Why are my Google Ads getting clicks but no calls?

Google Ads getting clicks but no calls usually comes down to one of four things. Calls are coming in but Google isn’t counting them, the clicks are coming from the wrong searches or places, people who want to ring can’t easily do it, or the page they land on loses them. Check them in that order. Tracking is quick to rule out and costs nothing to fix, and every other check depends on knowing how many calls you really get.

Below is how we work through an account where the owner says the phone is quiet, with the settings and reports to open at each step. It applies to plumbers, electricians, roofers, HVAC firms, clinics, law firms and any business where a phone call is the lead.

Are my Google Ads calls actually being tracked?

Often only some of them are, so check this before changing anything else. Google counts calls in three separate ways, and each needs its own setup:

• Calls straight from the ad, when someone taps the call button on your ad. Google can only count these when call reporting is on, which puts a Google forwarding number on the ad. To turn it on, go to Admin, then Account settings, and set Call reporting to On. Google says changes can take up to 24 hours to show in live ads.
• Calls from your website after an ad click, when someone reads your page and then rings the number on it. These are invisible unless you add website call conversion tracking, a snippet that swaps the number on your page for a Google forwarding number for visitors who came from an ad. You or your web developer has to add it to the site.
• Calls to a number people remember or type. Google counts calls to the forwarding number in its Phone calls column even when they’re dialled by hand, but it can’t tie those to a keyword or ad.

Both conversion types are created in the same place. Go to Goals, then Summary, select + Create conversion action, choose Conversions from phone calls, pick the Phone call lead category, then add Calls from ads and Calls from website visits, as set out in Google’s guide to measuring calls from ads. Each one counts a call as a conversion only when it lasts longer than a minimum length that you choose. Set it too high and real but quick bookings disappear from your reports. Set it too low and wrong numbers count as leads. Listen to a week of your own calls and set it just under the length of a typical genuine enquiry.

Google forwarding numbers are only available in a fixed list of countries. The US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia are on it. New Zealand isn’t, so a New Zealand business can’t use Google’s call reporting and needs third-party call tracking, or at the very least a habit of asking every caller where they found you.

Then compare Google with reality. Open the call details report (Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Report editor, then Call details under Ads and assets). Google’s call details help page lists what you’ll see for each call: whether it was missed or received, the duration and the caller’s area code. If that report shows calls your office says never happened, they were probably missed. If your office took calls that never show up, tracking has a gap.

Are people clicking my ad from the wrong searches?

Often, yes, and the search terms report shows you exactly which ones. The keywords you chose are only the start: the report lists the actual searches that triggered your ads. To open it, select the Campaigns icon, then Search terms in the Insights and reports menu, as described in Google’s search terms report guide. Sort by cost and read the top fifty. The usual offenders for a service business:

• Job hunters: “plumber jobs”, “electrician apprenticeship”, “hvac technician salary”.
• DIY searches: “how to fix a leaking tap”, “reset tripped breaker”.
• Parts and supplies: “water heater for sale”, “roof tiles near me”.
• Towns or suburbs you don’t serve.
• Other companies’ names, where the searcher wanted that business’s phone number.

Add each irrelevant word as a negative keyword so the ad stops showing for it. Google’s guide to getting negative keyword ideas from the search terms report shows how to do it from the report itself. Google omits some low-volume searches from the report for privacy, so don’t expect it to add up to every click.

Are my ads showing outside my service area or on other websites?

They can be, because two default settings reach further than most local owners expect. Check both in the campaign settings.

Location option. Google’s default location option is “Presence or interest”, which Google says reaches people in or regularly in your area “as well as people who have shown interest in your targeted locations” (About advanced location options). Someone in another state or county reading about your city can see your ad. If you only want people who are physically in the area you serve, open the campaign’s Locations settings (Campaigns, then Settings, then the campaign, then Locations) and choose Presence instead. For an emergency trade that only works locally, that is usually the right call.

Networks. New Search campaigns include Google search partners by default, which are other sites and apps that show Google ads. Google’s Search Network help page says you can opt out in the campaign settings: open the Networks dropdown and untick “Include Google search partners”. While you’re there, make sure “Include Google Display Network” is unticked too, unless you added it on purpose (About Display Expansion on Search campaigns). Display placements show your ad to people browsing other websites, who weren’t searching for your service.

If your clicks come from a Performance Max or Smart campaign, a lot of this control sits with Google. Our post on Search campaigns or Performance Max for lead generation covers when that trade is worth it.

Can people actually call me when they see the ad?

Compare when your ads run with when someone answers the phone. Google’s ad scheduling help page says campaigns are set to show ads “All day” by default. If your ads run at 9pm and the phone goes to a voicemail nobody checks until morning, those clicks were paid for and the caller has already rung the next company.

• Set an ad schedule that matches the hours someone can pick up, or keep ads on after hours only if you have an answering service or an on-call tech.
• Schedule the call asset too. Google’s call assets page says you can set the number to show only on certain days and hours under Advanced options. On mobile it shows a call button; on desktop a “Call us” button reveals the number and a QR code that opens the phone’s dialler.
• Look at missed calls. The call details report marks each call as missed or received. Missed calls during business hours point to a staffing or call routing problem, which no change to the ads will fix.
• Move off call-only ads. Google stopped letting advertisers create new call-only ads in February 2026, and existing ones stop getting impressions in February 2027, according to its guide on moving from call ads to call assets. Google’s replacement is a responsive search ad with a call asset.

