Google Ads call campaigns

Google Ads call campaigns are search campaigns built so the phone rings: responsive search ads with call assets that show your number and a call button, schedules that match the hours someone can answer, and call reporting that separates real enquiries from hang ups. They serve towing companies, locksmiths, emergency plumbers and clinics that book by phone. Google has retired the old call only ad format: since February 2026 new call only ads can no longer be created, and existing ones stop showing in February 2027, so call campaigns now run on call assets. This page explains how call campaigns and call assets work, how to move off the old format and how to run campaigns whose goal is a ringing phone. Canada Create is a Toronto agency that sets up and manages Google Ads call campaigns for businesses across Canada.

Contents

• Call assets: how a call campaign works
• Google is retiring call only ads
• Moving existing call ads before February 2027
• Who depends on phone calls from ads
• Phone first searchers on mobile
• Ad schedules and budgets by hour and day
• Who picks up, and how fast
• Call reporting, forwarding numbers and call length
• Reviewing which searches produced real calls
• Recording calls, ad policies and privacy
• How phone campaigns fit with the rest of Google Ads
• How we manage Google Ads call campaigns
• What Google Ads call campaigns cost
• Choosing a partner for call campaigns
• Your next step

Call assets: how a call campaign works

A call asset adds your phone number to a search ad. On a phone it shows as a call button, so a searcher can ring you in one tap; on a computer it shows the number. The same ad still carries headlines, descriptions and a link to your website, so people who want to read first can do that.

Settings that matter

Each call asset carries the number to call and the hours it may show, and call reporting with a Google forwarding number can be switched on. Assets can be added at the account, campaign or ad group level, so a business with separate numbers for different services or locations shows the right one in each place.

Calls as the campaign goal

In a call campaign, calls are the conversions that count: calls from the ad itself and calls made from your website after a click. Bidding then learns from those calls rather than from page views, and a minimum call length decides which calls are counted as leads.

Google is retiring call only ads

A call only ad, which Google also calls a call ad, shows your business name, a short description and your phone number. On a phone, tapping it dials you directly. For a business that closes work in conversation, that was the whole appeal: no landing page, no form, just a call.

What has changed

Google has announced the end of the format. Since February 2026, advertisers can no longer create new call only ads. Existing call only ads keep running for now, but they stop showing in February 2027. After that, any campaign still built on them will simply go quiet, and a business that depends on those calls could find its phone silent without any warning inside the account.

What replaces them

Google’s replacement is the responsive search ad with a call asset attached. The responsive search ad is the standard text ad in search campaigns, with several headlines and descriptions that Google combines. The call asset adds your phone number and, on devices that can make calls, a call button. A searcher can tap to call you or tap through to your website.

What that means in practice

The new setup gives people a choice. Some will call, as before; others will visit your site first. That means the page they land on now matters: it must show the phone number at the top, load fast on a phone and make calling the obvious next step. It also means call reporting has to separate calls from the ad itself and calls made after a visit to the page.

Moving existing call ads before February 2027

If your account still runs call only ads, the move should happen well before February 2027, while the old ads are still producing calls you can compare against. Waiting until they stop leaves no record of what worked.

Taking stock of what is running

The first step is a list: which campaigns use call only ads, which searches and hours they run on, how many calls each produced and how long those calls lasted. Some accounts have call ads left over from years ago that nobody remembers setting up; others depend on them for most of their work.

Building the replacement ads

Each call only ad needs a responsive search ad in its place, with headlines that keep the phone focus of the original, a call asset carrying the right number and hours, and a page to receive the people who tap through. You see the replacement wording and the receiving page before anything goes live.

Running both side by side

For a period, the old and new ads can run together so you can compare calls, call length and cost per call. Once the replacement ads are carrying the calls, the old ones are paused. Your report shows the comparison in plain terms, so the decision to switch fully is yours.

If you never had call only ads

Owners starting fresh do not need to think about the old format at all. Phone call campaigns are now built on responsive search ads with call assets from the start, and everything below applies.

Who depends on phone calls from ads

Some businesses can live with forms and emails. Others lose the job if the phone does not ring within minutes of a search.

Emergency and urgent trades

Towing companies, locksmiths, emergency plumbers, water damage and restoration companies, furnace and air conditioning repair, garage door repair and glass replacement all take calls from people standing next to the problem. Nobody locked out of their car at night fills in a form. These businesses need ads that put the number first and someone ready to answer.

