Call-Only Ads Are Being Retired: Your Migration Playbook

Google is retiring call-only ads. Starting February 2026, you can no longer create new ones, and by February 2027, existing call-only ads will stop serving entirely. If phone calls are your primary lead source, that is a hard deadline with real consequences. The fix is straightforward: migrate to Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) with call assets now, before the cutoff forces your hand.

Your immediate actions:

• Add and verify your business phone number as a call asset in every active campaign.
• Create RSAs with multiple headlines and descriptions, then attach call assets via “More asset types.”
• Enable call conversions so Google Ads tracks call duration and source.
• Set ad schedules to show ads only during hours when someone can answer the phone.

Pro Tip: Don’t wait until January 2026 to start. Migrating now gives you months of overlapping data to confirm call volume holds before the old format disappears.

The risk of waiting is not just a missed deadline. If you pause nothing and do nothing, your call-only ads simply stop showing in February 2027 with no replacement in place. That means a sudden drop in inbound calls, no historical performance data on the new format, and a scramble to rebuild tracking from scratch. Denvercountywebdesign works with contractors across Colorado who depend on phone calls for booked jobs, and the ones who migrate early consistently protect their lead flow. The ones who wait tend to lose ground they spend months recovering.

Key Takeaways

Google is retiring call-only ads by February 2027, and migrating to RSAs with call assets now is the only way to protect your phone-call lead flow without a gap.

Table of Contents

• What were call-only ads and how did they work?
• What Google announced and the timeline you need to act on
• How to migrate from call-only ads to RSAs without losing leads
• How RSAs with call assets differ from call-only ads
• How to set up call campaigns and call assets in Google Ads
• How to measure call quality and attribute real value
• What we see contractors do wrong during migration
• Optimization after migration: bids, schedules, and creative
• Alternatives and complementary channels for phone call leads
• What contractors actually do versus what works
• Denvercountywebdesign handles your migration from start to finish
• Sources
• FAQ

What were call-only ads and how did they work?

Call-only ads, formally called “call ads” in Google Ads, were a search ad format built for one purpose: getting a phone call. They appeared exclusively on devices capable of making calls, meaning smartphones and some tablets. No desktop. No laptop. Just mobile users with a phone in hand.

The tap flow was simple. Your ad won an auction, a user saw it, tapped the Call button, and the mobile dialer opened with your number pre-loaded. The user then tapped once more to place the call. Google could use either your direct business number or a Google Forwarding Number, which enabled call reporting inside Google Ads.

Key features contractors and local service businesses relied on:

• Headline fields (two, up to 30 characters each) for your business name and a short offer.
• Description lines (two, up to 90 characters each) for service details or a call-to-action.
• Optional “Visit website” link via a Final URL, though many advertisers left this off to force the call action.
• Verification URL to confirm the phone number matched a real landing page.
• Ad scheduling to limit impressions to business hours.

For plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, and similar local service businesses, that frictionless path was the whole point. A homeowner searching “emergency plumber near me” at 9 PM does not want to browse a website. They want to call. Call-only advertising delivered exactly that, and for years it was one of the highest-intent formats in Google Ads.

What Google announced and the timeline you need to act on

Google’s position is direct: call ads are being replaced by responsive search ads with call assets. The format consolidation is part of a broader push toward AI-driven ad testing, where RSAs test headline and description combinations automatically to find what performs best for each query.

The firm dates are:

Search Engine Land confirmed the phase-out, noting that advertisers should migrate proactively to RSAs with call assets, enable call reporting, use smart bidding, and schedule ads to business hours. Waiting until the creation cutoff in February 2026 leaves you with only one year of runway before impressions stop, and no time to build performance history on the new format.

The strategic shift matters beyond the deadline. RSAs use Google’s AI to mix and match up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, testing combinations across auctions. Calls become a conversion path alongside website visits, not the only option. That is a meaningful change for contractors who built their entire lead system around forced call flow.

