How Do Manually Dialled Conversions Work

[#1]

I understand how Google Call Forwarding works.

I understand how someone can see the forwarding number in an ad or on a website, and dial it manually.

Question: how does Google know which ad/keyword is responsible for the call?

Landlines don't have cookies...

[#2]

Just adding a note to RobSkelton question to make it more clear.

Suppose i have seen different or same ad with Google forwarding number but for different keywords then how it will be tracked for which keyword/ad, I have manually dialled the GFN as the number will be same for all the ads?

[#3]

@RobSkelton;

Google forwarding number is a feature added to call extensions. See it as a part of a cell extension

The ad shown with the button "call" is attributed to the  call, and the KW triggered the ad is attributed to the call (as it would be attributed to the click, if there was no call)

[#4]

Hi Moshe,

We are setting up AdWords call tracking within our new website and I'm aware that google will only allow 1 number to be displayed per page - i am sure however if the user then looks around the site and see a number on a page if that will be the trackable number and if that page had two different numbers to be displayed?

any advice would very helpfull.

thanks

Simon

[#5]

Hi @RobSkelton

Very interesting - we generally use 3rd party call tracking so I haven't looked into this very much.

Are you able to see which keywords generated these calls? The best I can see (quickly) is Campaign./Ad Group details on the Call Details report. I glanced at some data and my initial reaction is, that is why we don't pay for those calls (because there is very little info attached to them).

They may use some sort of tech that can suggest, "Well this number was dialed x amount of time after an ad was displayed from this Campaign/Ad Group" and make an association that way (potentially similar to how some cross device data is gathered) - or if there are separate extensions per ad group/campaign, I'm sure that data can be used to attribute calls in some way. They will definitely have a record that the phone number was dialed, then they probably do what they can to connect the dots.

Sorry I couldn't add more...

-Tommy

[#6]

@RobSkelton;

  I recall  that I saw a post explaining that if the number  manually dialed it would be recorded as a click  (with a GFN that would happen only on desktop and tablets - on mobile, GFN is shown as a "call button": "This phone number, which is either toll-free, equivalent to a local number, or a local number if available, will show with your ad on tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. A clickable “Call” button will show with your ad on high-end mobile devices (such as iPhones and Android devices with full Internet browsers).)

Google doesn't say that explicitly in the help center,  but it could be interpreted  from here:

• When a customer calls the Google forwarding number listed with your call-only ad or call extension (on desktop) or clicks the call button with a Google forwarding number (mobile), the call will be rerouted to your business phone number.

I also recall that I read somewhere, in the early days of the feature,  that the impression is attributed to the last ad shown with the number - regardless whether there was a call  or not. Hence the click is attributed to this (impression of an) ad.

[#7]

@Simon Taylor;

My recommendation would be to keep the GFN  to a call extension only,  and have   a trackable  local number or a toll free number on the website itself. Having a different trackable business number  on the website,  would allow you to  segment  conversions  when  a user (instantly) clicks  the ad  ("I want to do" mobile micro moment), compared to a user browsing your site at his / her leisure and  call the business later.

[#8]

My reason for asking is that a client received a manually dialled phone call conversion in an ad group that had been deleted 3 days before. So for the first time I wondered how Google allocated such conversions. Because Google doesn't detail how anywhere, I presume the process is not precise, but near enough.

Most likely Google knows that 90+% of calls are made the moment the searcher sees the number, so manually-dialled calls would be allocated to the most recent ad click that qualifies.

But I would be curious to know if anybody has a definite answer. In some cases a wrongly allocated conversion could be costly, and I have always presumed that conversion tracking is perfect.

(For now I'll put manually-dialled conversions in the same imprecise basket as geo-targeting and the keyword planner).