How to track phone number clicks on your website [step by step guide + video]

Tracking phone number clicks on your website is essential if you want to understand how users behave before they call you. While call tracking gives you the most accurate data, learning how to track phone number clicks is still incredibly valuable because it shows intent and engagement, especially on mobile.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to track clicks to a phone number using Google Tag Manager and GA4, step-by-step, using the exact setup we use at Nimbata. No coding skills required.

Learn more about click to call tracking:

1. How do you add a click to call button on your website?
2. How important it is to track calls from your website?

Ready to dive in?

Video Tutorial: How to track clicks to a phone number on your website

Step by Step guide: Track clicks to a phone number on your website

Not a fan of videos?

No worries!

We’ve got the process documented in detail below.

How click-to-call tracking works

Step 1: Locate the number on your website

First thing is to open your website and check that your number is clickable.

By right clicking on your number and clicking on “Inspect Element” you can see that your number has the following code:

<a href="tel:+19787956037">(978) 795-6037</a>

This confirms that your number uses the tel: protocol, which is required for Google Tag Manager phone number tracking. GTM can only detect a click-to-call action if the link begins with tel:, so verifying this step ensures your tracking will work properly.

Set up Google Tag Manager phone number tracking

Step 2: Set up the Tag and Trigger in Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is an amazing tool that let’s you add pieces of code without programming knowledge, making it easier for marketers and developers to manage and deploy code events effectively.

In this step we set up Google Tag Manager phone number tracking by creating a Tag and a Trigger so an event is sent to Google Analytics 4 each time someone clicks on the phone number on your website.

Click on Add new Tag and Name the Tag “Event – Phone Number Click”

Choose “Google Analytics” as the Tag Type.

…and then select “Google Analytics: GA4 Event”

Next you need to find the Measurement ID property in Google Analytics and paste it in Google Tag Manager.

Head Over to Google Analytics 4 and click on “Admin -> Data Streams -> [Name of your Data Stream]” and copy the Measurement ID

Paste this in the relevant section in Tag Manager

Enter an Event Name but make sure to keep it lowercase and without any spaces.

OPTIONAL: You can add additional event parameters. In this example I added click_url and click_text.

Recommended parameters for better click to call tracking:

• click_url Helps you identify which phone number was clicked (useful if your site has multiple).
• click_text Shows the exact text users clicked, helpful for UI/UX optimization.
• page_location (Optional but useful) Shows the page on which the click happened.

Adding these increases the value of your GA4 data and improves reporting dimensions later.

Next, you want to create the trigger. Enter “Click – Just Links” as the trigger type and choose “Some Link Clicks”.

Fire this trigger when the Click URL starts with tel: (as per example above).

That’s it! You are now ready to Submit the changes in Google Tag Manager! A good practice is to click on Preview, enter the website you wish to test and click on the phone number. Then check if the tag you just created fires. If it does, then submit the changes and deploy.

Fixing common issues

If your tag does not fire correctly, double-check the following:

• The phone number link must start with tel:
• The trigger should be set to Some Link Clicks, not All
• Built-in variables Click URL and Click Text should be enabled in GTM
• Disable built-in “Just Links” delay option (it can block certain tel actions)
• Refresh the GTM preview mode before re-testing

These small adjustments fix 90% of click-to-call tracking issues.

View phone number click events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Step 3: Find the Event in GA4 and mark it as a conversion

Once visitors on your website start clicking on the number, the event will show up in GA4.

Head over to Admin -> Data Display -> Events.

Find the Event you created and mark it as a conversion.

Conclusion: click to call tracking completed

Congrats! 🥳

Now you have successfully managed to track phone numbers clicks from your website. Any click towards that phone number will be tracked as a conversion in Google Analytics 4.

But what next?

Should you pass this to Google Ads as a conversion?

This is something we wouldn’t advise!

If you are serious about conversion tracking, then you need to boost your Call Conversion setup.

Track actual calls towards the phone number – not just clicks.

Ready to learn how?

Nimbata has your back 🙂

If you want to move beyond basic ways to track phone number clicks and start capture call duration, caller intent, conversions, and revenue attribution, then it’s time to consider dedicated call tracking.

With Nimbata, you can:

• track actual calls, not just clicks
• see which channels, campaigns, and keywords drive real conversations
• auto-push call conversions to Google Ads
• analyze caller behavior in detail

Frequently Asked Questions on how to track phone number clicks