Analyze call reporting data

Call reporting allows you to track the performance of your call assets, location assets, and call-only ads. You can see general call details, such as the number of impressions your call ad received, phone calls received, and the phone-through rate (PTR).

You’ll also be able to assess specific details related to each call, like start and end time, whether the call was missed or received, area code of the caller and call type.

This article shows you how to see call data, segment your calls by device, and explore the details of each call. If you’re new to call reporting, start with About call reporting.

Before you begin

Call reporting uses phone numbers (Google forwarding numbers) that track your online ad performance for call conversions, and your number or numbers may change and vary over time. For that reason, you can't use your Google forwarding number outside of call reporting and website call conversion tracking.

The "Phone calls," "Phone Impr.," and "PTR" columns report only events starting on and after October 11, 2018. Events that happened before October 11, 2018 aren't reported.

Instructions

How to set up columns to see call details

  1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon Campaigns Icon.
  2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
  3. Click Campaigns, Ad groups, Ads.
    • Alternatively, you can click the Audiences, keywords, and content drop down in the section menu. Next, click Search keywords.
  4. Click the Columns icon above the statistics table on the Campaign, Ad groups, Ads or Search keyword tab.
  5. Choose Call Details.
  6. Select the checkbox next to the data you’re interested in.
  7. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the window.
  8. Now you’ll see these new columns with your statistics.
Your "Call details" data will show only for activity that happened on and after October 11, 2018. For dates before October 11, 2018, these columns will report "0," regardless of previous activity.

General call data shown in your columns

Here are the types of data, with definitions, that you can find in your general call reports:

  • Phone impressions are the number of times your ad was shown with a Google forwarding phone number:

Desktop call ads
  • Impressions are shown with a Google forwarding phone number.

Mobile call ads

  • Impressions are tracked through a Google forwarding phone number when the call button is clicked.

Website call ads

  • Ads that contain enough information will have the phone number replaced on the landing page once the redirect happens.
  • Website call ads may not show up as a call ad.
  • Phone calls are counted when calls to your custom Google forwarding phone number are received, either through a call button or through manual dialing. Manually dialed phone calls are counted for your campaigns and ad groups, but aren’t available for keywords and ads. As a result, the number of total calls shown for a particular keyword or ad will not include manually dialed calls. Call data can also be segmented by call type. Learn more about segmenting your calls by call type.
  • The phone-through rate (PTR) is the number of phone calls received (the figure in the “Phone calls” column) divided by the number of times your phone number is shown (what’s shown in the “Phone impressions” column).

Call reporting data can also provide details of each phone call. Learn how to see the details of each phone call.

Phone calls vs. phone call conversions

It is important to remember that there are differences between a click that results in a call to your business and that call being considered a conversion.

A phone call conversion is defined by the duration of the call, which you determine in your account. A phone call has no duration requirements which means that your reporting will be expected to have more calls than call conversions. For example, if you set call conversions to 30 seconds and have a call last for 26 seconds, Google Ads will report 1 phone call and 0 phone call conversions. Learn more about phone call conversion tracking.

Note: Phone calls are reported on the date they occur, but phone call conversions are reported on the date of the ad click, this means the reporting dates may be different. For example, a customer sees a call-only ad on August 5 and writes down the Google Forwarding Number (GFN). On August 7 they call the GFN and the duration meets your conversion requirements. Google Ads will show 1 phone call on August 7, and a phone call conversion for August 5.

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