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Google Ads calls

Attach a dedicated NMC tracking number to a Google Ads campaign as a call asset.

Google Ads calls tracks people who tap or dial the phone number shown directly on your Google Search ad (which Google calls a call asset). To track people who click your ad, browse your website, and then call, set up website call tracking as well.

Attach a tracking number to a campaign

Section titled “Attach a tracking number to a campaign”
  1. Connect Google Ads on the business and pick your Google Ads account.
  2. Open Tracking, choose Add tracking, and select Google Ads calls.
  3. Pick the Google Ads campaign that should use this tracking number.
  4. Select a verified forwarding number, then choose a tracking number. See where new numbers come from.
  5. Review the campaign and quote (which notes that Call Reporting will be enabled in Google Ads), then choose Start tracking.
  6. Check the call asset status in NMC. If it shows Not live, see if a call asset isn’t live.

Each Google Ads call tracking source attaches to one specific campaign rather than creating an account-wide call asset across all campaigns. Also keep in mind that Google reviews call assets on its own schedule, so seeing a tracking number in NMC doesn’t guarantee Google has approved it or serves it on every ad impression.

How Call Reporting and conversion counting work together

Section titled “How Call Reporting and conversion counting work together”

Setting up Google Ads call tracking turns on Call Reporting in your Google Ads account. Call Reporting allows Google to display a temporary Google forwarding number on your ad that rings straight through to your NMC tracking number, giving NMC the call details needed to match conversions back to the ad.

With Call Reporting enabled, Google Ads also counts ad calls under its built-in Calls from ads conversion action, while NMC uploads its own stage-based conversions as leads progress:

  • While your bidding setting stays on Keep my current bidding, NMC’s conversion actions stay Secondary (observation-only) and your campaigns keep using Google’s existing setup.
  • When you switch to Bid on a stage and choose Apply, NMC switches Google’s built-in Calls from ads action to Secondary so Smart Bidding counts each call once through NMC’s chosen stage.

If someone later turns off Call Reporting in Google Ads or deletes one of NMC’s conversion actions, NMC flags Google Ads conversion setup changed. Choose Restore conversion setup in NMC to put those settings back (NMC never overwrites changes silently on its own).

Move a number to a different campaign

Section titled “Move a number to a different campaign”

To move an existing tracking number to another campaign, open the number on its tracking source and choose Change call asset. NMC attaches the call asset to the newly chosen campaign and detaches it from every other campaign in that Google Ads account (including any campaigns it was manually linked to in Google Ads), keeping one tracking number per campaign.

If a call asset isn’t live

Section titled “If a call asset isn’t live”

Whenever Google stops showing a tracking number on your ads, Overview and the tracking source page display Call asset for {number} isn’t live (also shown on that source’s row in Tracking) and explain what happened:

What happened Problem link Button on the number page
Someone paused or removed the call asset in Google Ads. Manage call asset Restore call asset
Google Ads rejected or didn’t finish NMC’s setup request. Try call asset again Try call asset again
Google disapproved the asset, isn’t serving it, or another call asset already uses that phone. Manage call asset Change call asset

Restore call asset and Try call asset again re-attach or unpause the call asset on the same campaign in one click (NMC never re-enables paused or removed assets until you ask it to). Change call asset lets you move the number onto a different campaign.

Testing calls and conversion uploads

Section titled “Testing calls and conversion uploads”

Dial the tracking number directly from another phone to confirm call forwarding works and check the recorded activity in NMC. When real calls arrive from your ads, open the lead’s Google Ads conversions section to track upload status: NMC uploads New for calls from ads about 12 hours after the call, uploads Qualified and Converted 24 hours after the lead reaches them, and holds those back if AI review suggests closing the lead as Not a lead until someone reviews it. See Upload rules for minimum call length and other requirements.

Remove Google Ads call tracking

Section titled “Remove Google Ads call tracking”

Always use Remove tracking in NMC while your Google Ads account is still connected. NMC removes the tracking number’s call asset from every campaign in that Google Ads account (including manual campaign links). If Google Ads is disconnected when you remove tracking, NMC can’t edit your campaigns, so remove the call asset inside Google Ads yourself before the number’s release date.

Simply disconnecting Google Ads in NMC leaves existing call assets attached to your ads (where calls continue forwarding normally until released); reconnecting the same Google Ads account lets NMC manage them again.