How to Track Phone Calls in Google Analytics 4: A Simple Guide

If your business drives sales over the phone from its website or digital advertising, you need to track these valuable conversions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Phone call tracking has become even more crucial as businesses navigate the post-cookie world and seek more reliable first-party data sources.

Tracking phone calls in Google Analytics 4 gives you comprehensive insights into which marketing channels, campaigns, and website pages are driving your highest-value phone conversations. This data empowers you to make smarter optimization decisions, prove marketing ROI, and understand the complete customer journey—including both online interactions and offline conversations.

In 2025, with GA4 now the standard analytics platform, the process for implementing phone call tracking has evolved significantly from the Universal Analytics days. There are two primary approaches to tracking phone calls in GA4: using Google's native phone call conversion tracking through Google Ads, or integrating a dedicated call tracking software like Invoca with GA4. Let's explore how both options work in today's analytics landscape.

How to Track Phone Calls in Google Analytics 4

You can track phone calls that originate from a phone number on your website using Google's phone call conversion tracking with Google Ads. This integration allows you to see how effectively your ads drive phone calls from your website.

Google's system works by placing dynamically generated Google forwarding numbers that replace your phone number on your site. Since Google's 2024 updates to their ad platform, “call extensions” have been renamed to “call assets” as part of their asset-based advertising approach. 

The great thing about using the native call tracking in Google Analytics is that Google provides the service at no charge. Well, you’re still paying for the clicks on your paid search ads, but you get call data in Google Ads for free. There are some drawbacks to tracking calls in Google Analytics this way, however, which we will cover later.

Here's how to set up call tracking in Google Analytics 4:

1. Set up call assets in Google Ads

First, you need to have call assets set up in your Google Ads account. According to Google's support documentation:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
2. In the page menu on the left, click "Ads & assets" and then "Assets"
3. Click the plus button and select "Call asset"
4. Enter your business phone number
5. Select your call reporting options
6. Choose whether to use a Google forwarding number (recommended for tracking)
7. Set your scheduling preferences for when your call asset should appear

Check out this Google support article to learn more about call assets.  

2. Create phone call conversion actions in Google Ads

Next, you'll need to create specific conversion actions for phone calls:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
2. Click "Tools & Settings" in the upper right corner
3. Under "Measurement," click "Conversions"
4. Click the plus button, then select "Phone calls"
5. Choose "Calls to a phone number on your website"
6. Complete the form with your conversion details:
   
   • Name your conversion action (e.g., "Website Call Inquiry")
   • Set a value if applicable
   • Choose your count model (one per click or every click)
   • Set your conversion window (how long after an ad click a call can be counted)
   • Define attribution model preferences

See this Google support article to learn more about call conversion tracking.

3. Configure call duration threshold

GA4 uses call duration as a proxy for conversion quality. Define the minimum duration that indicates a quality call:

1. In the conversion setup, locate the "Call length" field
2. Set the minimum duration that qualifies as a conversion (e.g., 60 seconds)
3. Calls shorter than this threshold won't be counted as conversions

4. Link Google Ads to GA4

To see call conversion data in GA4, you need to link your Google Ads and GA4 accounts:

1. In GA4, navigate to Admin
2. In the Property column, select "Data Streams"
3. Select your web data stream
4. Under "Google Ads Linking," click "Configure"
5. Select the Google Ads account you want to link
6. Enable "Import Google Ads campaigns, ad groups, and performance data"
7. Click "Confirm"

5. Implement Google Tag for website call tracking

To track calls from your website:

1. In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag
2. Select "Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration"
3. Enter your Measurement ID
4. Add a trigger for when users click on phone numbers (see GTM implementation details below)
5. Publish your changes

How to Set Up Phone Call Tracking in Google Tag Manager for GA4

Google Tag Manager makes it significantly easier to implement call tracking in GA4. Here's how to set it up:

Phase 1: Create a trigger for phone number clicks

Before you begin, ensure your website's phone numbers use the "tel:" protocol in hyperlinks. For example, if your phone number is 855-456-5675, the HTML markup should be: <a href="tel:855-456-5675">855-456-5675</a>

Step 1: Enable built-in variables for clicks

1. In Google Tag Manager, click "Variables"
2. Under "Built-in Variables," click "Configure"
3. In the "Clicks" section, enable all options (especially "Click URL" and "Click Text")
4. Click "Save"

Step 2: Create the trigger

1. Click "Triggers" in the left navigation, then "New"
2. Name your trigger (e.g., "Phone Number Click")
3. Click "Trigger Configuration" and select "Click - Just Links"
4. Under "This trigger fires on," select "Some Link Clicks"
5. Set the condition: "Click URL" | "contains" | "tel:"
6. Click "Save"

Phase 2: Create a GA4 event for phone call tracking

Now, let's connect this trigger to a GA4 event:

Step 1: Create the GA4 event tag

1. In Google Tag Manager, click "Tags" then "New"
2. Name your tag (e.g., "GA4 - Phone Call Event")
3. Click "Tag Configuration" and select "Google Analytics: GA4 Event"
4. Enter your GA4 Measurement ID
5. Under "Event Name," enter "phone_call" (follow GA4 naming conventions)
6. Under "Event Parameters," add:
   
   • Parameter Name: "page_location" | Value: {{Page URL}}
   • Parameter Name: "phone_number" | Value: {{Click URL}}
   • Parameter Name: "page_title" | Value: {{Page Title}}
7. Click "Triggering" and select your "Phone Number Click" trigger
8. Click "Save"

See this Google Support article to learn more about measuring phone calls as events in GA4.

