Short answer: Data Strength is Google’s name for how good your first party data setup is inside Google Ads. It covers three steps: connect your tags properly, enrich them with first party data such as hashed emails and phone numbers, and activate that data in Smart Bidding and AI campaigns. On 13 October 2026 Google published a much fuller Data Strength best practices guide, and it is rolling out a Data Strength Uplift metric that shows how many extra conversions your data setup recovers.
If your Google Ads results have become unstable since cookies and consent rules tightened, weak data is often the reason. This guide explains what Google now recommends and gives you a practical order of work.
Why data strength matters now
Google’s bidding is only as smart as the conversions it can see. Every lost conversion, from blocked cookies, missing consent or broken tags, means the algorithm learns less and bids worse. Google’s own figures, which are averages and not guarantees, show why it is pushing this so hard:
| Action | Average result reported by Google |
|---|---|
| Google tag gateway | About 14% more observed conversions, and up to 7% lower cost per acquisition |
| Enhanced conversions with value bidding on Search | About 8% incremental return on ad spend |
| Customer Match list signals | About 5.3% more conversions |
| Google tag gateway in Demand Gen | Over 20% more conversions (Google analysis, June 2026) |
Treat these as direction, not promises. Your results depend on your industry, traffic and how broken your setup was before.
What is the Data Strength Uplift metric?
Announced in September and highlighted again in Google’s October Demand Gen update, the uplift metric appears inside Google Ads and estimates the additional conversions recovered by your first party data setup. Think of it as a scorecard: it tells you whether the work you did on tagging and data is paying off. Google has not published the exact formula, so use it as a guide alongside your own sales data.
Step 1: Connect your tags properly
- Use one clean Google tag setup. Most sites I audit have duplicate tags, old global site tags and Google Tag Manager all firing at once. Clean that first.
- Set up Google tag gateway. It serves Google’s measurement scripts from your own domain, which helps tags load and survive blockers. It can be set up through providers such as Cloudflare, Akamai, Fastly or Google Cloud.
- Implement Consent Mode v2 correctly if you have visitors from the EU or UK. I explain this in my Consent Mode v2 guide.
- Check the new GTM tagging experience. Google Tag Manager can now send data to Google destinations directly. See GTM and the Google tag are merging.
Step 2: Enrich with first party data
Google’s updated guide lists the signals that help it match conversions to ad clicks:
- Hashed email addresses and phone numbers, sent through enhanced conversions
- Transaction IDs, so purchases are not double counted
- The Google Click ID (GCLID), plus GBRAID and WBRAID for app and iOS traffic
- IP address and session details where your consent setup allows it
Enhanced conversions is now a single setting in Google Ads, so there is no excuse to leave it off. If you sell offline, for example leads that close by phone, upload those sales too. Google reports that advertisers bringing offline and app data through Data Manager see a large average lift in incremental return on ad spend.
Step 3: Activate the data
Data only helps if your campaigns can use it:
- Smart Bidding on real value. Bid for conversion value or qualified leads, not every form fill. My post on the August 2026 bidding change covers this.
- Customer Match lists as signals in Performance Max, Demand Gen and AI Max for Search.
- Lookalike segments in Demand Gen, built from real buyers. See Demand Gen Lookalikes become suggestions.
Use Data Manager and its diagnostics
Data Manager is Google’s central place to connect first party data from your CRM, store, spreadsheets or cloud storage. The new guide adds a personalised checklist and diagnostics that flag setup errors. Two tips from it that I see broken all the time:
- Avoid duplicate Google Analytics connections. If the same conversion arrives from Google Ads and from a GA4 import, you will double count.
- Use one common data format when sending data through the Data Manager API, so every source is matched the same way.
A simple 30 day plan
| Week | Task |
|---|---|
| 1 | Audit tags, remove duplicates, confirm every key conversion fires once |
| 2 | Turn on enhanced conversions, set up Consent Mode v2 and tag gateway |
| 3 | Connect CRM or store data in Data Manager, upload offline sales |
| 4 | Move bidding to value or qualified leads, add Customer Match signals, check the uplift metric |
Frequently asked questions
What is Data Strength in Google Ads?
What is the Data Strength Uplift metric?
Does improving data strength guarantee better results?
What is Google tag gateway?
Do small businesses need Data Manager?
Who can improve my Google Ads data setup?
Want a data strength check?
I can audit your tags, enhanced conversions and first party data setup and give you a fix list. See my web analytics service or request a free ads audit.
Want help applying this in your own account? See my Google Ads management service or request a free ads audit.