A call conversion is a phone call that Google Ads records as a result of your advertising, so calls count towards your reported conversions in the same way as form fills or purchases. It is set up as a conversion action with its own rules about which calls qualify.
How call conversions work
There are three main ways to track calls, and each catches a different journey.
Calls from ads
These come from a call asset or a call-only ad. With call reporting on, the ad shows a Google forwarding number. The caller dials it, Google connects them to your real UK number, and if the call lasts longer than your chosen length, 60 seconds by default, it counts as a conversion.
Calls to a number on your website
Someone clicks your ad, reads your site and then rings the number on the page. To track this, the Google tag swaps your site’s number for a Google forwarding number, but only for visitors who arrived from an ad. Everyone else still sees your normal number. The call is then credited to the click that brought them.
Clicks on a number on your mobile site
A simpler option counts taps on a tel: link. It shows intent but not whether the call was connected or how long it lasted, so it is a weaker signal than the two above.
A fourth route is importing calls from a separate call tracking system, which can record calls, show which ones became customers and send that back to Google Ads.
Why it matters
For many UK businesses, including trades, solicitors, clinics and estate agents, the phone is where the work comes from. If calls are not tracked, Google Ads reports only form fills, the cost per conversion looks far too high, and Smart Bidding learns to chase the wrong clicks. An account can look like a failure when it is in fact filling the diary.
Tracking calls by source also tells you which campaigns and keywords produce conversations, not just visits, which changes where you put budget.
Common mistakes
- Setting the call length so low that wrong numbers and sales calls count as leads.
- Counting mobile tel: clicks and website calls together, so one call is recorded twice.
- Leaving website call tracking uninstalled, so only calls straight from the ad are counted.
- Marking every call type as a primary conversion, including low-value ones such as calls to an existing customer line.
- Not telling staff that a forwarding number is in use, so they assume the calls are spam.
How to act on it
Decide which calls are real enquiries for your business and set the call length to match; check a sample of call times against your own phone log to calibrate it. Set up calls from ads and website calls as separate actions. Both can be primary, because they record different journeys, but keep any tel: click action as secondary so the same caller is not counted twice.
Give each call action a value if you use value-based bidding. A call that becomes a booked job one time in three is worth a third of that job’s profit to you, and Google can only weigh calls against forms if you say so.
Test it without clicking your own ads: open a page with #google-wcc-debug added to the end of its URL to check the number swap, then make a real call to the number in your ad and confirm it appears in the call details report. Under UK GDPR, if you add a third-party system that records calls, tell callers and update your privacy notice. Checking that phone leads are tracked and counted fairly is part of my PPC management service.