Summary

Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads let potential customers start a WhatsApp conversation with your business directly from a Google Search ad. With Wati, you can automatically capture these conversations, track WhatsApp conversions such as qualified leads and purchases, send conversion data back to Google Ads, and optimise your campaigns without building custom tracking solutions.

This guide explains how Google CTM Ads work, how Wati simplifies conversion tracking, the prerequisites for getting started, and how conversations and conversions are tracked in Wati.

Instructions

What are Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads?

Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads allow people to start a WhatsApp conversation with your business directly from a Google Search ad. Instead of visiting your website first, customers can open WhatsApp and send a message with a single click.

This creates a faster experience for customers while helping businesses engage high-intent leads more efficiently.

How are Google CTM Ads typically implemented?

Without Wati, businesses usually need to build their own tracking solution to understand which Google Ads generate WhatsApp conversations and conversions.

A typical setup involves:

Adding a WhatsApp button to a website.
Using UTM parameters and custom tracking to identify visitors who started a WhatsApp conversation.
Sending conversion data back to Google Ads using custom API integrations.

While this approach works, it often requires ongoing development effort and maintenance.

Common challenges

Businesses using a custom implementation may experience:

Complex setup that requires development resources.
Additional costs for third-party tracking tools.
Limited visibility into what happens after a customer clicks the ad.
Difficulty measuring WhatsApp conversions such as qualified leads or purchases.

How Wati simplifies Google CTM Ads

Wati removes the need to build and maintain custom tracking solutions.

With Wati, you can:

Automatically capture conversations started from Google CTM Ads.
Track WhatsApp conversion events, such as qualified leads and purchases.
Send conversion data back to Google Ads to improve campaign optimisation.
Export the names and phone numbers of converted leads.

Benefits of using Google CTM Ads with Wati

Using Wati for Google CTM Ads helps you:

Eliminate the need for custom tracking or WhatsApp widgets.
Allow customers to message your business directly from the ad.
Track WhatsApp conversions instead of only measuring ad clicks.
Improve campaign performance with accurate conversion data.
Reuse your existing WhatsApp conversion tracking setup if you're already using Meta Click-to-WhatsApp Ads.

Prerequisites

Before you can use Google CTM Ads with Wati, your Google Ads account must be whitelisted by Google.

Note: The whitelisting process typically takes about 1 week.

Get started as a beta customer

If you're joining the Google CTM Ads beta:

Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or the Wati Support team to request Google Ads account whitelisting.
Wait for your Google Ads account to be whitelisted.
Once your account has been approved, Wati will provide a technical onboarding guide.
Follow the onboarding guide and add the required URL while creating your Google CTM campaign.

Receiving conversations in Wati

After your Google CTM campaign is configured correctly, conversations started from your Google Ads appear automatically in Wati.

These conversations are tagged with: G-CTWA

This tag helps you identify conversations that originated from Google Click-to-Message Ads.

Tracking WhatsApp conversions

Wati tracks important WhatsApp conversion events so you can measure campaign performance beyond the initial ad click.

You can track conversion events such as:

Qualified leads
Purchases

If you've already configured WhatsApp conversion tracking for Meta Click-to-WhatsApp Ads, Google CTM Ads use the same conversion templates.

Sending conversion data to Google Ads

Wati sends your selected conversion events back to Google Ads so you can measure campaign performance and optimise future campaigns.

To verify that conversion tracking is working, check that Google Ads is receiving:

Conversation Started events
The selected conversion action

Conversion tracking attributes

Wati uses the following attributes to identify Google CTM conversations and conversion events:

Attribute	Description
`google_ad = true`	Indicates that the conversation started from a Google Click-to-Message Ad.
`google_ad_qualified_lead = true`	Indicates that the lead has been marked as qualified.
`google_ad_purchased = true`	Indicates that a purchase has been recorded.

You can also export the names and phone numbers of leads that have converted.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Overview

1. What are Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads?

2. How does Wati simplify Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads?

Wati automatically captures conversations started from Google CTM Ads, tracks WhatsApp conversion events such as qualified leads and purchases, sends conversion data back to Google Ads to improve campaign optimisation, and lets you export the names and phone numbers of converted leads.

3. What are the benefits of using Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads with Wati?

Using Wati with Google CTM Ads eliminates the need for custom tracking or WhatsApp widgets, allows customers to message your business directly from the ad, tracks WhatsApp conversions instead of only measuring ad clicks, improves campaign performance with accurate conversion data, and lets you reuse your existing WhatsApp conversion tracking setup if you're already using Meta Click-to-WhatsApp Ads.

Getting Started

4. What are the prerequisites for using Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads with Wati?

Before you can use Google CTM Ads with Wati, your Google Ads account must be whitelisted by Google. The whitelisting process typically takes about 1 week.

Conversation and Conversion Tracking

5. How can I identify conversations that started from Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads?

Conversations that originate from Google CTM Ads appear automatically in Wati and are tagged with G-CTWA.

6. Which WhatsApp conversion events can Wati track for Google CTM Ads?

Wati can track WhatsApp conversion events such as qualified leads and purchases. If you've already configured WhatsApp conversion tracking for Meta Click-to-WhatsApp Ads, Google CTM Ads use the same conversion templates.

7. What do the Google CTM conversion tracking attributes mean?

Wati uses the following attributes to identify conversations and conversion events:

google_ad = true indicates the conversation started from a Google Click-to-Message Ad.
google_ad_qualified_lead = true indicates the lead has been marked as qualified.
google_ad_purchased = true indicates a purchase has been recorded.

8. Can I export converted leads from Google Click-to-Message (CTM) Ads?

Yes. Wati allows you to export the names and phone numbers of leads that have converted.

Google CTM Ads: All you need to know