Goal: the phone rings
Google Ads for phone calls
Built so the phone rings, and judged on the calls
A campaign for phone calls is a Search campaign with the call as its only conversion: a call asset or a call-only ad, a Google forwarding number that records the call and its length, a schedule that matches the hours you answer, and a report that counts calls over sixty seconds and what each one cost. For a Manchester business that sells over the phone, from an emergency plumber in Stockport to a solicitor in Spinningfields, it is the campaign that should exist before any other, and the management fee for it starts at £249 a month.
Three ways a call arrives from an ad
Call asset, call-only ad, or the number on the page
Each one is counted differently and suits a different customer. Most accounts need two of the three, and the report keeps them apart so you can see which the callers preferred.
Call asset
A tap-to-call button beside a normal Search ad. The searcher chooses to ring or to read. The default for most Manchester businesses; counted by the forwarding number on the ad.
Suits
A dental practice in Didsbury, an accountant in Altrincham, a garage in Trafford Park
Call-only ad
The ad is a number and a headline, with no website. Shows on phones only, in the hours you set. For same-day services where reading a page is a delay.
Suits
A locksmith, an emergency electrician, a drain company covering Salford and Bury
Number on the landing page
The person clicks through, reads, and rings the number on the page. A forwarding number is swapped in for ad visitors so the call is still attributed.
Suits
A solicitor, a private clinic, a removals firm, where the caller wants to check first
The schedule
An ad that asks for a call should run when the call is answered
The commonest waste in a Manchester call campaign is the 2am click from someone who then rings voicemail. The schedule is set to the phone, not to the calendar, and it is different for every business.
| Business | When the phone is answered | How the campaign runs |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency trade, 24 hours | Always, by whoever is on call | Call-only around the clock, bids raised in the evening when rivals switch off |
| Clinic or practice | Reception hours, weekdays | Call asset in hours; outside them the ad points at the booking page instead |
| Restaurant or venue | Afternoons and evenings | Call asset from noon, paused after last orders, raised on matchdays and in Christmas Markets weeks |
| Office-based B2B | Nine to half five | Call asset in office hours; the form campaign carries the night |
| One-person business | When not on a job | Call-only in the gaps you tell us about; a missed call is a paid click wasted |
What counts
Sixty seconds, from a real search, once
Google will happily count every call, including the three-second misdial, and an account that lets it do so teaches Smart Bidding that misdials are customers. We set the conversion at sixty seconds, because almost nobody talks to a Manchester business for a minute without a reason, and we count a repeat call from the same number in the same day once.
The forwarding number records the length and the campaign, keyword and, on the landing page, the search term behind the call. That is what turns a list of calls into a decision: the searches that produced long calls get more budget, the ones that produced short calls get read and usually excluded.
What the report shows
Calls, cost per call, and what they were worth
- Calls over sixty seconds, by campaign and by hour of the day, so the schedule can be tightened.
- Cost per call, ad spend plus the fee divided by the calls, beside the month before.
- The searches behind the longest calls, quoted, and the ones behind the shortest, excluded.
- What you told us the calls were worth, which is the line that decides whether the campaign grows. We ask for it every month and the report is unfinished without it.
Manchester specifics
Where the callers are, and where they are not
A call campaign for a business in Stockport does not want a click from Wigan, and a business in the city centre does not want one from the airport's departure lounge. The location setting is presence, not interest; the radius is drawn around where you actually go; and the negative list carries the place names outside it, so a search for “emergency plumber Oldham” never spends a penny of a Trafford plumber's budget.
City hours are not office hours. Deansgate and the Northern Quarter search for taxis, food and locksmiths late; Chorlton and Didsbury search for tradespeople at seven in the morning and again at nine at night; Trafford Park searches from desks between nine and five. The schedule and the bid adjustments follow the search terms by hour, which the report shows, and the free 72-hour check reads them for an account that is already spending.
Keep reading
Next door to this page
Questions about ads for phone calls
How does Google Ads count a phone call?
Through a Google forwarding number: the ad or the landing page shows a number that Google owns, the call is routed to yours, and Google records that it happened and how long it lasted. You set the length that counts as a conversion; we use sixty seconds, so a misdial or a wrong number is not reported as a lead.
What is a call-only ad?
An ad with no website link. The whole ad is a phone number and a headline, it shows only on phones, and tapping it dials you. It suits emergency and same-day services where the caller does not want to read a page: a locksmith in Salford at midnight, a boiler engineer in Bolton in January.
What is a call asset?
A phone number attached to a normal Search ad, shown as a tap-to-call button beside the website link. The person can call or click through. It is the default for most Manchester businesses because it lets the customer choose, and the call from it is counted like any other.
Will the ads run when nobody can answer?
Not the call campaigns. The schedule is set to the hours the phone is picked up, and call-only ads are paused outside them. A campaign that sends people to a form or a booking page can run around the clock; one that asks them to ring should not.
Can you tell which calls came from which searches?
Yes, down to the keyword and, with the forwarding number on the landing page, the search term. The monthly report lists calls by campaign and the search terms that produced the longest ones, which is how the negative list and the bids improve.
What if my phone number needs to stay the same for branding?
Your number stays everywhere you print it. The forwarding number appears only on the ad or, if you choose, is swapped in on the landing page for visitors who arrived from an ad. Everyone else sees your own number.
How much does a call campaign cost to run?
The management fee is set by spend, not by goal: £249 a month up to £1,000 of ad spend, £399 up to £3,000, £599 up to £8,000, excluding VAT. The cost per call depends on your sector's Manchester CPC and how many clicks it takes to produce a call, both of which the report shows after the first month.
Do calls from the Google Business Profile count?
Not as ad conversions, because they did not come from an ad. They matter, and we help set the Profile up properly, but the report separates paid calls from free ones so the campaign is judged on what it produced, not on what the map listing did.
Can I listen to the calls?
Google records call length and source, not the audio. If you want recordings, a call-tracking service can sit behind the forwarding number and record with the required announcement; we set it up when it is worth the extra cost, which is usually only for larger accounts.
Say what the ads are for. The fee and the first three changes come back in writing.
Calls, sales, bookings or leads, roughly what you spend, and the part of Greater Manchester you sell to. Daniel Stoychev reads it himself and answers within one working day with the tier, the fee and what he would change first. Already spending? The free check reads your account in 72 hours.