Phone-call tracking supports Google Ads campaign analysis by measuring call-related actions from ads or your website. This guide explains how to configure "Phone calls"for telephone-link clicks on your website from a mobile browser, using Google Tag Manager.

Step 1: Create a conversion in Google Ads

  1. Sign in to Google Ads and go to Tools and settings > Conversions.
  2. Click "+" (add a conversion) and select "Phone calls".
  3. Three options are shown. Select "Clicks on your number on your mobile website".
  4. Name the conversion, for example "Click2Call".
  5. In the field "Value", if you do not need to assign a monetary value, select "Don't use a value for this conversion action".
  6. In the field "Count", select "One", so the action is counted once in the setup described, even if the user calls more than once.
  7. Change the "Attribution model" to "Time decay", to credit the touchpoints in the conversion journey as described here.
  8. Click "Save and continue".

After saving, Google Ads asks how to install the conversion code. Select "Use Google Tag Manager".

Step 2: Create a variable in Google Tag Manager

Before creating the tag, configure a variable for telephone-link clicks:

  1. Sign in to Google Tag Manager, in the left-hand menu click Variables.
  2. Click "Configure", then in the window that opens, enable V for all options under Clicks.
  3. Close the window and click "New" to create a variable.
  4. Name the variable "Phone No".
  5. Under Variable Type, select "Auto-Event Variable".
  6. In the field Variable Type, select "Element URL".
  7. In the field Component Type, leave "Full URL" as the default.
  8. Save the variable.

Step 3: Create a conversion tag in Google Tag Manager

  1. Open the menu Tags and create a new tag.
  2. Under Tag Configuration, select "Google Ads Conversion Tracking".
  3. Copy the Conversion ID and the Conversion Label from Google Ads and paste them into the relevant fields.

Step 4: Create a telephone-link click trigger

  1. Under Triggering, click Create a new trigger.
  2. Select "Just Links", because this tracks a link click.
  3. Enable V on Check Validation.
  4. In the field Page URL, select "Matches RegEx", and enter .* to include every page on the website.
  5. Select "Some Link Clicks".
  6. In the first field, select "Phone No" (the variable created earlier).
  7. In the second field, select "Contains".
  8. In the third field, enter "tel:", because telephone links that open a dialler use this prefix.
  9. Save the trigger.

Step 5: Add a Conversion Linker for tracking

  1. Create a new tag and select "Conversion Linker".
  2. Under Triggering, select "All Pages".
  3. Click "Save".

Step 6: Test and publish

  1. Click "Preview", and test using Debug Mode in GTM to check that the conversion fires when the telephone link is clicked.
  2. If everything works correctly, click "Submit" to publish the changes.

Telephone-link conversion tracking is configured. You can now use the configured website call-related tracking to inform campaign optimisation.

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