Imagine this very common scenario….

1. You are running an AdWords campaign.
2. Someone clicks on one of your ads (on their computer or iPad and not on a mobile).
3. They view your website and like what they see. Great!
4. They like it so much, they find the phone number on your website.
5. Then… they pick up the phone and call you.

Good result for you as an advertiser right!?

But, did you notice what happened? The user had a change of device. They went from clicking on an ad on their computer, to then changing device by picking up the phone and calling you. And with that change of device, the ability to continue tracking that person is now lost.

Now, I can hear some people saying in response to this… “Well, I can just use a special phone number just for AdWords”. And whilst this is true, you still won’t be able to track the specific campaign, keyword or ad that was clicked which resulted in them calling you. And this is precisely the point and one of the key benefits of AdWords – you get information of which specific campaigns, keywords and ads are resulting in someone taking a desired action. As an advertiser, this is exactly what you NEED to know. That way, you can do MORE of what IS working, and equally important, LESS of what is NOT working.

So, enter Google Call Tracking and I’ll do into some detail on what it is.

What Is Google Call Tracking?

Effectively Google Call Tracking solves this ‘change of device’ problem.

What is does is replaces the phone number on your website to a unique 1800 number (provided by Google), but only for AdWords clicks. So, when someone click on an AdWords ad, the phone number on their website is swapped for a Google Forwarding number. That person then dials that Google number and Google then divert the call to your actual business phone number. But the key here is that this event is still being tracking within AdWords.

How Do You Implement Google Call Tracking?

*Warning – this does involve a bit of code and some people may need a bit of help with this. But it is worth the effort.

You start by placing the snippet of your code (conversion tracking tag) on your mobile or desktop sites then, a unique and new Google forwarding number will be generated for each AdWords click.

It’s also interesting to note that this will continue to display for up to 90 days so future call conversions may also be analysed.

Here it is action….Can you spot the difference?

Below is are 2 screenshots of this in play and see if you can spot the difference….

How Is It Different To Traditional Call Tracking Companies?

1. Transparency Within AdWords

This is by far the biggest difference and advantage that Google has. By implementing Google Call Tracking you will still get the transparency of which campaign, keywords, and ads have resulted in someone actually picking up the phone and calling you.

2. Analytics

The analytical data that Google provides you is basic, but for the majority of businesses out there, completely sufficient for their needs. Google will tell you the following:

• If the call was received or missed (an important metric!)
• The call duration
• The hour of the day that the phone call took place (not the exact time, but to the nearest hour)

Note, if your company needs to be recording calls, then this is not for you. But reality is most businesses don’t need to be recording phone calls.

3. Cost

Believe it or not, Google Call Tracking is……. FREE!!!! Pretty amazing and definitely a business case for a lot of businesses to be doing that are running AdWords.

So, if you are running AdWords and one of the metrics you are counting is phone calls, implement this now. As with Google’s call tracking feature, you can now determine which ads, and more specifically, which keywords are driving the most callers from your website, thus letting you determine which results in valuable calls.