checks your Google Ads goals during its daily check. If someone changes what Google Ads bids on, the card shows "Google Ads no longer bids only on {Stage} leads." and the problem Your Google Ads bidding changed links to the card via Manage bidding. NMC never overwrites those changes on its own. (If NMC’s conversion setup is incomplete or one of NMC’s conversion actions was removed, NMC shows the conversion setup problem instead, and Restore conversion setup fixes both.)

To resolve a bidding change on the card, choose one of two options:

• Restore bidding on {Stage} leads: review the preview and re-apply your chosen stage.
• Keep my current bidding, then Apply: tell NMC to stop managing bidding and leave Google Ads as it is now.

If a manager account counts your conversions

Some Google Ads accounts track conversions through a manager account (cross-account conversion tracking). When your account is set up that way, the card names that manager account instead of showing the four bidding options. NMC creates its six conversion actions inside the manager account as Secondary (observation-only).

If you want Google Ads to bid on an NMC stage, change that stage’s conversion actions to Primary inside the manager account yourself. Because Primary settings in a manager account affect every client account sharing its conversion tracking, coordinate with whoever manages the manager account first. Because the conversion window is also controlled at the manager level, NMC hides its Conversion window setting on your business and uses the window configured on NMC’s actions in the manager account to decide which ad clicks credit new leads to Google Ads (see where a lead came from).

If your Google Ads account later switches to manager-level conversion tracking, NMC automatically switches your business setting to Keep my current bidding because it won’t edit bidding across a manager account. If the account switches back to counting its own conversions later, you can choose a stage to bid on again. If NMC loses access to the manager account, see troubleshooting.