Google Call Tracking: Analytics Setup

Call tracking is a method of conversion tracking that helps you assess the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing campaigns by identifying the origins of your inbound phone call leads — whether they originate from a print ad or a simple website link click.

Call tracking essentially eliminates the need to assume which of your marketing campaigns is generating phone calls by attributing each phone call to a specific marketing campaign. In turn, this provides you with a clear picture of the return on your marketing investments.

Google Analytics is a robust web analytics tool offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Introduced in 2005, this service has since become the most widely used web analytics service on the internet. Below is an introduction to Google Analytics:

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free tool (with a premium version available) that helps website owners and marketers understand their website traffic. Using tracking codes embedded in the pages of a website, Google Analytics collects data on user interactions and presents them in a format that’s easy to understand.

Key Features

User Information: Google Analytics provides insights into the demographics of a site’s visitors, such as location, age, gender, and device type.

Traffic Sources: Understand where your traffic is coming from – direct visits, organic search, paid search, referrals, or social media.

Behavior Flow: Visualize the path users take through a site and see where they drop off.

Content Analytics: Discover which pages on a site are the most popular, how long people stay on them, and what content keeps them engaged.

Conversion Tracking: With goals and e-commerce tracking, users can measure how well a site fulfills target objectives and track sales.

Event Tracking: Understand specific interactions on a page, such as button clicks, form submissions, or video views.

Custom Reports: Tailor-made reports can be designed based on specific requirements.

Integrations: Google Analytics can be integrated with other Google services like Google Ads and Google Search Console, and with third-party platforms.

Why Use Google Analytics?

Data-Driven Decisions: Using empirical data, businesses can make informed decisions about their website and marketing strategies.

Understand User Behavior: Know what users are doing on a site, where they come from, and what content they engage with.

Optimize Marketing Efforts: Allocate resources more effectively by understanding which marketing channels provide the best ROI.

Improve Website User Experience: Identify pain points in user navigation and optimize for a better user experience.

Measure Objectives: Whether it’s tracking sales, sign-ups, or other important metrics, Google Analytics can measure performance against objectives.

Getting Started: To start using Google Analytics

Step 1

Create a Google Analytics account or sign in.

Step 2

Set up a property (your website or app) in the account.

Step 3

Install the monitoring code for Google Analytics on your website.

Step 4

Await the collection and analysis of data.

Step 5

Dive into the reports and gain insights.

Google Call Conversion Tracking is a feature within Google Ads that enables advertisers to measure the value and effectiveness of their google call conversion-driving campaigns. This tool helps businesses determine the number of contacts generated by their Google Ads campaigns, allowing them to measure the efficacy of their marketing efforts.

Phone calls can be a significant conversion action for many businesses, particularly in complex purchase or decision-making industries where consumers may prefer a direct conversation. Examples include the real estate, automotive, and luxury service industries.

Here Is An Overview Of Google Call Conversion Tracking:

What is Google Conversion Tracking for Calls?

It’s a free tool within the Google Ads platform that monitors google calls that result directly from ad clicks. This might be:

1. Google Calls made by tapping on call extensions or call-only advertisements.
2. Calls originating from the website: When a user clicks on an advertisement, lands on the website, and calls the displayed number.
3. On mobile websites, when a user taps on a phone number in order to initiate a call.

Why Should You Use It?

ROI Measurable: Determine which advertisements, keywords, and campaigns are the most effective at generating phone calls.

Optimize Campaigns: Modify bidding strategies and targeting based on the factors that result in the most valuable phone call conversions.

Gain insight into google call duration, call start and end time, receiver area code, and whether the call was answered with Enhanced Reporting.

How Does It Function?

Google Forwarding Number: When enabled, Google provides a unique forwarding number that replaces your business number in advertising or on your website (depending on how you configure it). This number logs incoming calls before forwarding them to your primary business line.

Tagging and Tracking: When a potential customer clicks on an ad and lands on your site, if they choose to google call the displayed number, Google tracks this as a conversion. This is accomplished by placing a tag on your website that dynamically transforms your phone number to the Google Forwarding Number for users coming from your advertisements.

Google Ads will then capture data regarding the call, such as its duration, time, and more.

How Do I Configure Google Call Conversion Tracking?

Google Call Conversion Tracking enables businesses to track  google calls originating from their advertisements, websites, and other locations where their phone number appears. This information can help you determine which ads or keywords generate the most google calls, allowing you to optimize your campaigns. Google Call Conversion Tracking setup requires multiple stages. Here are the steps:

1. Sign in to Google Ads: Sign in to your Google Ads account first.
2. Navigate to Conversions: In the sidebar on the left, select “Tools &

• Settings” (represented by a wrench icon).
• Click “Conversions” under “Measurement”

3. Begin a New Conversion:

• Click the blue “+” or “+ Conversion” icon.
• Select “Phone calls” from the list of available options.

4. Choose a Source for Tracking There are three options available:

• Calls from advertisements employing call extensions or call-only advertisements: This monitors google calls generated directly from your advertisements.
• Calls to a phone number on your website: If users click on your ad to visit your website and then make a call, this conversion will be tracked.
• This event is logged whenever a mobile user clicks on your phone number on your mobile website.

Choose the option that best meets your requirements.

5. Complete Conversion Specifics:

• Name your conversion action to make it easy to identify.
• Category: Select the “Phone Call” category.
• Determine whether you wish to designate a value to your conversions. For instance, if you know that 10% of your average calls result in sales and the average sale is $100, you could designate a value of $10 to each call.
• Determine whether you wish to consider each call as a conversion (useful if calls are leads) or only one conversion per ad click (useful if calls are transactions).

6. Conversion Window and Additional Options:

• Conversion interval: Determine the amount of time you deem a conversion to have occurred after an ad click or interaction.
• Include in column “Conversions”: Generally, this should be adjusted to “Yes” to optimize Google Ads for conversions.
• Window for click-through conversions: Choose a conversion window for click-throughs.
• (Only applicable if you are tracking calls from ads using call extensions or call-only advertisements) Choose a window for conversions with view-through.
• Model of attribution: Choose a model of attribution that corresponds to how you intend to attribute conversions.

7. If you’re monitoring calls from your website, you’ll need to set up call tracking.

• Google will provide an identifier that must be added to your website. When a user visits your website from an ad, this tag will substitute the phone number with a Google forwarding number.
• There are multiple ways to apply the tag, including manually, with Google Tag Manager, and with a third-party tool. Choose the appropriate technique.
• If you’re monitoring google calls from advertisements, you’ll also need to configure call extensions:

8. In Google Ads, navigate to “Ads & extensions” in the sidebar on the left.

• Select “Extensions” from the menu bar.
• Select “Call extensions” and enter your number.

9. After establishing up, monitor your conversions and determine how many phone calls your ads or website generate.

Utilize this information to improve your advertising campaigns, targeting, and bidding strategies.

Final Words

Google Call Conversion Tracking is a useful tool for businesses that view phone calls as a crucial conversion metric. By identifying which ads and keywords generate phone calls, businesses can better allocate ad budgets and optimize campaigns for increased effectiveness.