Clinics and firms that book by phone

Dental, physiotherapy and walk in clinics, veterinary hospitals, law firms that offer a first consultation and accounting offices in tax season often prefer to book over the phone, because the receptionist can answer questions and fit the person into the schedule during the call.

Services quoted in conversation

Moving companies, junk removal, appliance repair, pest control and cleaning companies often give a rough price over the phone. For them a call is shorter than a form exchange and more likely to end in a booking.

Phone first searchers on mobile

People searching on a phone for an urgent service are already holding the device they will call from. The search is short, the decision is quick and the call button is the natural next tap.

What a phone searcher needs to see

The ad should say what you do, where you work and whether you are open, in a few words: “24 hour lockout service, Scarborough” rather than a slogan. If you charge a call out fee or have a minimum, it can help to say so, so the calls you get are from people who accept it.

Desktop is different

On a computer, a call button is less useful, and people more often click through to a site. Phone call campaigns are usually weighted toward mobile devices, with desktop budget kept small or used for the website path.

The receiving page on a phone

Because the replacement format lets people visit your site, the receiving page should open fast on mobile and show a large phone number that dials when tapped. Our landing pages built for a single ad goal are made for exactly this, and conversion rate optimization can improve an existing page that people leave without calling.

Ad schedules and budgets by hour and day

A call ad that shows when nobody can answer pays for a missed call. The schedule is one of the most important decisions in a phone campaign.

Matching ads to answering hours

The call asset can be scheduled to show only during hours when someone picks up, and the ads themselves can be scheduled by day and hour. A clinic open weekdays and Saturday mornings should not show a call button on Sunday afternoon; a towing company with drivers on call overnight may want the opposite.

Budgets by hour and day

Calls are not spread evenly. A plumbing company may get its most valuable calls early in the morning and in the evening, when people discover leaks; a law firm may get more consultation calls on weekdays. Budget can lean toward the hours and days that produce longer, more useful calls, and away from the ones that produce hang ups.

Holidays and weather

Long weekends, storms and the first cold night of the year all change call patterns. The schedule should be reviewed before those dates, especially if your hours change.

Who picks up, and how fast

Every call from an ad has already cost you money. The person answering decides whether it becomes a job.

Staff during business hours

Whoever answers should know which services you advertise, what areas you cover and how to book. A short script with the questions to ask, such as the address, the problem and when they need someone, keeps calls consistent and short.

An after hours line

If the ads run overnight, someone must answer overnight: an owner on call, a rotating technician or an answering service. If nobody will, the ads should stop when the office closes.

AI answering

An AI receptionist that answers your calls can pick up when staff are busy or after hours, take the caller’s details, answer common questions and book or pass on urgent requests. It means a call that arrives while the receptionist is with a patient still gets answered. Calls and their outcomes can be recorded in CS+, our CRM, which we set up and connect.

Call reporting, forwarding numbers and call length

Knowing that the phone rang is not enough. Owners need to know which calls came from ads and which of those were real enquiries.

Google forwarding numbers

Google Ads can show a Google forwarding number in your ads, which passes the call to your real number. That lets the account report details for each call, such as when it happened, how long it lasted and the caller’s area code. Without it, ad calls blend into the rest of your phone traffic.

A minimum call length counted as a lead

Not every call is an enquiry. Wrong numbers, hang ups and sales calls are usually short. Google Ads lets you set a minimum call length before a call counts as a lead, and you choose that threshold with us based on how long a real booking call usually takes in your business. A locksmith’s quick dispatch call is shorter than a law firm’s intake call.

What your monthly report shows

• Calls from ads by day and hour, with missed calls listed.
• Calls over your agreed length, counted as leads.
• Cost per qualifying call, with ad spend paid to Google shown apart from our fees.
• Calls that came from the ad and calls made after visiting the receiving page.
• Booked jobs, where your team records outcomes in CS+.

Tracking calls from every marketing channel, not only Google Ads, is a wider project we scope separately if you want it.

Reviewing which searches produced real calls

Google Ads shows the searches that triggered your ads, and with call reporting in place you can see which ones led to calls that lasted. That review is where a phone campaign improves.

