Mechanic Marketing — Internal Reference
Tracking Tools
Which One Does What
1
The five tools
| Tool | What it does | Where you see it | What to check it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Tag (GTag) | Fires tracking events from the website. The foundation everything else depends on. | Google Tag Manager, GA4 DebugView, browser console | Is it installed? Is it firing on the right pages and events? |
| GA4 | Records website behaviour — sessions, users, page views, key events. Long-term trend data. | GA4 dashboard, weekly report (Website Analytics section) | Traffic trends, engagement rate, which pages convert, which channels drive sessions. |
| WhatConverts | Tracks every individual lead — phone calls, forms, chats. Tells you which ad or keyword generated each one. | WhatConverts dashboard, lead export, weekly report (Lead Tracking section) | Lead volume, lead quality (quotable vs spam), attribution, unanswered calls. |
| Google Ads Conversions | Imports conversion signals from WhatConverts (via WC Leads) and GA4. Used by Smart Bidding to optimise. | Google Ads → Goals → Conversions | Is WC Leads active and recording? Conv. value $0 is normal. "Needs attention" on WC Calls is normal. |
| Meta Pixel | Fires events on the website for Meta ad tracking — page views, lead events, purchases. | Meta Events Manager, Meta Ads Manager | Is it firing? Are lead events being recorded against the right campaigns? |
GTag is the foundation. If GTag breaks, everything else breaks with it — GA4 stops recording, Google Ads conversions stop importing, the Meta Pixel stops firing. When something looks wrong across multiple platforms at once, check GTag first.
2
How they connect
Understanding how these tools relate to each other helps you diagnose problems faster.
GTag
→
GA4
→
Google Ads
GTag fires on the website and sends data to GA4 and Google Ads. GA4 can also send conversion events to Google Ads, but WhatConverts is the primary conversion source for MM clients.
WhatConverts pixel
→
Lead recorded
→
Google Ads (WC Leads)
WhatConverts has its own separate tracking pixel that handles call tracking and lead attribution. It sends lead data back to Google Ads as conversions via the WC Leads conversion action.
Meta Pixel
→
Meta only
Meta Pixel is completely separate — it only reports to Meta and has no connection to Google Ads, GA4, or WhatConverts.
3
Something looks wrong — which tool is it?
| What you see | Which tool | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| WC Calls — Inactive | WhatConverts / Google Ads | Normal. WC Calls only tracks call-only ads, which we rarely run. | No action |
| Conv. value = $0 in Google Ads | Google Ads | Normal. WhatConverts does not send a dollar value unless manually set. | No action |
| "Needs attention" on Contact goal | Google Ads | Usually caused by WC Calls being inactive. Check WC Leads is recording — if yes, ignore this. | Check WC Leads |
| Lead source showing (direct)/(none) | WhatConverts | Normal for incognito sessions or server-side leads (e.g. Podium webhook). Not a tracking error. | No action |
| No events firing in GA4 | GTag / GA4 | GTag may not be installed, may have been removed by a site update, or has a config error. | Check GTM / DebugView |
| Conversions in Google Ads are zero | Google Ads / WhatConverts | Check WhatConverts first — are leads still coming through? If yes, the WC import may have broken. | Check WC first |
| Meta says no conversions | Meta Pixel | Check Meta Events Manager to see if the pixel is firing. May have been removed by a site update. | Check Events Manager |
| Client says leads are down | WhatConverts first | Do not adjust campaigns until you have confirmed actual lead volume in WhatConverts. | Check WC before touching anything |
4
Rule of thumb — where to start
Lead count problem?
Start in WhatConverts. Check actual lead volume before touching any campaigns.
Website behaviour problem?
Start in GA4. Sessions, engagement, page views, conversion events.
Tracking not firing at all?
Start with GTag. If GTag is broken, everything downstream is broken.
Ads showing no conversions but WC looks fine?
Check the Google Ads conversion import from WhatConverts. The import link may have broken.