Understanding verified calls

If you find that you often ask your customers 'How did you hear about us?', with Smart campaigns, you can already see how often customers visit your website from clicks on your ads. But for some businesses, phone calls can be even more valuable than website visits. With verified calls, you can see how many phone calls you’ve received from your Smart campaign.

Google forwarding numbers (GFN) are mandatory for new Smart campaigns with a linked phone number in all countries where GFN is available. See a full list of countries where GFN is available.

How verified calls works

Verified calls metrics will appear in your Smart campaigns dashboard if the phone number added to your Smart campaign is assigned a Google forwarding number (GFN). Verified calls give you a better idea of your advertising impact, by showing you the number of calls that you receive from your Smart campaign, along with your clicks.

When your Smart campaign runs on Google, a unique GFN will be assigned to and displayed in your ads. This phone number will be displayed in your ad instead of your actual business phone number, and calls to this phone number will be forwarded to your actual business phone number. When you get a call from your ad, you’ll hear the following message: 'Google Ads customer call'. That way, you’ll know which customers your ad is bringing in. GFN also allows you to understand details for each call, including the caller’s area code and the call duration.

Call reporting

The GFN can appear in ads on either the desktop or mobile versions of Google search. Verified calls don’t work with ads that appear on Google Maps, and your business phone number won't change in Google Maps ads.

Note that verified calls don’t change how often your ad is served or the order that your ad appears on Google.

How to set up verified calls

A phone number can be added during the creation of a new Smart campaign, or by editing the Smart campaign after it has been created.

Setting up verified calls during campaign creation:

Click All campaigns.
In the dashboard, click Create new campaign.
Select an advertising goal.
If 'Get more calls' is selected, a phone number must be added during the campaign creation.
If 'Get more visits to your physical location' is selected, adding a phone number is optional during the campaign creation.
If 'Get more website sales or sign-ups' is selected, there's no option to add a phone number during campaign creation, but it can be added later by editing the campaign.

Follow the step-by-step instructions to choose your audience and write your ad text.

When you're asked to enter a business phone number, enter the number for the phone on which you’d like your customers to call.

If you're advertising in a country that doesn't support Google forwarding numbers (GFN) (see the list of countries where GFN is available), verified call tracking won't be available. In this case, call metrics will be reported as call clicks, not verified calls. Learn more about call clicks.

Click Next.

Follow the instructions to set your budget and finish creating your ad.

Setting up verified calls after campaign creation:

Click All campaigns, and then click the name of the campaign that you want to edit.
Find the 'Ad preview' card, and click the 3-dot icon .
Click Edit phone number.

If you're advertising in a country that doesn't support Google forwarding numbers (GFN) (see the list of countries where GFN is available), verified call tracking won't be available. In this case, call metrics will be reported as call clicks, not verified calls. Learn more about call clicks
Enter your phone number.
Click Save.

Pricing

Verified calls are free for all Google Ads customers with Smart campaigns.

Mobile ads: If customers click the phone number in your ad from mobile devices, you’ll be charged for a click regardless of whether you’ve enabled verified calls. There’s no extra charge for the call.
Manually dialled calls: If customers dial the phone number in your desktops ads, the call will be reported for free. If you receive a click elsewhere on the ad, you'll still be charged for a click.

Benefits of verified calls

Verified calls can be effective if you want to know how often your customers are reaching you by phone after seeing your ad. By providing you with more details about how customers interact with your ad, you can get a more complete picture of the value that Smart campaigns can bring to your business.

Example

Joe has an car repair shop. He currently spends £100 a month on his Smart campaign and has received about 50 clicks each month. However, he’s not sure how many people are calling his business instead of clicking his ad. Joe sets up verified calls, and finds out that he’s received 50 calls from his Smart campaign in the last month.
Joe decides that with the amount of clicks and calls that he gets from Smart campaigns, his campaigns are worthwhile for his business.