Troubleshoot verified calls

Have a question about verified calls in Smart campaigns that isn’t covered elsewhere? Here are a few common questions about verified calls. Click any of the headings below to see more information.

I receive calls while my business is closed

Many businesses use a voice mail system, answering machine or answering service to handle potentially valuable calls that come in after normal business hours.

If you don't use a voicemail or answering service, and calls to your business after regular hours aren’t answered, then these calls won't show up in your verified calls and you won't be charged.

There’s a different or incorrect phone number in my ad

If you turn on verified calls, a Google forwarding number will be assigned to your ad. The Google forwarding number appears in your Smart campaign on either the desktop or mobile versions of Google search. This phone number will forward calls to your actual business phone number, and allows us to measure the number of calls that you receive.

I don’t see the Google forwarding number in my ad

Verified calls are activated once your ad has received a certain number of clicks. Once verified calls are activated, a Google forwarding number is assigned to your ad, and you’ll see the “Calls to your number” data in your Smart campaigns dashboard.

If verified calls have already been activated for your ad, here are some common reasons why you may not see a Google forwarding number in your ad:

• Google search vs. Google Maps: Google forwarding numbers only appear on ads that appeared on the mobile or desktop versions of Google search. Currently, calls from Google Maps are not included.
• Low search volume: A Google forwarding number might not be assigned to search phrases with very low search volume.
• Ads without verified calls: The verified calls feature is enabled at the ad level, rather than at the business level. This means that if you have multiple ads, but you haven’t enabled verified calls for all of them, the forwarding number only appears in the ads with verified calls enabled.

I don’t see as many calls as I expected

Here are some possible reasons why your reported call volume may be affected:

• Google search vs. Google Maps: Verified calls track only calls that originated from Smart campaigns that ran on Google search. Currently, calls from Google Maps are not included.
• Low search volume: A Google forwarding number might not be assigned to search phrases with very low search volume.
• Ads without verified calls: If you have multiple ads for your business, but you haven’t enabled verified calls for all of them, you’ll see calls only for the ads enabled with verified calls.

Related links

• Understanding verified calls.
• Set up call clicks.