A marketer’s guide on tracking Google Ads leads (forms and calls)

Clicks and impressions don’t always translate to leads, sales, and revenue. A single-digit percentage of clicks converts into something actionable for you. And this is the metric that counts most of all. It’s the index that proves down the line, how effective your work is and if you provide a positive ROI.

Now, imagine going from seeing impersonal clicks to accessing complete lead profiles: name, phone number, location, conversation context, and even missed call timelines. Suddenly, you’re not just advertising; you’re strategically engaging with potential customers.

In this article, we’ll explore how advanced lead tracking in Google Ads, powered by AI and automation, lets you bridge the gap between clicks and conversions, and connect your Google Ads strategy to real Revenue. You’ll learn to maximize impact by tracking actionable leads and tailoring ad campaigns to improve both the customer experience and your bottom line.

Let’s jump into it.

From anonymous clicks to enriched lead profiles

There is a gap between clicks and conversions and Google Ads lead tracking bridges it. Knowing how many people clicked on your ad is important for sure, but who they are, where they’re from, and the context of each interaction they’ve had with your brand is what really makes a difference.

For example, lead tracking tools allow you to track form completions, phone calls, and missed-call data while integrating directly with Google Ads and other Ad tools. This way, you can set up campaigns with ads specifically targeted to individuals who’ve interacted with your brand in meaningful ways.

Google Ads conversion tracking shows you if your campaigns are performing as expected or not. It allows you to measure whether your ads lead to desired actions, like signing up on a form, or placing a call to your business, rather than just generating clicks and impressions.

First of all, you need to determine what counts as a conversion for you. It could be a completed form, a phone call, a purchase, or a simple click on a certain page on your website. It’s all up to you and your business goals. These actions are your benchmarks and they should align with your objectives.

After defining your conversions, Google Ads will track when these actions are completed after someone has clicked on your ads. This process involves the so-called “conversion tag”, a little piece of code that is added to your website. When, for example, a user reaches a thank-you page after filling out a form or finalizing a purchase, then this tag sends a signal back to Google Ads, which in turn, marks this action as a conversion.

Where does this help?

In two words: marketing optimization.

We will analyze it in more detail further below.

Track leads & conversions to optimize your campaigns

Before we delve into more specifics about how tracking leads helps with marketing optimization, allow me to explain in a single phrase. You are no longer guessing.

Conversion tracking can reveal the specific elements in your campaigns that are working or need improvement. Be it the keywords, copy, landing pages, or whatever else, you now KNOW. You don’t just rely on your intuition, but you have real-world data to back them up or change them if need be.

Here’s how conversion tracking can help you optimize your marketing.

Knowing which ads bring in conversions and high-quality leads and which are not, you can:

1. Improve your ad copy and visual elements
2. Segment and target your audience better
3. Optimize your keywords
4. Improve landing pages that fail to bring in leads
5. Adjust your bidding and budget toward more effective campaigns

Customers take a whole journey before reaching the conversion stage. This means, that a form submission is only the last step in a long process, that might have started by clicking on one of your ads.

Without conversion tracking, you wouldn’t know that. It would be a conversion that would have been left with no proper attribution, leaving you with an unreliable ROAS metric.

It gets even worse with offline conversions, like phone calls. Tracking them back to a Google Ad seems almost impossible.

But thankfully, Google Ads conversion tracking is here and helps with all of that.

Let’s see now which conversions you can track.

How to track & optimize leads from form submissions in Google Ads

People who not only click on your ads but also take the extra step of filling out a form, have a higher chance of converting. Usually. Some users do it out of curiosity or lose interest quickly, but as a general rule of thumb, form submission is a good sign. Service-based and B2B businesses especially like them.

Contact and inquiry forms are also a valuable source of data, insights, and information on your potential leads and showcase the effectiveness of your campaigns. So, here’s how to set up form conversion tracking.

Step 1. Go to Goals > Conversions in your Google Ads account.

Step 2. Click Summary and then the “+ Create conversion action” button.

Step 3. Click on “Website“.

Step 4. Add your website and click “Scan“.

Step 5. Choose your conversion goal.

