Track Calls as Google Ads Conversions on WordPress with PixelYourSite

Someone clicks your Google Ad, lands on your page, sees your phone number, and calls. You got a lead. Google Ads has no idea. You keep paying for clicks and only count the leads who filled in a form.

Google Ads has a fix for this: a conversion type called Calls to a phone number on your website. Here’s what happens:

1. Google swaps your phone number on the page with a temporary forwarding number.
2. The visitor calls the forwarding number.
3. Google records the call and routes it through to your real phone.
4. You answer like normal.
5. If the call lasts longer than the threshold you set, Google Ads reports a conversion.

PixelYourSite handles the WordPress side. Add a Custom Event, paste your phone number and the Google Ads label, save. No code.

Setup

1. Create the conversion in Google Ads

Tools → Conversions → New conversion action → Phone calls → Calls to a phone number on your website.

• Phone number in international format: +1 415 555 0100.
• Call length that counts as a conversion. 60s is fine.
• Category, attribution model, value (optional).
• Save. Copy the conversion ID (AW-1234567890) and the label (aBc-D1eFgHi2jKL3M).

Reference: Google Ads Help: Track calls to a phone number on a website.

2. Check Google Ads is set up in PYS

PixelYourSite Pro → Google Ads. The AW-… ID should be there. If not, paste it in and save. See Google Ads Tag.

3. Create the Custom Event

PixelYourSite Pro → Events → Add new event.

• Name: PhoneCallTracked or similar.
• Add a Google Ads Phone Conversion trigger. You can use URL match or contains, or URL parameters match or contains. So you can trigger it on every page, on just some pages, or even for speciffic sources or cases using URL parameters.
• Enable Google Ads and configure the event: paste your phone number exactly as it is on the page, and the conversion label. One row per number if you track several.
• Save.

The number in PYS must match the number on your page exactly, character for character. Different formats across pages? Add a row for each.

4. Test it

Testing this type of conversion is a bit difficult because Google only swaps the number for visitors it qualifies, so the only reliable test is to click your own ad, tap the phone number, and call it. Google’s official steps:

1. Open Tag Assistant (tagassistant.google.com) and connect it to your site. Check that the Google Ads tag and the phone conversion snippet both report active.
2. Search for your ad and click it. You’ll be charged for the click.
3. On the landing page, your phone number should be replaced with a Google forwarding number.
4. Call it and stay on long enough to clear the threshold.
5. The conversion appears in Google Ads within a few hours, under Tools → Conversions.

What it tracks

Calls where all of this is true:

• The visitor came from a Google Ads click.
• gtag ran and swapped the number on the page.
• The visitor called the forwarding number.
• The call lasted longer than your threshold.

What it doesn’t

• Calls from organic, direct, email, or social.
• Calls in countries without Google Forwarding Numbers.
• Calls shorter than your threshold.
• Calls from a number the visitor wrote down or remembered.
• Calls after the forwarding number expires.

Things worth knowing

• Most visitors won’t see a forwarding number. Google only swaps it for visitors it qualifies. That’s normal.
• The AW-… ID is shared across all conversions in your account. The label changes per conversion.
• The format match is strict. Reformat the number on the page, and the swap stops working until you update PYS.
• Forwarding numbers are free. Google bundles them with conversion tracking.
• If the visitor declined consent, this shouldn’t run. Google Consent Mode V2 handles that.
• Phone numbers on subdomains need the trigger configured on each PYS install.