How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Test a new call tracking number before it goes live
Updated October 11, 2026
20 minutes
Before a new tracking number goes on a website, ad, listing or print, give it a call route, a tracking source and, for website numbers, a target number. Then call and text it from a phone outside the business and read the call log. A bought number can arrive routed nowhere, and its calls may be lost.
Before you start
- Admin access to your call tracking account. The steps here are for CallTrackingMetrics; other tools have the same parts under different names.
- The phone each new number should ring, and the hours someone answers it.
- A mobile phone that is not one of the receiving phones, so the test call arrives the way a customer's would.
- Where each number will appear: your website, an ad, your Business Profile, or print.
Finish the setup before anyone sees the number
Give the number a route, a source and, for a website number, a target before anyone sees it, because a bought number that is not configured can lose calls without anyone noticing.
- Open Numbers, then Tracking Numbers. A number with a red Complete Number Setup link is not finished. Click it, or Edit next to any new number.
- Set Voice Routing (called Call Routing on a number's Edit page) to the phone, queue or menu the calls should reach.
- Set Tracking Source to the channel the number is for, such as your Google Ads source for numbers on your website, or an offsite source for a listing or print.
- For a number your website will show, set the Target Number to the number written on the page. A number on an offsite source, such as a listing or print, needs no target number.
- In Text Routing, turn on Text Messaging Enabled and route texts to a phone someone reads. Texting may be off on a new number, and not every number supports it, so check it is enabled under Numbers, then Text Numbers.
- Check the account's business registration in the Trust Center. CallTrackingMetrics counts calls routed to a receiving number, and texts forwarded to an outside phone, as outbound, which needs the business registered, though its FAQ also says a number that only receives calls and texts does not. Approval can take four to six weeks, and for a number in Google Ads an approved registration also reduces the chance of Google disapproving the number.
Call it the way a customer would
Test calls and a text from an outside phone show whether the route works, which CallTrackingMetrics advises checking before the number goes on a website or in print.
- From the outside mobile, call the number. It should ring the right phone, and you should hear the greeting, any recording notice and any menu the way a customer will.
- Call again and let it go unanswered. Check that the no-answer routing reaches the right place and that a voicemail can be left.
- If the number follows a schedule, call once outside business hours as well. Google may place test calls to a number used in ads, so after-hours handling matters there too.
- Send the number a text from the same mobile and confirm it arrives where you routed it.
Read the log, then publish
A ring on the right phone proves the route, and the call log proves the number is credited to the right source.
- Open Activities, then Calls. Each test call should be listed with the tracking source you set.
- Click Edit on a test call, then Flow, then Debug Flow. It shows where the call was routed, which agent or phone it rang, and which triggers ran or found no matching rules.
- Only now put the number where customers will see it. For a website number, test the swap from a new incognito or guest window as well, since a number that rings correctly can still fail to show.
Check it worked
Every test call and text should be in Activities with the right tracking source, and every phone you routed to should have rung or received the text. If a test call is missing from the log, confirm you dialed the new number and that it belongs to this account. If it is listed but rang the wrong phone, the Flow shows where it went.
In the first days after the number goes live, compare the calls in the log with the calls the business remembers taking. A gap between them points back to the routing.
Why an unfinished number fails silently
Buying a number does not route it. Until Voice Routing is set, calls to the number may reach no phone, and nobody at the business would hear them ring. A number already printed or showing in an ad keeps losing calls until someone looks at the setup or the log, which is why the test comes before publishing.
Testing several numbers at once
Test each number on its own, even when a batch was set up together. One number in a batch can be left unrouted or on the wrong source while the rest work. CallTrackingMetrics gives no refund for a number bought in error, and no prorated refund for a number released partway through its 30-day period, so buy only the numbers you need and test each one.