How to Get More Phone Calls From Google Ads

Your ads are getting clicks, your budget is being spent, and the phone is quiet. Your customers are the kind who call rather than fill in a form, so a click that never turns into a ring is money gone. You may also have heard that call-only ads are going away and wondered whether that is why. The fix is usually smaller than a rebuild. For Google ads call ads, the current setup is a responsive search ad with a call asset attached, a schedule that matches the hours someone answers, call reporting switched on, and a call length setting that fits how your business works. This post takes those jobs in the order you do them. You can finish the first four in an afternoon, and the last one is the check that tells you whether the calls are worth paying for.

Check what your ad shows on a phone before you change anything

Start with a spot check, because it tells you where to look. Search the phrase your customers use on your own phone, find your ad, and see whether it offers a call button or a phone number. Google does not guarantee that a call asset appears on every impression. It decides based on factors such as Ad Rank and the search itself, so one search proves very little. Run it a few times at different hours, and write down what you see.

Then open your account and look for two things: whether a call asset is attached to the campaign you care about, and whether the number on it is correct. A wrong digit or an old number is a common reason the phone stays quiet, and it takes a minute to fix. If you are not sure how this fits into your overall spend, our post on what Google Ads cost covers how the budget works.

Add a call asset to your responsive search ad

A call asset adds your phone number or a call button to an eligible search ad. In Google Ads, go to Campaigns, then Assets, select the plus icon, and choose Call. You can apply the asset at the account, campaign or ad group level, and you can create a new one or pick an existing phone number. Google's call asset help page lists the options.

Apply it as low as makes sense. If one campaign sends people to a service you answer for around the clock and another to a service with set hours, they should not share the same asset settings. Under the optional settings you will also see call reporting and the choice of whether calls count as conversions. Turn those on in the next two steps, not by guesswork.

Schedule the call button for the hours someone answers

Google recommends showing call assets only during business hours, when the business can take calls. Open the call asset, go to its advanced settings, set the asset schedule, choose the days and times you can answer, and save. If your ad scheduling for the rest of the campaign is also worth a look, our post on the Google Ads ad schedule covers it.

This setting matters more than it looks. A caller who taps a button at 9 pm and gets a voicemail may call your competitor next. If you are short-staffed at lunch, the schedule can skip that hour. The advertising change is small. If missed calls turn out to be the real problem, the fix may be staffing, routing or voicemail, and no ad setting repairs that for you.

Turn on call reporting and read the call details report

Call reporting uses a Google forwarding number so Google can measure the call. That means the number a caller sees in the ad is not always your direct line, so do not publish it as your own. Google says call reporting measures calls from call assets, location assets and call ads. Availability can vary by country and account type, so check that it is offered in your account before you rely on it.

Once it has been running for a few weeks, open the call details report. Google Ads can show the start time, call duration, caller area code, whether the call was received or missed, the campaign, ad group and keyword, the source and the call type. Compare it with your phone system or CRM for the same dates, especially the missed calls. Our walkthrough on tracking phone calls from Google Ads to booked jobs goes deeper on matching the two.

Set a call length that matches how your business works

Google separates phone calls from phone call conversions. A call can be reported when someone clicks or dials the number in an eligible ad, and Google says phone calls have no duration requirement. A call conversion is counted only when the call lasts at least the minimum length set for that conversion action. You choose that length for calls from ads, as described in Google's help on call conversions and phone call conversion actions.

Ask the people who answer the phone what length of call usually means a real conversation. A very short call can be a wrong number, a voicemail, a menu or a caller who was never going to buy. Google also recommends reviewing your call history to choose a length. A longer call is still not automatically a sale, so recording which calls became jobs is the sharper measure when you can do it. Google's call details report help explains the report that supports this.

If you also have a number on your website, Google says website call conversions can measure calls for up to 60 days after the ad click, using a Google forwarding number that replaces your number on the page. Calls can also be imported from your own CRM or call tracking records, which lets Google count the ones that turned into sales.

