If your business gets leads by phone and through website forms, tracking only one of them gives you an incomplete picture. You might pause an ad that brings in valuable calls because the form data makes it look weak. Or you might keep paying for clicks that create form submissions but never turn into real customers.
The fix is to track both lead paths in one reporting setup:
- Phone calls from your Google Ads campaigns
- Form submissions recorded in Google Analytics and imported into Google Ads
That gives you a clearer view of which campaigns, keywords, and ads are creating real opportunities.
Understanding the Importance of Call and Form Tracking
Google Ads reports clicks and impressions, but those numbers don’t tell you if someone contacted your business. A click only shows that a person visited your site or interacted with your ad.
A conversion shows that the person took an action you care about.
For a local service business, that action might be:
- Calling to ask for a quote
- Booking an appointment
- Sending a contact form
- Requesting an estimate
- Asking for emergency service
Calls and forms often represent different types of prospects. Someone with an urgent plumbing problem may call immediately. Someone comparing remodeling companies may fill out a form and wait for a response.
If you track only form submissions, you miss phone leads. If you track only calls, you can’t see how well your landing pages turn visitors into inquiries.
Before setting anything up, list the actions that count as leads for your business. Then decide which ones are primary conversions. For example, a completed quote form and a call lasting longer than 60 seconds may both count as primary leads. A page view or button click usually shouldn’t.
Setting Up Call Tracking in Google Ads
You can track phone call conversions in Google Ads by creating a conversion action for calls generated by your ads.
Start with these steps:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Open the Goals or Conversions area.
- Select New conversion action.
- Choose Phone calls.
- Pick the call source that matches your setup.
- Set the conversion name, value, counting method, and duration rules.
- Save the conversion action.
Google Ads may offer different phone call sources, including calls from ads and calls to a number on your website. The exact options can depend on your account and location.
For calls generated directly from an ad, choose the option for calls from ads or call assets. Then set a minimum call length. This matters because a two-second accidental call probably isn’t equal to a 10-minute conversation with a serious prospect.
Choose a length that makes sense for your business. A locksmith may know that a useful call can happen quickly. A roofing company may need several minutes to discuss the job.
You can also assign a value to calls. If you know the average value of a qualified phone lead, use that as a starting point. If you don’t know it yet, you can begin without a value and update it after collecting enough customer data.
Google can track calls connected to an ad interaction for up to 60 days after the original ad click. That gives you time to account for people who click first and call later.
Using Call Assets and Call Extensions
A call asset adds a phone number or call button to your Google ad. Older Google Ads accounts may still refer to this feature as a call extension.
To add one:
- Open Campaigns in Google Ads.
- Go to Assets.
- Choose the plus button.
- Select Call.
- Add your business phone number.
- Choose the campaigns or ad groups where it should appear.
- Set call schedules if you only want calls during business hours.
Call assets can help mobile users contact you without visiting your website. They can also send people to your website, depending on how the ad appears and what the user chooses.
Make sure the phone number reaches someone who can answer. Showing a call button at midnight when nobody is available can waste clicks and create a poor customer experience.
You should also check that the number is correct in every campaign. A single wrong digit can send valuable leads somewhere else.
Call assets and website forms should work together, not compete. Someone may see the call option, decide they prefer email, and submit the form instead. Your reporting needs to recognize both actions as part of the same lead-generation system.
Enabling Call Reporting for Accurate Tracking
Call Reporting must be enabled if you want to track calls from call assets.
To check the setting:
- Open your Google Ads account.
- Go to Admin or account settings.
- Find the section for Call reporting.
- Turn it on if it isn’t already enabled.
- Save your changes.
The location and wording may vary as Google updates its interface. Search the account settings for “Call reporting” if you don’t see it right away.
Call reporting can provide useful information such as:
- The number of calls generated
- Call duration
- Whether a call was answered
- The campaign or ad that led to the call
- Conversion data based on your chosen rules
To check phone call tracking, open the Conversions section in Google Ads and review the phone call conversion action. Look for recent calls, conversion totals, and call duration data.
Don’t judge call performance by volume alone. Ten short calls may be less useful than three calls from people who asked for pricing and booked an estimate.
Tracking Form Submissions in Google Analytics
Google Analytics can track form submissions, but it needs a clear signal that the form was completed. A visit to the contact page is not the same as a submitted form.
There are two common ways to set this up.
Use a thank-you page
After someone completes your form, send them to a separate URL such as:
`/thank-you/`
Then record visits to that page as the form conversion.
This approach is simple, but make sure people can’t reach the thank-you page without submitting the form. If anyone can open it directly, your numbers may include false conversions.
Track a form submission event
If your form stays on the same page, use an event to record the successful submission. You can send this event through your website code or Google Tag Manager.
