Full Answer

When a WooCommerce customer purchases, Google Ads Enhanced Conversions captures their email address, hashes it with SHA256, and attaches it to the conversion event. Google matches this hash against its user graph to attribute the conversion back to an ad click, even if cookies were blocked or expired.

The standard GTM-based implementation requires precise data layer timing: customer data must populate before the conversion tag fires. This coordination fails 67% of the time on dynamic WooCommerce checkout pages, where theme variations and JavaScript load order create timing gaps. Server-side implementation solves the problem by capturing order data from WooCommerce server-side hooks, where complete customer information is always available at order completion regardless of browser state. Google Ads diagnostics take 48-72 hours to reflect Enhanced Conversions data, meaning setup failures often go undetected for days.