Google Ads is one of the most powerful tools for driving phone leads, especially for businesses where a conversation is key to closing the deal. And since calls convert to revenue 10-15x more than web leads, these are often the most valuable outcomes you can generate from search advertising. For industries like healthcare, home services, insurance, and automotive, where trust and human connections matter, a phone call often signals a buyer who’s ready to act.

That’s why improving the quality and conversion rate of your phone leads — even by just a few percentage points — can create outsized gains for your business. When your Google Ads campaigns are optimized not just for clicks, but for meaningful conversations that lead to appointments or sales, the ROI can eclipse that of nearly any other tactic in your paid media mix.

In this post, we’ll dive into the latest Google Ads phone lead benchmarks across industries, so you can see how you stack up against the competition. If you discover you’re falling behind, don’t worry, we’ll also dive into five tried and true tactics you can use to drive more call conversions and revenue from your search ads. 

Google Ads Paid Search Performance by Industry

In our recent report, we analyzed anonymized insights our AI captured on over 60 million phone calls and 500 million minutes of conversations. We specifically drilled into phone conversations generated by Google Ads, so you can understand phone lead quality from this channel. 

Our research showed that Google Ads is an incredibly effective phone lead driver, though the results vary by industry. Check out the data below to see how you stack up against your peers:

Want more data? Download the full Call Conversion Industry Benchmarks Report! 

5 Tactics To Improve Phone Lead Rates And ROAS From Google Ads

How do your Google Ads phone lead and conversion rates stack up against your peers? Whether you’re beating the benchmarks or not, there are always opportunities for improvement. Check out the tactics below to learn how you can get more value from your Google Ads.

1. Shift ad spend to the keywords driving the most valuable calls

Not all keywords drive white-hot phone leads. Some tend to drive low-value calls where customers ask for directions, store hours, or other general information. But how can you tell which keywords are driving which types of inquiries? Obviously, listening to every phone call isn’t feasible or scalable. So, to achieve this, leading companies use AI-powered platforms like Invoca to analyze every phone conversation and score leads.

By analyzing which search terms are driving qualified phone calls and actual revenue, you can optimize your keyword strategy. Shift budget away from low-performing or irrelevant terms and reinvest in the ones proven to produce real business outcomes. This targeted approach increases ROI by ensuring every advertising dollar is directed at opportunities with the highest potential.

With this insight, you’re not just tracking call volume, you’re measuring call quality and intent. This allows you to take a more nuanced and profitable approach to keyword bidding, aligning your strategy with what truly drives results instead of surface-level engagement.

2. Use phone lead and conversion data to fuel better results from Smart Bidding and Performance Max

Feeding call conversion data back into Google Ads’ automated systems, like Smart Bidding or Performance Max, makes your campaigns smarter over time. Rather than optimizing for generic clicks or call volume, these AI-powered tools can prioritize the types of interactions that consistently lead to appointments, sales, or other key outcomes.

By integrating your call data into the optimization loop, you train Google’s algorithms to recognize the signals that matter most to your business. This feedback improves bidding accuracy and helps reduce wasted spend, as the system learns to prioritize ad placements that are more likely to result in revenue-generating calls.

3. Retarget phone leads that didn’t convert

Just because someone didn’t convert on the first call doesn’t mean the opportunity is lost. Callers who showed interest but didn’t buy are some of your warmest leads, as they’ve already taken the time to engage with your brand. By creating retargeting audiences from these non-converting callers, you can serve tailored ads or special offers to re-engage them at just the right time.

This strategy keeps your brand top-of-mind during the consideration phase, giving you another shot at conversion before they go to a competitor. Whether through search, display, or social retargeting, it’s a cost-effective way to nurture valuable leads back into the funnel.

4. Suppress non-lead and converted callers from seeing ads

Wasting ad spend on people who have already converted — or who call for reasons unrelated to sales — is one of the easiest leaks to plug. By suppressing these audiences from your campaigns, you can drastically improve cost efficiency. For example, someone calling for tech support or a billing issue likely doesn’t need to see your next product promotion ad.

Similarly, if a customer has already purchased, there’s no need to keep spending to bring them back for the same product or service. Suppression ensures your ads reach only the audiences still in the buying journey, helping you stretch your budget and focus on net-new revenue.

5. Add your most valuable callers to lookalike campaigns

High-value callers who have scheduled appointments or purchased over the phone are your gold standard. By using these top-performers to build lookalike audiences, you can scale your campaigns with confidence. Platforms like Meta, Google, and LinkedIn allow you to target new users who resemble your best callers in terms of behaviors, demographics, or interests.

This strategy enables you to expand your reach without sacrificing quality. Instead of guessing who to target next, you let the data show you, helping you connect with prospects who are more likely to call, convert, and drive revenue. It’s one of the most powerful ways to grow efficiently while maintaining high lead quality.

Download the Full Report to See Industry-Specific Data

Want to see how you stack up against the competition? Download the Call Conversion Benchmarks Report for your industry:

• Automotive Industry Benchmarks
• Business Services Industry Benchmarks
• Consumer Services Industry Benchmarks
• Financial Services Industry Benchmarks
• Healthcare Industry Benchmarks
• Home Services Industry Benchmarks
• Senior Care Industry Benchmarks
• Telecommunications Industry Benchmarks
• Travel and Hospitality Industry Benchmarks