Dynamic remarketing events for Google Ads through sGTM

Google Ads dynamic remarketing personalises ads based on the products users viewed. To work properly it needs three things on every relevant event: product IDs, page type, and value. Sending these server-side keeps the data flowing even when ad blockers strip the client-side conversion linker.

The required parameters

Parameter	Required for
items[].id	All events. Must match feed product IDs.
items[].google_business_vertical	Required field. Common values: retail, hotel_rental, real_estate.
value	Conversion events. Total cart value.
items[].quantity	Add to cart, purchase.

Map page types to event names

Google Ads recognises specific event names for each page type:

Home page: page_view
Category page: view_item_list
Product page: view_item
Cart page: view_cart
Purchase confirmation: purchase

In the Google Ads tag template

In sGTM, add the "Google Ads Conversion Tracking" tag template. Configure conversion ID and label from your Google Ads account. Map the parameters above from your event data.

For dynamic remarketing specifically, add the "Google Ads Remarketing" tag (separate from conversion tracking). Set the user_data fields with hashed email if available; this enables enhanced conversions and improves match quality.

Verify the feed integration

In Google Merchant Center (or your remarketing feed source), check that the product IDs you are sending match the IDs in the feed. A mismatch is the most common reason dynamic remarketing shows generic ads instead of the product the user viewed.

Verify in Google Ads

Tools > Audience Manager > Audience Sources. The "Google Ads tag" status should show "Active" with no warnings. Click into the tag and check the "Tag setup" section; it shows recent events with the parameters they carried. If the items array is missing or malformed, this is where you will see it.

For the related setup of migrating ecommerce events broadly, the same parameters apply across destinations.