How to migrate from call-only ads to RSAs without losing leads

Google’s migration guidance lays out a staged approach: build the new setup, confirm it works, then retire the old one. Here is a practical version of that sequence for small business accounts.

Stage 0: Inventory

1. Pull a report of every active call-only ad across all campaigns.
2. Note the phone numbers, ad schedules, and any conversion tracking tags attached.
3. Identify which campaigns drive the most call volume — those get migrated first.
4. Document your current call conversion setup (Google Forwarding Numbers, third-party tracking via CallRail or WhatConverts, or both).

Stage 1: Add and verify call assets

1. In Google Ads, go to Assets (formerly Extensions) and select Call assets.
2. Add your business phone number and set the country code.
3. Supply a verification URL — a landing page where your phone number is visibly listed. Google requires this match to confirm the number is legitimate.
4. Assign the call asset at the campaign or ad group level to mirror your existing call-only ad structure.
5. Set call asset scheduling to match your business hours.

Stage 2: Build RSAs

1. In each campaign, create a new RSA with at least 8–10 headlines and 3–4 descriptions.
2. Pin your business name or primary service to Headline 1 so it always shows.
3. Include a phone-action headline (“Call us today,” “Free estimates by phone”) to surface call intent in the ad copy.
4. Add a Final URL pointing to a landing page that prominently displays your phone number and a tap-to-call button.
5. Attach call assets to the RSA via More asset types in the ad creation flow.

Stage 3: Test and monitor

1. Run RSAs alongside your existing call-only ads for 7–30 days.
2. Compare call conversion volume, call duration, and cost per call between the two formats.
3. Confirm that both Google Ads call reporting and any third-party tracking (CallRail, WhatConverts) are firing on RSA-driven calls.
4. Watch for drops in call rate — if RSA clicks are going to the website instead of calling, your landing page needs a stronger click-to-call prompt.

Stage 4: Retire legacy call ads

1. Once RSAs show stable call volume and tracking continuity for at least two weeks, pause the call-only ads.
2. Do not delete them immediately — keep them paused for 30 days as a rollback option.
3. Confirm no tracking gaps appear in your call conversion reports after pausing.

Pro Tip: Migrate one campaign at a time, starting with your highest-volume one. This limits the risk of losing call traffic across your entire account at once if something goes wrong with tracking setup.

Operational guardrails to set before you go live:

• Ad schedules must match staffing hours. Google’s own guidance stresses this: paying for calls no one answers wastes budget and trains Smart Bidding on bad signals.
• Verification URLs must be live and show the matching phone number. A mismatch gets the call asset disapproved.
• Set up call conversions with a minimum call duration (60–90 seconds is a reasonable starting threshold for most contractor businesses) to filter out wrong numbers.

How RSAs with call assets differ from call-only ads

The most important difference is user choice. A call-only ad forced a single action: call. An RSA with a call asset presents two paths — call or visit the website. That shift changes both the user experience and your measurement picture.

Call asset clicks cost the same as headline clicks, so your cost-per-click structure does not change. What changes is attribution. RSAs generate more click types — website visits, call clicks, and sitelink clicks — so your call rate as a percentage of total clicks will likely drop even if raw call volume holds steady.

Expected impacts on call volume and lead quality after migration:

• Call volume may dip initially as some users who previously had no choice now click to the website instead.
• Lead quality can improve if your landing page is strong, because users who still choose to call after seeing the site option tend to be higher intent.
• Desktop reach expands — call-only ads never showed on desktop, but RSAs with call assets show a “Call us” button there too.
• Creative testing accelerates — RSAs surface better-performing headlines faster than static call-only ad copy ever could.

The key to preserving call volume is your landing page. If a user clicks the website link instead of calling, your page needs a prominent tap-to-call button and the same phone number shown in the ad. Weak landing pages leak call-intent traffic.

How to set up call campaigns and call assets in Google Ads

Here is the step-by-step process for U.S. advertisers setting up call assets in an existing Search campaign.