Step 6. Add your conversion URL. This is where you tell Google Ads that when someone visits a specific page, after having first clicked on an ad, it counts as a conversion. For forms, this is usually a “thank you” page, or a page where the submission is confirmed.

Here’s an example from Nimbata’s request for a demo form.

Using the link from this page, we created a conversion event for Google Ads. Then you click on the “Add” button.

Step 7. Scroll down and click on “Save and continue“.

Finally, on the next page, you click on “Finish” and you are done! Now, Google Ads will be tracking form submissions as conversions.

If you need to set up a Google Tag too, then you can use this guide from Google.

Step #2: Track, analyze & optimize form conversions in a single tool

Google Ads does provide some basic conversion tracking data for form submissions, but you still may want a more detailed view of these interactions.

Plenty of tools out there can help with that but call tracking software are unique in their ability to track monitor and optimize both forms and call leads under a single roof. Below you can see the Form Activity dashboard from the Activity menu in Nimbata.

You can customize this view and choose data points like landing page, device, source, etc. We have a complete guide on how to activate form tracking.

Now that you have data, you can start optimizing your lead management and conversions.

For example, under a single screen, you can set up an automation that tags conversions and sends them directly to your Ad tools. All you have to do is add the name of your form and choose the proper action below. Integrating Nimbata with Google or Microsoft ads is quick and simple, thanks to its native integrations.

With more filtering criteria being available soon, you will be able to conduct proper lead scoring to differentiate high-quality leads from low-quality ones, and only send the first ones to your Ad tools, thus training their algorithms to target users that are more highly likely to convert. This, in turn, will improve your ROI and ROAS metrics, all in one! Check the examples below to see what it will be possible to do with forms before Q4 of 2024 ends.

How to track & optimize phone leads in Google Ads

People claim that phone calls are a dying breed in the world of lead generation. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Not only are phone calls alive, but many businesses, especially service-based and local-aiming ones, rely heavily on them. When someone calls your business after seeing an ad, that’s a high-quality lead in action. But without tracking, these leads may go unnoticed, leaving your campaigns with incomplete data. Here’s how to set up phone call tracking in Google Ads to ensure you capture every valuable lead.

Step 1. Go to Goals > Conversions in your Google Ads account.

Step 2. Click Summary and then the “+ Create conversion action” button.

Step 3. Click on “Phone calls” and then select the source of the phone calls you want to track.

Step 4. Here you will set up the tag. Fill in the fields.

In this part, the “Display number” will be replaced by a Google Forwarding Number. When a user calls this number, the call is routed to your business phone line, allowing you to gather detailed information about the call, such as duration, caller area code, and whether the call resulted in a conversion.

Finally, choose the duration of the call that should be taken into account in order for it to count as a conversion, and then click on “Create and continue“.

Step 5. Now, it’s time to set up the tag on your website. Choose the option that fits best for you and follow the instructions.

All done! Now you have set up lead tracking for phone calls on your Google Ads.

There is a simpler process for tracking leads from phone calls. You can use a call tracking tool. It allows you to generate tracking numbers that you can place directly on your ads. Every time someone dials that number, the call will be rerouted to your business number. The call tracking tool will then record, monitor, and analyze the call, instantly providing multiple data points. Nimbata, for example, offers more than 50 data points.

Check out some report examples below. Beautiful, clear, and packed with data.

Step 1. Go to Integrations > Google Ads on the left side menu.

Step 2. Click on “Sign in with Google” and then select your account.

Step 3. Click on “Continue” and then on “Allow“.

If everything goes well, then you should be seeing this picture with your account name inside the blue background.

Step 4. Go to the Google Ads account you have connected to Nimbata. Click on “Create” and then “Conversion action“.

Step 5. Click on “Import” and “CRMs, files or other data sources“. Then click on “Track conversions from clicks” and “Skip this step“.

Step 6. Click on “Continue“. Then select a conversion goal and add a conversion name.

Step 7. Either go to “Settings” and adjust them or click on “Save and continue“.

Step 8. Click on “Done“.

Now, back in the Conversions screen, you should be able to find your new conversion under the appropriate category.

