Call Extensions

Call Extensions (now called Call Assets) add a clickable phone number to your Google Ads search ads, allowing users to call your business directly from the search results page. On mobile devices, the number appears as a tap-to-call button, while on desktop it displays as a visible phone number. Google can track call duration and report calls as conversions.

Key Takeaways

• Display your phone number directly in the ad for immediate contact
• On mobile, users tap to call without visiting your website first
• Google forwarding numbers enable call tracking, duration reporting, and conversion counting
• Schedule call extensions to show only during business hours
• Calls can be counted as conversions based on minimum duration thresholds you set

What Are Call Extensions

Call Extensions bridge the gap between online advertising and phone-based business. For industries where phone calls are a primary conversion action — legal services, healthcare, home services, insurance — call extensions make the phone number a first-class element of the ad rather than something buried on a landing page.

Device	Display Format	User Action
Mobile	Tap-to-call button with phone icon	One-tap direct call
Desktop	Visible phone number text	Manual dial or click (with VoIP)
Tablet	Tap-to-call or visible number	Varies by device

Call extensions differ from call-only ads. Call extensions add a phone number to your regular search ad (users can still click through to your website). Call-only ads are designed exclusively to generate calls, with no website click option.

How It Works

Setting up call extensions in the 2026 Google Ads interface:

1. Navigate to Ads & assets > Assets and select Call
2. Enter your phone number — must be a local or toll-free number in your target country
3. Enable Google forwarding number (recommended) — Google assigns a tracking number that forwards to your real number, enabling call reporting
4. Set call reporting — choose minimum call duration for counting as a conversion (e.g., 60 seconds)
5. Configure scheduling — set specific hours when the call extension appears (matching your phone availability)
6. Apply to account, campaign, or ad group level

With Google forwarding enabled, you get detailed reporting:

Metric	Description
Phone calls	Total calls received via the extension
Phone impressions	Times the call extension was shown
Phone-through rate (PTR)	Calls / phone impressions
Call duration	Average and individual call lengths
Call conversions	Calls meeting your minimum duration threshold
Caller area code	Geographic origin of calls

Practical Example

A personal injury law firm adds call extensions to their Search campaigns targeting keywords like “car accident lawyer” and “personal injury attorney.”

Configuration:

• Phone number: firm’s intake line
• Google forwarding: enabled
• Minimum call duration for conversion: 90 seconds (filters out accidental calls and quick inquiries)
• Schedule: Monday-Friday 7am-9pm, Saturday 9am-5pm

30-day performance:

Metric	Value
Call extension impressions	8,200
Total calls received	312
Phone-through rate	3.8%
Calls over 90 seconds (conversions)	148
Average call duration	4 minutes 22 seconds
Cost per call conversion	$62
Cases signed from calls	18
Average case value	$8,500

Revenue analysis:

• Call extension spend: $9,176 (148 conversions x $62 CPA)
• Cases signed: 18
• Total case value: $153,000
• ROAS: 1,667%

Compared to website form submissions from the same campaigns:

• Form CPA: $95
• Cases signed per form lead: 8% conversion rate
• Call CPA: $62 with 12.2% case signing rate

Calls convert to signed cases at 1.5x the rate of form submissions and cost 35% less per conversion, making call extensions the firm’s highest-value Ad Extension.

Why It Matters

Call extensions are essential for any business where phone conversations drive revenue. They eliminate friction from the conversion path — instead of clicking an ad, loading a page, finding the phone number, and dialing, the user simply taps once. This reduced friction significantly increases conversion volume for phone-dependent businesses.

The scheduling feature is critically important. Showing a call extension outside business hours leads to unanswered calls, voicemails, and wasted spend. Always align call extension schedules with your actual phone availability. For businesses that can answer calls 24/7, the extension should run continuously. Combine call extensions with Location Extensions for local businesses to maximize trust and accessibility in your ads.