How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Turn on call reporting so Google Ads counts calls from your ads
Updated October 11, 2026
15 minutes, then up to 24 hours
Open Admin, then Account settings, set Call reporting to On and save. Google puts a forwarding number on your call and location assets and counts calls from ads in Conversions on its own. If a call tracking tool already sends those calls to Google Ads, make one of the two actions Secondary first, or each call counts twice.
Before you start
- Access that can change Google Ads account settings. Call reporting is one setting for the whole account.
- A call asset or a location asset with a phone number. Call reporting works on call assets, location assets and call ads.
- A business in a country Google lists for forwarding numbers. If Call reporting is missing from your settings, Google says your country or account type may not support them.
Check these before you switch it on
Before the switch, find out whether a call tracking tool already counts these calls in Google Ads, because call reporting adds Google's own call action to Conversions.
- Open Goals, then Summary, and look for a phone call conversion action that a call tracking tool imports (often named after the tool). Google says that once call reporting is on, new calls are counted in its own call action, which goes into the Conversions column automatically.
- If you find one, decide which action counts calls from the ad itself and set the other to Secondary (observe only). Google's own rule for imported calls: keep only one of them in Conversions, or every call counts as 2.
- Ask whoever set up the account whether call reporting was turned off on purpose. Google's help says you can turn it off to show your own number or to use third-party call tracking, but at least one call tracking tool, CallTrackingMetrics, tells its users to turn it on account-wide so both systems see the call.
Turn call reporting on
Call reporting is one switch in the account settings, and it puts a Google forwarding number on your ads.
- In Google Ads, open the Admin menu and go to Account settings.
- Under Call reporting, select On.
- Click Save. Google says the change can take up to 24 hours to reach your live ads.
The number that gets forwarded is the one on the call asset that serves, or on a location where the ad shows one. Google uses the most specific call asset: one at ad group level hides the campaign's, and one at campaign level hides the account's. Check all three levels so an old number is not the one being tracked.
Decide which calls count
Google judges each call in one of two ways. With call recording on, its AI reviews the recording and counts only qualified calls; recording is on by default for calls within the United States and Canada. Without a recording, a call counts if it lasts at least a minimum length you set.
- Open Goals, then Summary, open the Phone call leads drop-down and find the call action. Google's pages name it Calls from ads in one place and AI-qualified call leads in another; open whichever your account shows.
- Select Edit, open the Lead qualification drop-down and enter the minimum length in seconds, then select Done.
- Set that length from your own calls: a little under the shortest call that became real work. That is a judgment. This length decides only for calls Google cannot record; where recording is on, Google's AI decides. Too long drops real leads, too short counts hang-ups.
- On the goal that holds the action, click Edit goal and confirm the action is Primary, unless a call tracking tool's action is the one counting these calls.
Google counts calls that pass this test, not calls that became customers. To count only those, the outcome has to be sent back to Google Ads as an import, from a call tracking tool or your own records.
Check it worked
After a day, open Campaigns, click the Columns icon above the table and choose Call Details, tick Phone calls and click Apply. The Phone calls column fills as calls come in through the forwarding number.
For a call by call list, click Campaigns, open Insights and reports, click Report editor, and under Ads and assets click Call details. Each row shows the start time and duration; hold a week of rows against your phone log.
Expect the call action's conversions to trail the Phone calls column. Calls are filed on the day they happen, call conversions on the day of the ad click, and calls that fail the length or AI test are logged but not counted.
Calls this setting will never show
Call reporting covers calls through Google's forwarding number in your ads. A visitor who clicks through to your website and calls the number there is a separate setup, the website call snippet or a call tracking tool. Calls that ring your own number, from your website or a number someone saved, do not go through Google's forwarding number, so this setting does not count them.
Turning it off again
The same setting turns it off. Google's settings page says Calls from ads then stops counting conversions and your own number shows in the ads, which can affect Smart Bidding that relied on those calls. Another of its pages says calls may still be counted from ad interaction data.