Step 9. Go back to Nimbata, at the Google Ads integration and link the conversion to your account. Then, tie your conversion to an automation. The most typical one is the “After every call” one, which means that when a call is done, then Nimbata will push it back to Google Ads.

You have the flexibility though to create multiple conversions and set them to trigger when specific criteria are met, as shown in the image above. Click on the “Add conversion” button to add a new conversion.

Then, on the “Fires on” menu, select the “Create automation” option.

This will take you to the Automation building screen, where you can build new automations. Automations and AI can help you evaluate, score, tag leads, and share them with your Ad tools. Features like word & phrase spotting and call summaries are particularly useful in that regard. We will show you how they work with some examples below.

Using the word & phrase spotting feature to push call conversions that lead to booked appointments

A very simple one here. We’ve set Nimbata to spot the keyword “book” within a conversation and when that happens, the call is tagged as a conversion and a value set to it.

Qualify leads with filtering criteria

Something a bit more specific. In this scenario, a fictional plumbing business is running ads for toilet renovations. So, when someone calls from this specific ad, uses the keyphrase “toilet renovation” during the conversation and the call duration is more than 5 minutes, signifying serious interest, then the call is tagged as a high–quality lead, with a value of 1500$ and is pushed back to Google Ads.

Feeding your high-quality leads to your Ads tools helps train their algorithms, so they can target users more effectively. You are essentially creating a positive feedback loop, where your ads tools bring in more quality leads and are fed relevant data every time so that it can keep doing that.

Use call flows, call surveys & keypad options to speed up lead scoring

Another, a bit more advanced example. Call tracking allows you to create call flows. What you can do with them, is create one where you place a call survey.

Call surveys are little pre-recorded messages that play at the end of the call. This message prompts the call handler or agent, to respond to a question by pressing a number on their keypad. Here, for example, the survey asks the agent to score the lead.

The agent will respond by pressing a number between 1-3, activating a relevant automation. If they press 3, then the lead will be tagged as a high-quality one and sent to Google Ads. You can, of course, add more actions or filtering criteria and create multiple automations, one for each possible choice the agent has.

You have a very wide range of criteria and actions to choose from and create automations that will take your lead scoring and conversion tracking to the next level. And you don’t need any coding skills for that, but just point and click.

Improve lead engagement with a better caller experience

The more satisfying the experience for the caller, the higher the chance they convert.

You wouldn’t buy from a business that treats you poorly or makes it difficult to communicate with them.

Optimizing the caller experience is as crucial as tracking conversions. Building intelligent call flows and making use of call summaries, whispers and greetings can significantly improve it. Here are some strategies to elevate the experience for inbound leads.

In this one, we have created an automation where if someone calls after business hours, they will be greeted with voicemail, apologizing for the inconvenience and informing them of the best time to call. This way, the customer won’t feel like they are being ignored or neglected.

You will also notice, that we have enabled call capping for the destination number. This means, that once a certain amount of calls has been placed on this number, no more will accepted. This is especially useful, if you are running campaigns with a limited time span or your client pays per call and has a limited budget.

Even in missed calls, you get a timeline of their customer journey. Meaning, you know all the touchpoints that led to a call. You can now craft PPC marketing campaigns, directly targeting them.

Another example. In this instance, when someone calls, they are greeted by a message, telling them to specify their reason for calling by pressing a number on their keypad. If for example, they press 1, then the call will be directed to a specific call agent, better tailored to answer their needs. It could be complaints, or inquiries, the expertise for which only some of your team members have.

You can organize sales and customer service teams in ways that better answer leads’ issues and questions. Couple that will call summaries that provide quick and easy-to-digest info on the conversation and you can optimize task allocation even further.

Takeaway

In PPC, clicks and impressions are just the starting points. To drive meaningful business outcomes, you need visibility into what happens after the click—whether it’s a form submission, phone call, or missed call. By embracing advanced lead tracking, including tools like Google Ads and Nimbata, you’ll gain insights into each lead’s journey and quality, making data-driven decisions to refine targeting and maximize ROI.

So go beyond the click. With Google Ads lead tracking and AI-powered tools, you’ll move from guessing to knowing, from clicks to conversations, and from impressions to actions that drive real value.

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