Google Ads

Google Ads getting clicks but no calls? Check these first

4 November 2026

Make sure the calls are being counted

Before you change anything else, find out whether the calls are missing or only uncounted. A customer who sees your ad, remembers the name and phones the number off your van won't show up in either of the Google Ads call tools below, because both count calls to a Google forwarding number.

Google Ads has a tool for calls straight from the ad and another for calls from your website. Call reporting puts a Google forwarding number on your call assets and call ads, so a call made straight from the ad is measured, and you can count calls longer than a length you choose as conversions. South Africa is on Google's list of countries where those forwarding numbers work. For people who click through to your website first and call from there, website call conversion tracking swaps the number on your site for a forwarding number and shows which keywords and ads led to the call. Website call tracking needs a tag and a small snippet added to your website, so whoever looks after the site has to be involved.

If neither is set up, your account may be getting calls you can't see. Fix this first, because the checks below are easier to judge when you know which clicks became calls.

Check someone answers while the ads are running

Call reporting shows whether each call connected and when it started. Look at those times. If calls are coming in while you're up on a roof and going unanswered, the ads have done their job and the calls are being lost at your end.

By default a Google Ads campaign is set to run "All day". You can set an ad schedule so the ads only show on the days and hours you choose. Call assets have their own setting too: Google lets you set the number to appear only when your business can accept calls. If nobody can pick up on a Saturday, the tap-to-call button doesn't have to show on a Saturday.

Then ring your own number from a phone you don't use for work. Does it go to a voicemail that's full? To a switchboard nobody staffs? To a cellphone in a bakkie with no signal? Each of those loses a call you've already paid to get.

Read the searches you're actually paying for

A keyword is what you add to your account. A search term is what the person actually typed. The search terms report shows you what people typed, and that's where clicks without calls hide.

Keywords set to broad match can show your ad on searches that are only related to what you wrote. A plumber bidding on "geyser installation" can end up paying for "geyser installation course" or "plumber salary". Someone searching for a course or a salary can click, read and leave without any reason to phone you.

When you find searches like that, add them as negative keywords, which stop your ads showing for them. Google's own advice is to look for searches that sit close to your keywords but are after something else. On our Google Ads page we name "Broad keywords catching searches you cannot serve" as where the budget leaks on search, and going through this report is part of the tuning we do on the accounts we run.

Check where the ads are showing

A roofer in Pretoria East paying for clicks from Durban gets clicks, and no calls worth having.

Open the location settings. Google's location targeting has a broader option, "Presence or interest", which also reaches people who've shown an interest in your area without being in it. Google recommends it on Search. For a trade that drives to the customer, the narrower "Presence" option, which aims at people in your chosen locations, may suit better. Google also says its location signals aren't accurate in every case. We covered the setting itself in how to advertise your business online in South Africa; here the question is whether the clicks you've had came from places you'd send a van.

Read the page people land on

If the searches are right and the area is right, the click is landing somewhere that doesn't make people call. Google judges your landing page experience partly on whether the page meets the expectations set by the ad, how useful and relevant it is, how easy it is to find your way around, and the number of links on it.

Open the page on your phone, the way the person who clicked will see it, and check:

• Does the page talk about the job the ad offered? An ad for "burst geyser repair" that lands on your homepage makes the visitor hunt for it.
• Can you see the phone number without scrolling, and does it dial when you tap it?
• Does it say which areas you cover?
• Is there a short quote form for people who can't talk right now?
• Does the business look real: a name, photos of your own work, reviews?

We build landing pages for paid ads for exactly this reason, so a click has somewhere to turn into a call or a quote request. If the site underneath is dated, we'll say so and tell you to fix that before spending more on clicks.

Some clicks aren't real interest

Not every click is a person. Google calls clicks that don't show genuine interest in your business invalid clicks, and that includes accidental ones. Google says you aren't charged for them, and where it finds them after billing it credits your next invoice where it can. So a run of clicks with no calls is worth checking against everything above before you put it down to bots.

When the ads aren't the problem

Sometimes every check comes back clean and the calls still don't come. Then it's worth asking whether paid search is the right spend for you right now. We wrote about that choice in SEO or Google Ads first? And if your diary is already full, there's little point paying for more enquiries. Tell us that on a call and we'll tell you to hold off.

Want your account looked at?

Bring your current campaigns to the call, or none at all. If you're not sure paid ads are the right first spend, we'll tell you straight.

Book a call and get a straight answer on your ad spend.