Phase 3: Mark phone call events as conversions in GA4

Unlike Universal Analytics' goal-based system, GA4 uses an event-based model where you simply mark specific events as conversions:

1. In GA4, navigate to "Configure" > "Events"
2. Find your "phone_call" event in the list
3. Toggle the "Mark as conversion" switch to the "On" position

Once enabled, these phone call events will appear in your conversion reports.

Phase 4: Create custom reports for phone call analysis

To analyze your phone call data effectively:

1. In GA4, navigate to "Reports" > "Library"
2. Click "Create new report"
3. Select "Blank" to create a custom report
4. Configure your dimensions (e.g., Source, Medium, Campaign)
5. Add metrics (including your phone call conversion events)
6. Save and name your report

The Limitations of Google's Native Call Tracking

While Google's native call tracking solution offers basic functionality, it comes with several limitations:

1. Limited conversion definition - Even with the updated call assets system, Google still primarily determines a conversion using call duration as a proxy. This means calls lasting longer than your threshold (e.g., 60 seconds) count as conversions regardless of the actual outcome. Customer service calls, people on hold, and product inquiries may be counted as conversions, potentially skewing your cost per acquisition (CPA) metrics.
   
   
2. Attribution gaps - Google's system primarily tracks calls resulting directly from ad clicks. If someone sees your ad but doesn't click it, then later visits your site and calls, that conversion won't be properly attributed to the original ad impression.
   
   
3. Minimal call insights - While you can see which keywords, ads, and campaigns drive calls, you get no visibility into the actual conversation content, caller intent, or call outcomes.
   
   
4. Cookie dependency - As third-party cookies continue to phase out, Google's tracking capabilities may be further limited.
   

Why You Should Use Call Tracking Software with GA4

Integrating an AI-powered call tracking platform like Invoca with Google Analytics will allow you to pass more complete conversion data to your ad platforms and take your digital marketing optimizations to the next level. It will enable you to drive more conversions on the phone and on your website, and it can also help you significantly reduce your CPA, which is always a good thing.

Now, here are some advantages of using call tracking software with Google Analytics 4:

1. More accurate phone call conversion reporting - When you use a call tracking platform like Invoca with Google Ads, you can use AI-powered conversation analytics to accurately and automatically detect caller intent, conversions, and other events that happen on the phone. You can also detect, segment, and report on more phone call events with call tracking, like product interest shown, service call, appointment set, or any call outcome that matters to your business.
2. Deep insights into buyer intent - AI call analytics provides deep insights into why customers are calling. From product interest to likelihood to buy, you can use AI signals to trigger retargeting and suppression events in Google Ads to convert more customers and reduce wasted spend. You can even use AI-powered tools like Invoca Signal AI Discovery to uncover customer interactions that you did not know were happening, like customer complaints, website issues, or people calling to buy products that you aren’t advertising. This data is used to create new event Signals so you can report and track them in Google Analytics.
3. Additional call data for ad optimization - Using call tracking with Google Analytics gives you a wealth of information like keywords, ads and campaigns, and specific web pages that drove calls, and even keywords that were spoken on the calls to help you optimize your campaigns. You can also access call recordings and listen to exactly what your customers are saying.
4. Ability to track calls that aren’t from ad clicks - When you use a call tracking platform with Google Analytics, you can also track calls from your website that were from direct or organic traffic. You can also track calls from all types of paid media including display, paid search, YouTube ads, and more. Note that you can only view your website call data and data from Google properties in Google Ads. Microsoft Ads (aka Bing) for example cannot be viewed in Google Analytics, but can be seen in their analytics platform or in Invoca’s reporting.
5. Data to create call-based customer segments in Google Analytics - You can drive even more conversions by creating call-based segments in Google Analytics using call tracking data. For example, you can identify callers who did not submit an application, and create an audience that you can send to Google Ads or Google display network. This audience can be retargeted or pushed for paid search to help re-engage people who did not finish their application.

How to Use Invoca Call Tracking with Google Analytics 4

Your integration reports your Invoca phone calls and Signals to Google Analytics as events. If you want to see Invoca data in other reports or create audiences based on the data, the first step is to create new events in Google Analytics based on the signals you have set up in your call tracking platform, e.g., conversions.

1. Send conversion events from Invoca to GA4

According to Invoca's integration documentation, their platform seamlessly transmits call data to GA4 as events:

1. Set up the Invoca and GA4 integration through Invoca's platform
2. Configure which call attributes and signals to send to GA4
3. Map Invoca's conversion signals to GA4 event parameters

2. View Invoca call data in GA4 reports

Once integrated, you can access your call data in your engagement reports. You can view them under engagement in events, conversions, or create custom reports using Explorations.

3. Create audiences for retargeting and suppression based on caller behavior and intent

Creating Audiences in Google Analytics is very useful. The audiences can be published to advertising destinations, such as Google Ads and Display & Video 360, to be used in targeting and suppression. This helps you deliver more relevant and compelling ads to your consumers. 

Follow the steps outlined here to create an Audience based on users who completed an event based on Signals you have set up in Invoca. While it’s possible to target all users who call, we recommended you create your audiences based on Invoca Signals instead—such as calls that did or did not convert—to get more granular retargeting and suppression based on the caller’s intent and the actions they took on the call.

Watch this video to get started:

Next Steps for Implementing Call Tracking in GA4

Whether you choose Google's native solution or a dedicated platform like Invoca, tracking phone calls in GA4 is essential for businesses that generate leads and sales through phone conversations.

For basic call tracking needs, Google's solution provides a good starting point. For businesses where phone calls represent significant revenue, investing in an end-to-end revenue execution platform with AI-powered call analytics provides deeper insights and more accurate attribution.

Get the Revenue Execution Playbook for Marketers to learn more about driving phone leads and optimizing your call conversion tracking.