If Google Ads brings your business phone enquiries, check whether any of those enquiries still depend on the legacy call-only ad format. Moving to its replacement involves more than adding a telephone number: customers can take a different route, calls must reach the right person, and your conversion settings need to measure what you actually value.
For a repair firm, appointment-led business or specialist service, the useful outcome is an answered conversation that can become suitable work. Build the replacement around that outcome, then verify it before retiring the old ads.
What is changing, and when?
As checked on 6 October 2026, Google’s current migration guidance lists February 2026 as the cutoff for creating new call-only ads and February 2027 as the point when existing call-only ads stop receiving impressions. Its replacement is a responsive search ad with a call asset. Google recommends removing the old ad after the replacement is approved and starts performing.
The February 2027 milestone is still ahead. An existing call-only ad working today does not remove the need to prepare. Equally, this change does not mean your business must stop advertising for phone enquiries.
Start by asking whoever manages the account to identify the actual ad types in use. A campaign named “Calls” is not proof that it contains call-only ads. If it already uses responsive search ads with call assets, focus on checking that setup rather than rebuilding it simply because of the retirement notice.
Understand the replacement customer journey
A responsive search ad can take someone to your website; its call asset can also offer a route to call. According to Google’s call asset documentation, call assets do not appear with every impression. Adding one does not turn every appearance of your ad into a guaranteed call opportunity.
This makes the website part of the migration. Someone who clicks through should find the same service, coverage and offer that attracted them, with a clear route to enquire. Check the page on a real mobile phone, including the telephone link and any booking or enquiry alternative.
For example, an advert for an urgent repair should lead to a page that explains whether you provide that repair and how to reach you. A broad homepage that makes the visitor search through unrelated services adds an avoidable step. Our guide to Google Ads landing pages covers that decision in more detail.
Keep the promise realistic. If the business answers during office hours, do not write replacement adverts that suggest round-the-clock support. Changing the ad format cannot create staffing capacity.
Audit the existing setup before changing it
Record a baseline so you can explain what changed afterwards. Include the date range and note any closures, seasonal changes or unusual demand. A few quiet days alone will not establish whether the replacement works.
- Ads and destinations: which legacy ads are active, which services they promote, and which pages the replacement ads should use.
- Telephone routes: the advertised numbers, the teams receiving calls, and what happens when nobody answers.
- Coverage: where you can deliver the service and which campaigns represent each branch or service line.
- Measurement: the conversion actions currently used, their qualification rules and whether they influence bidding.
- Business outcomes: answered enquiries, suitable jobs or appointments, and the reasons other calls did not progress.
Save the existing configuration and reports before editing. Assign one person to coordinate the ad changes and another to check the receiving telephone route. A campaign manager seeing an approved asset cannot confirm that the right team answers it.
Attach the right number at the right level
Google allows call assets at account, campaign and ad group level; the most specific level takes precedence, as explained in its guidance on call asset levels. An ad group asset overrides a campaign or account asset, while a campaign asset overrides the account asset.
Use an account-level number only when it genuinely suits the whole account. Where a branch, department or service needs a different receiving team, review the more specific associations. Look for old overrides as well as the new asset you have just added.
Also check any location assets. Google says ads featuring particular business locations may use the numbers associated with those locations instead of the call asset number. Treat that as another route to verify, especially if reception and sales use different lines.
Check that the number can be verified
Under Google’s phone-number verification policy, the number must be in service and relate to the advertised business. If you verify it by displaying it on the website, it must appear as text: a number shown only inside an image does not meet that method.
Check the actual number on the destination site and the asset’s approval status. If your website changes numbers dynamically for tracking, ask the tracking provider or account manager to confirm the supported verification route. Avoid making unrelated tracking changes just to work around a disapproval.
Schedule the call asset around answered hours
Google’s call asset checklist recommends including business hours. Set the asset’s schedule around the hours when someone can answer the relevant line, including realistic arrangements for lunch breaks, weekends and holidays.
The asset schedule and campaign schedule are separate things to inspect. Restricting when the telephone option appears is not the same as restricting when the advert itself runs. Decide whether website enquiries outside answered hours are useful, then check that the page explains when someone will respond.
Before launch, call the receiving number directly from another phone. Confirm the greeting, routing, voicemail and any overflow arrangement. Repeat this for each branch or department that has a separate number. This tests your telephone system; it does not prove that an ad-generated conversion has been recorded.
Check what counts as a call conversion
Google’s call reporting guidance explains that it uses Google forwarding numbers to report details such as connection and duration. The United Kingdom is on its supported-country list. These forwarding numbers belong to Google and can change, so do not copy one into your permanent website contact details or printed material.
Next, distinguish the routes you want to measure. Google’s overview of phone call conversion tracking separates calls directly from ads, calls to a forwarding number on your website, and clicks on a telephone link on a mobile website. That last method measures the click, not the completed conversation.
Check the conversion action attached to the call asset, the minimum duration where duration-based measurement is used, and which goals the campaign uses for bidding. Google’s migration checklist for call assets recommends making the mapped call conversion primary. Apply that deliberately to the outcome you want the campaign to optimise for, after checking the existing goals.
There is no universal minimum call length that proves a lead is valuable. Use your own call handling experience to choose a sensible threshold. A long wrong-number conversation can still be unsuitable; a short conversation may secure an appointment.
Avoid adding a new call goal without checking the old ones. You could otherwise report a telephone-link click and a subsequent measured call as two successes when the business sees one enquiry. Our guide to conversion reporting from leads to sales explains how to keep the commercial outcome visible.
Do not assume newer AI call features apply in the UK
Google now describes AI-qualified call leads that analyse recordings. However, its current AI-qualified call lead guidance says call recording is available only when both the dialling and receiving numbers are in the United States or Canada. Do not assume a UK account can use that feature because it appears in a general announcement.
For UK phone enquiries, keep checking real suitability with the people answering calls. Platform conversion totals and the business’s assessment of a good enquiry answer different questions.
Launch the replacement, then verify both routes
Prepare the responsive search ads and call assets before retiring the legacy ads. Check approval, associations, destinations, schedules and conversion settings. Agree a review point and a budget limit with the account owner, particularly if old and new ads will overlap.
Once the replacements are serving, review these separately:
- Ad delivery: are the replacement ads eligible and receiving impressions? Investigate disapprovals or unexpected delivery gaps.
- Telephone handling: do calls reach the intended team during answered hours? Compare telephone records with staff experience.
- Measurement: do the reported calls and qualifying conversions make sense against connection, duration and the chosen rules?
- Website enquiries: can people who visit the landing page call, book or submit an enquiry successfully?
- Commercial quality: are enquiries for the advertised service, within your coverage and suitable for the business?
Keep controlled test activity separate from customer results. Do not repeatedly click your own live ads to manufacture a reassuring conversion total. A direct telephone test, a website journey test and evidence from genuine ad enquiries each verify a different part of the route.
Retire the old ads once the replacement is approved, operating and reviewed against the baseline. Record the change date and any changes to measurement so later comparisons have context. If suitable enquiries fall, examine delivery, routing and tracking before assuming you need a higher budget.
Make the migration a practical account review
The next step is to identify any active legacy call-only ads and give their replacements an owner. Then connect the advert, landing page, receiving team and measurement into a route you can check.
BuzzBoost’s paid media work and analytics and reporting services cover those connected decisions. If phone enquiries matter to your business, talk to BuzzBoost about reviewing your call ads and migration plan.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial artwork, not a photograph of a real BuzzBoost office, client or result.