Tapping the call button is a paid click. Google says clicks on call assets cost the same as headline clicks, so a high click count with no calls can also mean taps that never connected. Your phone system’s log of inbound calls is the quickest way to tell.

Is my landing page losing the calls?

It is if people click through and leave without ringing, which you’ll see as plenty of clicks to the page and few calls from website visits once that tracking is in place. Open the page on your own phone, the way mobile visitors see it, and check four things:

1. The phone number is visible without scrolling and is a tap-to-call link. If tapping it doesn’t open the dialler, fix that first.
2. The page is about the job they searched for. An ad for “blocked drain” that lands on a general homepage makes people hunt.
3. It says which areas you cover and when you can come out.
4. It loads fast on mobile data, without pop-ups covering the number.

For a fuller check, run through our 5 point landing page diagnostic. If you’re unsure whether ads should go to your homepage at all, read landing page or website for Google Ads. If the problem is the whole site rather than one ad, see why a website gets traffic but no leads.

Google Ads getting clicks but no calls: which problem is it?

Match what you’re seeing to the most likely cause before you change anything.

What does this look like in a real account?

Here’s a worked example with made-up figures so you can see the order of checks in practice. An electrician runs one Search campaign with call reporting off. The account shows 150 clicks in a month and no conversions, and the owner reckons the phone rang maybe three times from ads.

1. Tracking. Turn on call reporting and add Calls from ads and Calls from website visits, with the minimum call length set to 30 seconds after listening to a week of calls. Two weeks later, the call details report shows 11 calls from the ads.
2. Missed calls. Four of the 11 are marked missed, all after 5pm. The ad schedule was “All day”. Set the schedule to 7am to 6pm on weekdays and schedule the call asset to match.
3. Search terms. Around a fifth of the spend went to “electrician apprenticeship”, “electrician salary” and two towns the business doesn’t cover. Add “apprenticeship”, “salary”, “jobs” and the two town names as negatives.
4. Networks. Display Network was ticked. Untick it.

None of those fixes needed a bigger budget, and the first one showed the ads were bringing in more calls than the owner thought. Your own proportions will differ. Keep the order anyway, because a search terms clean-up or a new page can’t be judged until calls are counted.

Common mistakes that make this worse

• Raising the budget to get more calls. If the clicks are wrong, more budget buys more of the same. Fix the leak first.
• Judging the account on form fills alone. A trade business with only a contact form conversion will look like it gets nothing, because its leads ring.
• Clicking your own ads to test them. Each tap is a paid click. Use the Ad preview and diagnosis tool under Tools, then Troubleshooting, which Google says avoids adding impressions to your statistics.
• Switching to automated bidding before tracking works. Google says you must set up conversion tracking to use Maximize conversions, and the strategy sets bids to get the most of whatever you record. If calls aren’t counted, it optimises for the wrong thing.
• Assuming it’s click fraud. Google says it automatically removes invalid traffic it finds before your billing cycle ends and credits what it finds afterwards. Add the Invalid clicks column to your campaigns table to see how much it caught. Check wrong searches and missed calls first, because you can fix those today.

Should I fix this myself or get a Google Ads specialist?

You can do every check above yourself in an afternoon if you’re comfortable in the Google Ads interface. The tracking setup is usually the fiddly part, because it touches the website, the phone number and the account at once. If someone already manages your account and the calls have dried up, use our guide on how to know if your Google Ads agency is doing a good job to see whether these basics are covered.

If you’d like us to run these checks on your account, PPC Fitter offers Google Ads management for local service businesses. The first two months of management are free, and your ad budget is always paid straight to Google.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my Google Ads getting clicks but not converting?

Work through the same checks in the same order. First make sure the conversion actions you care about exist and are recording, in Goals, then Summary. Then check search terms, location and network settings, and the landing page.

How do I stop fake clicks in Google Ads?

Google filters invalid clicks automatically and doesn’t charge for the ones it catches, and later finds are credited as “Invalid activity” adjustments on your invoice. You can see the count by adding the Invalid clicks column. Google’s own examples of invalid traffic include accidental clicks from poor ad placements, so keeping a local Search campaign on Google Search alone limits your exposure.

Do I pay when someone taps the call button on my ad?

Yes. Google charges a tap on a call asset, or the desktop “Call us” button, the same as a click on the ad headline. That’s why a missed call costs you as much as an answered one.

Can I track Google Ads calls in New Zealand?

Not with Google forwarding numbers, because New Zealand isn’t on Google’s list of countries where they’re available. Use a third-party call tracking service, or ask every caller where they found you and keep a simple tally.

Sources: 1. About call reporting (Google Ads Help). 2. Manage call reporting for your campaigns (Google Ads Help). 3. Measure calls from ads (Google Ads Help). 4. Tracking calls to a phone number on a website (Google Ads Help). 5. Google forwarding number (Google Ads Help). 6. View details of each call (Google Ads Help). 7. Analyze call reporting data (Google Ads Help). 8. About the search terms report (Google Ads Help). 9. Get negative keyword ideas using the search terms report (Google Ads Help). 10. About advanced location options (Google Ads Help). 11. Target ads to geographic locations (Google Ads Help). 12. About the Google Search Network (Google Ads Help). 13. About Display Expansion on Search campaigns (Google Ads Help). 14. About ad scheduling (Google Ads Help). 15. About call assets (Google Ads Help). 16. How to transition from call ads to call assets (Google Ads Help). 17. About invalid traffic (Google Ads Help). 18. About the Ad preview and diagnosis tool (Google Ads Help). 19. About Maximize conversions bidding (Google Ads Help).