In short: if your business sells over the phone, the call is the conversion — and the piece that makes it possible is Google's forwarding number: without it there is no measurement. A call asset at account level, scheduled to your real opening hours, call-only ads when the phone is the channel, and the call report as the source of negatives and schedules.
For many businesses (services, clinics, garages, insurance) the call is the conversion, and Google Ads has half a dozen call-related pieces that almost nobody sets up in full. This tutorial (1 of 2) builds the part about showing and receiving calls; the next one covers measuring them as a conversion.
What you are going to build in this tutorial
- Call asset: the tappable (mobile) or visible (desktop) number next to the Search ad.
- Google forwarding number: a Google number that redirects to yours and makes the call measurable (duration, source).
- Scheduling: so the number only shows when somebody can answer.
- Call-only ads: ads whose only click is a call.
- Call report: which calls came in, from which campaign, how long they lasted.
Step 1 · How do you create a call asset?
- Google Ads → Campaigns → Assets (side menu) → + → Call.
- Level: choose Account if the same number covers everything (the usual case); Campaign if each service or area has its own number; Ad group for very specific cases. Lower levels override higher ones.
- Country and phone number: the business's real number (landline or mobile). Add several assets if you have several numbers (one per area).
- Call reporting: tick "Use a Google forwarding phone number". Without this there is no duration and no call conversion. Google will show a number of its own that redirects to yours; the caller notices nothing.
- Call conversion: leave the call conversion action Google proposes (or create your own, tutorial 2), and set the duration threshold (60 seconds is the standard: it separates a real call from a wrong number).
- Advanced options → Scheduling: add your business hours (Monday to Friday 9-19, for example). Outside those hours the asset doesn't show: you avoid paying for call clicks nobody answers.
- Start/end dates if the number is temporary. Save.
Check: in Assets, status "Approved"; in a real search from a mobile, the call button appears next to the ad during business hours.
Step 2 · Which campaigns should show the phone number?
If you created it at account level, every Search campaign inherits it. To exclude it from some of them (brand, form-based campaigns): in that campaign → Assets → the call asset → remove it, or create one at campaign level with no number (not recommended) — or simply don't associate it. In PMax, call assets are added inside the asset group.
Step 3 · When should you use call-only ads?
These are mobile Search ads whose click calls instead of opening the website. Useful for emergencies (locksmith, plumber, breakdown recovery) and for businesses with no conversion-focused website.
- In an ad group of a Search campaign → + Ad → Call-only ad.
- Business name, phone number (with the Google forwarding number enabled so you can measure), headlines and descriptions (keep them short: the screen is a button), verification URL (Google checks that the number appears on that page).
- Scheduling to your opening hours (mandatory in practice).
- They only show on devices that can make calls; combine them with ordinary RSAs in the same ad group: Google picks.
Check: the ad shows on mobile with a "Call" button and the click dials the number.
Step 4 · What does the call report show?
Campaigns → Insights and reports → Call details report (or the call columns in the tables: "Phone calls", "Phone impressions", "Phone-through rate", "Call conversions"). For every call made through a forwarding number: date and time, campaign/ad group/ad, duration, status (received, missed), the caller's area code (not the full number, for privacy), and whether it counted as a conversion.
Decisions that come out of this:
| What you see | Decision |
|---|---|
| Lots of missed calls at certain hours | Asset scheduling; more staff on the phone |
| Average duration < 30 s in a campaign | The wrong search terms (people asking about something else) → negatives; or the threshold is too low |
| Calls from one area with no conversions | Review location targeting |
| High phone-through rate on call-only ads vs RSAs | Prioritise call-only for emergencies |
| Call conversions with no value | Tutorial 2: value per call |
Which mistakes are made with calls?
- An asset without a forwarding number: nothing gets measured.
- No scheduling: call clicks at 2 in the morning.
- Duration threshold at 0: every wrong number is a conversion.
- A different number in the ad and on the website: verification fails.
- Confusing "Clicks to call" (secondary, see the measurement lesson) with "Phone calls" measured through a forwarding number (primary).
💡 Ninja trick: in call-driven businesses, the "Conversions" column without a Google forwarding number is fiction: it counts taps, not conversations. With forwarding and a 60 s threshold, the call becomes a real conversion that Lead Rating can score (duration, time of day, source) and upload with a value. The next tutorial closes that loop.
What you should remember
- A call asset with a Google forwarding number, at account level, scheduled to your opening hours.
- Call-only for emergencies and phone-based businesses, always scheduled.
- The call report gives duration, source and time of day: negatives, scheduling and staffing decisions come from there.
- No forwarding, no measurement; no threshold, no quality.