Call-only ads are going away, and this is the date

Google announced on October 3, 2025 that call ads, formerly called call-only ads, are being deprecated. According to Google's announcement, the options to create new call-only ads were removed in February 2026, and existing call-only ads stop receiving impressions in February 2027. The replacement is a responsive search ad with a call asset.

If you still have a call-only ad running, build a responsive search ad in the same campaign, attach the call asset, check the schedule and call reporting, and then retire the old ad before the stop date. That is a medium-sized job, because you are moving a campaign structure and not only a setting. Keep the same phone number so your records stay comparable. If you are not sure whether you have any, filter the ad list by type and look.

Make sure the clicks are from people likely to call

A call button cannot fix a search that was never going to produce a call. If your calls are low even though the asset is in place, look at the searches behind your clicks. The search terms report lists what people typed, and our post on Google Ads negative keywords shows how to block the wrong ones. The search terms report post covers reading it. Check your ad text, your locations and your landing page as well, since each of them changes who taps the number.

Troubleshoot in this order, because it follows how often each fix is a small job. These steps are a practical priority rather than a measured ranking.

1. No call asset on the campaign, or a wrong number on it.
2. A schedule that runs outside the hours you answer.
3. Call reporting or the call conversion action switched off.
4. Searches with weak call intent.
5. Missed calls, voicemail or slow answers.
6. A call length setting that does not match your business.
7. Calls reported, but sales never imported.
8. An old call-only ad still being treated as the current format.

Work through the list from the top. The first three items take minutes, and the rest take real attention.

You can do the setup yourself, and paid help fits a narrower job

Everything above is in Google's own help pages, and the steps are within reach of an owner working alone. If you are deciding between doing it yourself and hiring, our post on whether you can run Google Ads yourself lays out what it takes, and the management fee guide shows what help costs. Nobody should charge you management fees only to add a phone number.

Help becomes worth considering when the problem is further down the path: poor search terms, a phone that is not answered, call length settings that were guessed, duplicate conversion actions, a CRM that never sends outcomes back, or restrictions that limit where call assets appear. In those cases the work is diagnosing the whole route from the search to the ad to the answered call to the customer, and a button does not cover that.

Frequently Asked Questions About google ads call ads

What is a Google Ads call asset?

A call asset adds a phone number or call option to an eligible Google search ad. You add it under Campaigns, Assets, then the plus icon, then Call.

Are Google call-only ads still available?

Google announced that new call-only ads could no longer be created from February 2026, and existing call-only ads stop receiving impressions in February 2027. The replacement is a responsive search ad with a call asset.

How do I schedule a call asset?

Edit the call asset, open its advanced settings, set the asset schedule, choose the days and hours you can answer, and save.

Does every call count as a conversion?

No. A call conversion has to meet the minimum call length set for the conversion action, unless you import call outcomes from your own records.

What does call reporting show?

It can show duration, start time, caller area code, received or missed status, campaign, ad group, keyword, source and call type.

Should I look at calls or conversions?

Look at both. Calls show how often people rang, and conversions apply the call length you chose. Sales or qualified leads that you record yourself are a more precise measure.

The Bottom Line

To get more phone calls from Google Ads, attach a call asset to a responsive search ad, schedule it for the hours you answer, switch on call reporting, and set a call length with the people who pick up the phone. Replace any call-only ads before February 2027. Google selects whether an asset shows on each search, so a spot check is a hint and the call details report is the record.

The number that matters is not the tap on the button. It is the call that reached a person, lasted long enough to be a real conversation, and became work. Compare the report with your own call log each month, and fix the missed calls before you spend more on clicks.

If you want a second set of eyes, Web Leveling can look at the path from search to answered call with you, and our pay-per-click service covers the ad setup and the measurement. If the setup is all that was wrong, we will tell you to do it yourself. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us what your call report shows, and we will help you read it.

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