Understanding why you don’t see your own phone number in your ads

Important: The ads experience in Business Profile is live in select regions only and may not be available to all users.

You’re not seeing your own phone number on your Google Ads, and that’s to be expected. Instead of showing your business phone number, Google uses a different number (Google forwarding number) to help you track calls to your business. When a user calls the Google forwarding number in your ads, they’ll be automatically forwarded to your actual business phone number. At the same time, their number will be recorded in the system and appear on your ads dashboard.

How it works

If a potential customer calls your forwarding number phone number, Google Ads will route the call to your business phone number. Calls to your forwarding number can also help Google optimize your ad performance, so that you receive more calls from potential customers.

You'll be able to see detailed reporting for calls generated from your forwarding number, including phone numbers of those who called you. In Business Profile, this information is available for the last 60 days in the “Recent contacts” section of your ads.

How to check whether the number you provided is up to date

1. Go to your Business Profile. Learn how to find your profile.
2. Select Edit profile Business information.
   • Tip: On your desktop, on Google Search, select Edit profile.
3. Select the Contact tab.
4. Verify that the phone number here matches your business phone number.

See calls to my forwarding number

1. Go to your Business Profile. Learn how to find your profile.
2. Select Promote Advertise.
   • Tip: On your desktop, on Google Search, select Advertise.
3. Go to "Action Breakdown" to find your forwarding number for the last 30 days
4. Select See call history to find all of your calls.

If you’re reviewing contacts on your mobile device, you can click on each contact to see more call details. From here, you can call or message these contacts directly.

Phone numbers

Whenever possible, Google forwarding numbers will share the same area code or prefix number as your business. Otherwise, a local number area code or prefix for your geographic region will be used instead.

In some cases, a local Google forwarding number may not be available. When this happens, your ad will show a toll-free Google forwarding number instead. Google forwarding numbers are either toll-free, equivalent to a local number, or a local number.

Tip:

• Since Google forwarding numbers associated with your call reporting are property of Google, they can change or be reassigned. For that reason, you can't use your Google forwarding number outside of your ads.
• If someone calls your forwarding number, it will remain active for 60 days after the initial call. However, if no call was initiated the number may be replaced soon.

FAQs

Why am I seeing one or several different phone numbers that I didn't provide on my ad?

Google creates one or more phone numbers, which redirect your customer’s calls to your own business phone. As these phone numbers are randomly generated, you may see different forwarding numbers in a short period of time. Even if the forwarding number changes, it will always redirect to the business number that you provided in Business Profile.

Will my ad always have the same Google forwarding number?

Your forwarding number may vary overtime. For this reason, it’s not recommended to copy or promote this number beyond your ad campaign with Google Ads.

What happens if someone calls my Google forwarding number, saves the number, and calls again later?

Your forwarding number will continue to redirect to your business for 60 days after someone’s initial call. If they call the same number again within that period, the 60-day window is reset. This number will continue to redirect to your business for another 60 days. After 60 days with no calls, the number will no longer redirect to your business.

What happens if someone doesn’t call after clicking the ad, saves the Google forwarding number, and calls later?

If your forwarding number shows in an ad and nobody calls it, after two hours, this number will no longer route to your business and may be reassigned to another business. Keep in mind that this is a rare scenario, as the vast majority of calls happen within five minutes of the user seeing a Google forwarding number on an ad or website.

For more help with ads in Business Profile, contact us by email.

Related links

• How ads work in Business Profile
• About advertising with Business Profile
• Deactivate your ads in Business Profile