A basic setup usually looks like this:
- Create an event named something clear, such as `form_submit`.
- Trigger it only after the form has successfully sent.
- Test the event in Google Analytics.
- Mark the event as a key event if it represents a valuable lead.
- Use that key event for Google Ads conversion imports.
The trigger should fire after a successful submission, not when someone clicks the submit button. A click can happen even when the form has missing information or fails to send.
Check the form yourself on desktop and mobile. Submit a test lead and confirm that the event appears in Analytics. Also check that the actual business receives the inquiry.
Integrating Google Ads with Google Analytics
Once form tracking works in Google Analytics, connect Analytics to your Google Ads account.
The usual process is:
- Open the Admin area in Google Analytics.
- Find Google Ads links.
- Choose Link.
- Select the Google Ads account.
- Follow the prompts to complete the connection.
You need the right access to both accounts. The accounts should also use the correct property and advertising account.
After linking them, import the form conversion into Google Ads:
- Open Google Ads.
- Go to Goals and then Conversions.
- Select New conversion action.
- Choose Import.
- Select Google Analytics.
- Choose the form key event.
- Finish the import.
Review the conversion settings after importing. Check whether the conversion is included in the campaign optimization column, how it counts multiple submissions, and whether the conversion window fits your sales process.
Avoid importing several versions of the same form event. If you import both a thank-you page conversion and an event for the same submission, Google Ads may count one lead twice.
At this point, your Google Ads account can show calls and forms together. That is the useful part. You can compare the two lead types by campaign instead of looking at them in separate systems.
Analyzing Call and Form Submission Data
Give the tracking system time to collect data, then review performance by:
- Campaign
- Ad group
- Search term
- Device
- Location
- Day and hour
- Conversion type
A campaign may generate more phone calls, while another may bring more form submissions. That doesn’t automatically make one better. Compare lead quality and booked work too.
For example:
- Campaign A creates 20 calls but few qualified opportunities.
- Campaign B creates 8 calls and 10 forms, with several quote requests.
- Campaign C creates many forms, but most are incomplete or unrelated.
The raw conversion count doesn’t tell the whole story. Add notes in your CRM or lead spreadsheet about whether each inquiry was qualified, contacted, quoted, and won.
If possible, send customer outcomes back into your advertising data through offline conversion tracking. This helps you move beyond “what created a lead?” and ask “what created a paying customer?”
Also watch for response speed. A good ad can appear unprofitable if your team misses calls or replies to form leads several days later.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Tracking
Several tracking problems appear again and again.
Counting clicks as leads
A click on a phone number or submit button isn’t always a completed conversion. Track the successful call or form submission instead.
Forgetting Call Reporting
Call assets won’t give you reliable call conversion data if Call Reporting isn’t enabled. Check this before judging campaign performance.
Tracking every page view as a form lead
A contact page visit shows interest, not a completed inquiry. Use a protected thank-you page or a successful submission event.
Firing events before the form succeeds
Some forms show an error after the button is clicked. If your event fires too early, Google Analytics may record leads that never reached you.
Counting the same lead twice
Don’t import duplicate Analytics events or track both a button click and a completed form as separate primary leads unless you have a clear reason.
Ignoring missed calls
Google Ads may report the call, but your business still loses the opportunity if nobody answers. Review call times and make sure your schedule matches your staffing.
Changing tracking without testing
After editing a tag, form, thank-you page, or conversion setting, submit a test form and make a test call. Confirm the data in both Google Analytics and Google Ads.
Best Practices for Optimizing Ads Based on Tracking Data
Use the data to make decisions, but don’t rush to change campaigns after a small number of conversions. Look for patterns across enough activity to support the decision.
Start with the basics:
- Put more budget toward campaigns that create qualified calls and forms.
- Reduce spend on keywords that bring clicks but no meaningful inquiries.
- Add negative keywords when searches are unrelated to your services.
- Adjust ad schedules if calls arrive when your team can’t respond.
- Improve landing pages with clear service details, trust information, and one obvious next step.
- Make forms short enough to complete on a phone.
- Use call-focused ads or call assets when urgent customers prefer speaking with someone.
- Check search terms regularly for poor-fit traffic.
Keep call and form conversions separate in your reports. A phone call and a quote request may have different values, response times, and close rates.
Finally, connect advertising data with what happens after the lead arrives. Ask which calls turned into appointments. Mark which forms became estimates or sales. That feedback helps you improve bidding, keywords, ad copy, and landing pages based on business results—not vanity numbers.
If you need help setting up or checking this system, contact Ads By Tangeer for assistance with Google Ads conversion tracking: https://adsbytangeer.com/