Error: CONVERSION_PRECEDES_EVENT

[Minh Tran]

This event occurs after the ad click, but I got the error above. Please help me check when this GCLID happened, and whether the conversion really happened before the ad click.

{
  "partialFailureError": {
    "code": 3,
    "message": "The imported event has a conversion_date_time that precedes the click. Make sure your conversion_date_time is correct and try again., at conversions[0].conversion_date_time",
    "details": [
      {
        "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.ads.googleads.v19.errors.GoogleAdsFailure",
        "errors": [
          {
            "errorCode": {
              "conversionUploadError": "CONVERSION_PRECEDES_EVENT"
            },
            "message": "The imported event has a conversion_date_time that precedes the click. Make sure your conversion_date_time is correct and try again.",
            "trigger": {
              "stringValue": "2025-05-07 10:26:47+00:00"
            },
            "location": {
              "fieldPathElements": [
                {
                  "fieldName": "conversions",
                  "index": 0
                },
                {
                  "fieldName": "conversion_date_time"
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "requestId": "aWEQpDFpV57-02p9taFuSQ"
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {}
  ],
  "jobId": "2855585889353250243"
}

[Google Ads API and AdWords API Forum]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out to the Google Ads API support team. 

Based on the information provided, I understand that you are encountering CONVERSION_PRECEDES_EVENT error while uploading conversions using the Google Ads API. This error suggests that the conversion date and time you're providing is earlier than the click time. To avoid this error, ensure that you pass the correct conversion date and time. Sometimes time zones can be a cause of this error occurring (the click occurs in one timezone, the account is in another timezone, and the timezone difference is not accounted for when uploading the conversion, so this error occurs). In addition, CONVERSION_PRECEDES_EVENT error says that the event time is earlier than the Click event. I would like to ask if the Click event is the starting point of all web events? At what node does it occur specifically? Our event occurs and is transmitted back when the user enters the web page and performs a specific operation. The trigger time should be after Click. 

Can you confirm on which date this GCLID has exactly occurred? You may use the click_view report resource to verify your GCLID. You need to execute the query similarly and check whether the GCLID is being retrieved or not. Note that you should filter the exact date when this GCLID has been generated and make an API call. If you don't include the date segment you will not be able to retrieve the results from the API. However, I am providing the sample GAQL query as per your requirement:

SELECT click_view.gclid, click_view.ad_group_ad, segments.date FROM click_view WHERE segments.date = 'YYYY-MM-DD' AND click_view.gclid = 'GCLID'

Also, in order to assist you further, kindly provide us with the complete API logs (request and response logs with request-id and request header) generated at your end while uploading the conversions via the Google Ads API.

If you are using a client library and haven't enabled the logging yet, I would request you to enable logging for the specific client library that you are using. You can refer to the guides Java, .Net, PHP, Python, Ruby or Perl to enable logging at your end. For REST interface requests, you can enable logging via the curl command by using the -i flag.

Thanks & Regards,

Google Ads API support team.