In digital advertising, a conversion is typically what?

• A. A desired action taken by a potential customer, often a purchase
• B. A page load
• C. A site visit
• D. A video view

Answer: (A)

Conversions represent the moment a user completes a goal the advertiser cares about. In digital advertising, this is typically a purchase, but it can also be other actions that move a user toward value—like signing up for a newsletter, requesting a quote, or downloading a resource. These are the outcomes you optimize for because they indicate real business impact, not just interest or activity.

Engagement metrics like a page load or a site visit show that someone opened or browsed your site, but they don’t necessarily meet the goal of driving value, so they’re not conversions by default. A video view is similar: it’s an engagement signal, and it becomes a conversion only if you’ve defined video views as a conversion for that campaign.