Searches that bring real callers

Searches like “locksmith near me open now” or “tow truck Highway 401” often produce short, urgent, valuable calls. Searches like “how to open a locked car door” or “towing company jobs” bring callers who were never going to book. Each month the poor searches are excluded and the strong ones given more budget.

Listening to what callers ask for

Whoever answers often hears patterns: callers asking for a service you do not offer, a town outside your area or a price you cannot match. Those notes feed back into the ad wording and exclusions so the next month’s calls are closer to the work you want.

Recording calls, ad policies and privacy

Phone campaigns touch both Google’s ad policies and Canada’s privacy rules.

Recording calls only with notice

Recording calls can help with training and checking what callers asked for, but callers must be told the call is being recorded, usually with a short message at the start. Recordings are personal information, so PIPEDA principles apply in general: say why you record, keep recordings secure, keep them only as long as needed and limit who can listen. Health or legal details mentioned on a call should never go into analytics or ad targeting.

Ad policies and verification

Google applies its general policies to phone ads, including accurate claims and a business name that matches who answers. Some services face extra checks before ads show, including locksmiths, garage door services and other home service trades, as well as financial and health services. We check what applies to your business before launch.

Texts and follow up

Texting a caller back about their own request is part of the job. Sending them promotions later is commercial messaging under CASL, which needs consent, identification of the sender and an unsubscribe option. This is a marketing observation, not legal advice.

How phone campaigns fit with the rest of Google Ads

Phone call campaigns are one part of Google Ads management for Toronto and Canadian businesses. Many trades that rely on calls are also eligible for pay per lead Local Services Ads, which charge for leads rather than clicks and can run alongside search ads. People who visited your site without calling can be reached again with remarketing across Google’s network, and clinics and firms that explain their work well on camera can add YouTube ad campaigns. For the wider approach to enquiries across every channel, see our lead generation services. The Google Ads lead generation and Local lead generation pages in this group cover form based search campaigns and area based enquiry sources.

How we manage Google Ads call campaigns

Canada Create works in plain steps, each one written down for you.

A free review

We look at your Google Ads account, including any call only ads still running, your hours, who answers and what a good call sounds like in your business.

A custom proposal

You receive a custom proposal covering the move off call only ads if you have them, the replacement ads and receiving page, the schedule by hour and day, the minimum call length that counts as a lead and the answering setup, with fees quoted in writing and the ad budget on its own line.

Build and launch

Ads, call assets, forwarding numbers and pages are set up in your own account, and nothing goes live until you have seen the ad wording and the schedule.

Monthly reporting

Every month you receive the call report and a short list of decisions, such as hours to add, searches to drop or a page change to test.

What Google Ads call campaigns cost

Phone call campaigns are quoted in writing after the free review. Your ad budget is paid directly to Google and shown separately from our fees. Canada Create quotes the work for your situation.

What drives the quote

• How many call only ads need replacing before February 2027.
• How many services and areas need their own ads and schedules.
• Whether a receiving page needs building or an existing page can be improved.
• Whether ads run overnight and need an after hours answering setup.
• How much AI answering and CS+ setup is included.
• Whether your trade needs extra Google verification steps.

A single locksmith covering one city during business hours is a very different quote from a restoration company taking calls around the clock across several regions.

Choosing a partner for call campaigns

A phone campaign is judged by calls that turn into jobs, not by clicks. Ask questions that show whether a partner thinks the same way.

Questions worth asking

• Who owns the accounts? The answer should be you, for the ad account, the forwarding numbers, the pages and the CRM records.
• Are any of our ads call only ads, and what is the plan before February 2027?
• Will ads only show when someone can answer?
• What minimum call length will count as a lead, and why?
• Will we see missed calls in the report?
• Will we see which searches produced real calls?
• Is ad spend shown separately from your fees?

Warning signs

Be cautious of anyone who promises a number of calls or a fixed cost per call, who counts every ring as a lead regardless of length, or who sells pay per call leads that are also sent to your competitors.

Your next step

Book a free call campaign review, especially if your account still runs call only ads. Have your opening hours, your after hours plans and a rough idea of how many ad calls you get ready. Call (416) 273-9030, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm, and Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm. After hours, our 24/7 AI agent answers the toll-free line, +1 (800) 808-9235, and we’ll follow up the next business morning. You can also reach us through our contact page. We reply within one business day. Our office is at 126 Willowdale Avenue, Suite 3, Toronto, and you can read about our agency first.