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Best Tools for Google Ads Call Tracking
Discover everything you need to know about Google Ads call tracking, how to use Google call tracking the right way and get the list of tools to set up Google Ads call tracking.
Google Ads, as a platform, has a wide variety of features not all marketers make use of, when they probably should. Among those many features is call tracking.
What is call tracking, I hear you asking? Well, you know how Google ads are digital display ads, that refer people to your website? They don’t have to be that limited. With some Google ads, with some businesses, you can set up a phone number to be associated with your ads.
Users who browse your Google Ads can see a special phone number with tracking (which is not your true number), and they can call it. The number the viewer sees is a Google number, which redirects to your number, and simultaneously tracks data about the call. Specifically, it can track information about what ad the user called, when they saw the ad, when they called, and more. All of this allows you to get information about the caller without having to ask them over the phone.
Call tracking is a great way to do three things. First, it allows you to offer an alternative means of doing business beyond just clicking through to a landing page. Second, it allows your sales team to engage with a potential customer over the phone, and convert them right then, with all of the dynamic sales techniques they can apply directly. Third, and most importantly, it lets you track your cost per conversion more accurately by measuring your phone calls as a conversion.
How to Use Google Call Tracking?
In order to use call tracking with Google Ads, you need to have the right kind of account set up the right kind of way.
First, of course, you need a Google Ads account. If you don’t have one already, I’m pretty surprised you’re even reading this article. Most people tend to start with more basic topics, and by the time they get to something like call tracking, they’re at least already convinced they want an account. Though, hey, if you don’t have a Google Ads account, let me know why not. I’m curious.
Oh, and your account has to be in an eligible country. After all, Google has to be able to set up phone numbers in your country. If they can’t do that, you can’t track calls. Google can set up both toll-free numbers and local numbers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They can also set up toll-free numbers, but not local numbers, in Denmark and India.
It’s worth mentioning that in Denmark, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, the toll-free number is equivalent to a local number. Additionally, in India and Japan, called ID wills how Google as the number’s owner, rather than your business. Just quirks of the system that might be relevant to you in certain locations.
Second, you need one of three things: an active call extension, a location extension that has the call option enabled, or an ad set to call-only. Call-only ads, by the way, are ads that display with no landing page, only a phone number as a means to contact your business. I don’t personally like them, since I like giving my audience options, but sometimes they can be effective.
List of the Best Tools to Set Up Call Tracking on Google Ads
What kind of tools and platforms do you have available to manage your Google ads, your analytics, and your call tracking? Here are a bunch of them, with various levels of interaction between them and Google.
1) Opteo.
2) WordStream.
3) Optmyzer.
4) AdStage.
5) Invoca.
6) Marin.
7) Call Rail.
Read more here.
