Using VereTel tracking numbers with Google Ads

Two ways a phone number reaches a Google searcher

A caller can find your number in two places, and each needs a different plan.

• On your landing page. The searcher clicks the ad, reads the page and dials the number printed there. This is where a VereTel number belongs, and where number insertion can give each page its own.
• In the ad itself. Google’s call assets show a number beside the ad text so the searcher can call without visiting your site.

Most insurance searches that end in a call do so from a page, so start there. The call asset is a second decision, covered below.

Landing pages: one page, one number

The cleanest comparison is a landing page for each campaign, each showing its own tracking number. A “Medicare supplement” campaign sends people to a Medicare supplement page with number A. An “ACA plans” campaign sends people to an ACA page with number B. Every call is then logged against the number that was dialed, and the label on that number tells you the campaign.

If you would rather not hard-code numbers into each page, add the VereTel script once. It swaps a registered number in for the one in your page text and tel: links, per site and per page. It does not assign a number per visitor and it does not work at keyword level. If the swap ever fails, the page shows the number you published. See how number insertion works.

Call assets: what Google requires

Google’s help pages set the rules for call assets, and they apply whichever number you use. As we read them on September 29, 2026:

• The number must be in E.164 format, and it has to appear in your website’s source code, or you verify your domain in Google Search Console.
• Vanity numbers, premium numbers and fax numbers are not accepted.
• If your site uses dynamic number insertion or a third-party call tracking company, Google asks you to verify domain ownership rather than rely on its automatic check.

Check the current wording before you set one up. Google changes these pages.

What Google does itself, and what VereTel does

Google offers call reporting. When it is on, Google assigns a Google forwarding number to your call asset, and Google itself records details such as call start, duration, the caller’s number and whether the call connected. It can count calls over a minimum length as conversions inside Google Ads. That is Google’s system, and only Google Ads sees it.

Google’s help says that if you want to show your own number or use third-party call tracking, you turn call reporting off in your account settings. Doing so means Google Ads no longer tracks those calls. Google also lists eight call analytics companies for a feature called call details forwarding. VereTel is not one of them, so there is no call details forwarding with VereTel numbers.

VereTel does not import conversions into Google Ads. A call to a VereTel number is logged in your desk with its start time, caller number, tracking number and label, status and duration. Google Ads will not know it happened, so its conversion columns will not include it. If you use VereTel numbers in call assets, expect Google Ads to show clicks and impressions but not those calls.

You therefore have a choice. Use Google’s call reporting and its conversions for calls from the ad, and use VereTel numbers on landing pages. Or turn call reporting off and use a VereTel number in the call asset too. The first keeps Google’s bidding data; the second puts every call in one place. Neither is wrong. Pick one per campaign and write it down.

Comparing campaigns in your desk

Open the desk, set a date range and read down the tracking-number labels. Count calls per label, and filter to missed calls to see where callers are not being answered. You can compare that count with the clicks and spend Google Ads shows for the same campaign and dates. The arithmetic is yours to do; the desk does not produce reports today.

A useful habit: give each campaign a label that matches the campaign name, such as “Google · ACA” or “Google · Medicare supplement”, so the two systems line up when you put them side by side. For the maths of cost per call, see measuring cost per call.

What to avoid

• Do not share one number between two campaigns you want to compare.
• Do not change the number on a live page without noting the date, or the counts will not line up.
• Do not expect keyword-level or click-level attribution. VereTel counts calls by number, and numbers map to sites and pages.