CallRail Calls Not Showing in Google Ads: 10 Checks

If CallRail logs calls from Google Ads and Google Ads shows fewer of them, or none, run the checks below in order. Each check says where to go, what correct looks like and the one thing to change if it is not.

Start here

Checks in CallRail

Check 1: Is the Google Ads integration active?

WhereCallRailIntegrationsGoogle Ads

You should see: The integration is active and linked to the Google Ads account that runs the ads.

If not: Reactivate it or relink the right account. A new integration needs up to 48 hours, and it only reports calls made after it was activated or last updated (CallRail: Google Ads integration, No conversions in Google Ads).

Check 2: Did the call ring a website pool number?

WhereCallRailCall Log

Do: Filter the log to Source Google Ads and look at the tracking number of each call. CallRail also shows how to filter for calls eligible for Google Ads.

You should see: Website pool numbers. Only Google Ads calls to a website pool can post. A pool is the set of numbers CallRail swaps onto your site, one per visitor (visitor tracking basics).

If not: A source tracker or a number hard-coded in the page took the call. Put the website pool on every page your ads land on.

Check 3: Does the call carry an intact gclid?

WhereCallRailCall LogExport

Do: Export the log with all columns, which is how CallRail shows the gclid. With the gclid in column G, paste this into a spare column:

=AND(LEN(G2)>0, EXACT(G2, LOWER(G2)))

You should see: FALSE on every row. TRUE marks an all-lowercase gclid, which will not upload.

If not: If TRUE rows cluster on one site, open a paid landing page with ?gclid=TestCase42 added and read the address bar after every redirect. If it shows testcase42, a redirect, an SEO plugin or a vanity domain is lowercasing the whole URL. Remove that rule.

Careful: Do not call from that test visit: CallRail treats it as an ad click.

Check 4: Is an integration filter holding the call back?

WhereCallRailIntegrationsIntegration Filters

You should see: Only filters you set on purpose. Filters can hold calls back by call length, by number or by tag (integration filters).

If not: Remove the filter, or accept that the calls it holds will never reach Google Ads.

Checks in Google Ads

Check 5: Is the Phone Call action still as CallRail created it?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummary

You should see: Phone Call (or First Time Phone Call and Repeat Phone Call if you split them) with the source Import from clicks. Changing the name or the source stops reporting; other fields are safe to edit.

If not: Change the name and the source back.

Check 6: Does the action count toward bidding?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummary

You should see: The action set to Primary, in a goal your campaigns use, and consent for imported data set to All Google Services (No conversions in Google Ads).

If not: Fix each setting. A Secondary action still records calls, but only in the All conversions columns, and it does not bid unless a custom goal includes it.

Check 7: Is Count set to Every?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummaryPhone Call

You should see: Count set to Every. With One, Google counts only one conversion per ad click, so a second call from the same click is dropped, and calls carrying wbraid or gbraid, privacy click ids shared among several users, are not counted at all.

If not: Set it to Every.

Check 8: Is the conversion window longer than your callers take?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummaryPhone Call

You should see: A Click-through conversion window longer than the time between the ad click and the call. A call after the window never counts (CallRail's list of causes).

If not: Lengthen the window.

Check 9: Are you reading the right date column?

WhereGoogle AdsGoalsConversionsSummaryColumns

You should see: Conversions (by conv. time) next to Conversions. The default column files a call under the date of the ad click; CallRail logs it on the day it rang. The "by conv. time" columns report by the time the conversion happened.

If not: Add the column and compare call against call. Wait two days after the month ends for Google's reporting lag, plus any delay you set in CallRail's Send a call's value to Google Ads.

Check 10: Does one known call arrive?

WhereCallRailCall Log

Do: Pick a day on which CallRail shows exactly one call that passed checks 2 to 4. In Google Ads, open Goals > Conversions > Summary and set the date range to that day only.

You should see: Phone Call shows one conversion (by conv. time).

If not: That call is your test case for CallRail support. Note its date, minute and tracking number, never the caller's number.

If Google Ads shows more calls than CallRail

Google counts calls from call assets and from your Business Profile in Calls from ads through its own forwarding numbers (Google: call conversions). Those calls never reach CallRail. To see them, add Phone calls from Columns > Call details.

Calls from ads decides which calls count by the call length set on that action, or by Google's AI rating of the recording when call recording is on. Google leaves recording off by default for businesses it identifies as healthcare. To make both tools judge a call the same way, set that call length to match your CallRail filter, or put CallRail numbers on the assets with Call Details Forwarding.

If one call counts twice

List every call action set to Primary. Two primary actions that fire on the same call mean, in Google's words, "counting 2 conversions for every call". One such pair is CallRail's native import running beside a call upload of your own. I met it in a multi-location medical practice's account, where CallRail's native integration sent calls into several call actions, all set to primary, next to the qualified-call upload I built, and the choice there was one primary path. Keep one action primary and set the rest to Secondary. Which one should bid is covered in attributing CallRail calls without counting them twice.

If a call is still missing

Write to CallRail support with the date, minute and tracking number of each missing call, without the caller's number. Ask whether the call landed on a website pool or a source tracker, which integration filters apply, and whether the integration was deactivated or reactivated during the month. When every call from your ads reaches Google Ads once, the next step is deciding which calls are worth bidding on, which is where closed-loop attribution starts.

Frequently asked questions

Why did CallRail calls stop posting to Google Ads after I renamed the conversion action?

CallRail only sends calls to the actions its integration created, "Phone Call" (or "First Time Phone Call" and "Repeat Phone Call" if you split them) with the source "Import from clicks", and its help says changing the name or source stops reporting. Rename it back, then check that the next website-pool call from an ad shows up in that action's "Conversions (by conv. time)".

Can CallRail send calls without a gclid to Google Ads?

No. CallRail's integration posts conversions on Google's click ids (gclid, wbraid or gbraid), so a call with none of them has nothing to attach to. Calls carrying wbraid or gbraid do post, but Google ignores them when the conversion action's Count is set to "One".

Will calls from before I turned on the CallRail integration show up in Google Ads?

No. CallRail's integration only reports calls made after it was activated or last updated, so earlier calls never post, even if they carried a click id.

Why does Google Ads show more calls than CallRail?

Google counts calls from call assets and from your Business Profile in "Calls from ads" through its own forwarding numbers, and those calls never reach CallRail. A second primary call action can also count one call twice.