Adding call assets to a Search campaign

1. Sign into Google Ads and navigate to the campaign you want to update.
2. In the left menu, click Assets, then select Call.
3. Click the blue + button to add a new call asset.
4. Enter your U.S. phone number with the country code (+1).
5. Add a verification URL — a page on your website where the same phone number appears in plain text. This is required for Google to approve the asset.
6. Optionally add a Final URL if you want a “Visit website” link to appear alongside the call option.
7. Set call asset scheduling to your business hours under the “Advanced options” toggle.
8. Save and wait for approval (typically within one business day).

Creating a Call campaign (for call-focused advertisers)

If your only goal is phone calls and you want a campaign type built around that, Google Ads still supports Call campaigns as a distinct option:

1. Click + New campaign and select Leads as the goal.
2. Choose Search as the campaign type.
3. Under conversion goals, select Phone calls and set a minimum call duration.
4. Build your ad groups and add RSAs with call assets attached.
5. Set bidding to Maximize conversions or Target CPA once you have at least 30 conversions in a 30-day window.

Scheduling and staffing guardrails

Ad scheduling is not optional for call-based campaigns. Set your call assets to show only during hours when your team can answer. An unanswered call is a wasted click and a negative signal for Smart Bidding. For most contractor businesses, that means Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 6 PM, with Saturday hours if your crew works weekends.

Pro Tip: If you run 24/7 emergency services, consider a separate campaign with a dedicated after-hours number routed to an answering service, so every call gets a live response regardless of time.

How to measure call quality and attribute real value

Raw call count is a weak optimization signal. A plumber who gets 50 calls a day but books only 5 jobs is not running a profitable campaign — they are running a busy one. The goal is to measure which calls turn into revenue, then feed that value back into Google Ads so Smart Bidding can find more of them.

Native Google Ads call reporting

Google Ads provides call reporting when you use Google Forwarding Numbers. You get:

• Call count by campaign, ad group, and keyword.
• Call duration.
• Whether the call was connected or missed.
• Time of day and day of week breakdowns.

Set a call conversion action with a minimum duration threshold (60–90 seconds filters out most wrong numbers and hang-ups). This gives Smart Bidding a cleaner signal than counting every call click.

Third-party call tracking with CallRail and WhatConverts

Native reporting tells you a call happened. WhatConverts and CallRail tell you what the call was worth. Both tools add:

• Call recordings for quality review and staff training.
• Keyword-level attribution so you know which search terms drive booked jobs.
• Lead qualification tagging — mark calls as qualified, unqualified, or spam.
• Revenue tagging — assign a dollar value to each booked job.
• CRM integration — push call data into HubSpot, Salesforce, or a simpler CRM.

Pro Tip: Don’t optimize on call count alone. Feed qualified lead value into Google Ads via offline conversion imports. This teaches Smart Bidding what a valuable call actually looks like, and over time it shifts spend toward the keywords and times that produce booked jobs, not just calls.

Measurement workflow:

• Capture source and keyword attribution at call time via dynamic number insertion.
• Record and qualify the call (live or via AI transcription review).
• Assign a lead value based on job type and likelihood to close.
• Import that value into Google Ads as an offline conversion with the associated click ID (GCLID).
• Review call quality weekly and adjust bidding or scheduling based on which segments produce the highest-value calls.

What we see contractors do wrong during migration

Most contractors who run into trouble during this migration make the same handful of mistakes. Knowing them ahead of time saves weeks of troubleshooting.

The 30/90/180-day agency checklist

Days 1–30 (triage and setup):

1. Inventory all active call-only ads and document phone numbers, schedules, and tracking.
2. Add call assets to every active campaign and verify phone numbers against landing pages.
3. Create RSAs with call assets in your top three campaigns by call volume.
4. Enable call conversions with a duration threshold and confirm Google Forwarding Numbers are active.
5. Set ad schedules to match staffing hours.
6. Confirm third-party call tracking (CallRail or WhatConverts) fires on RSA-driven calls.

Days 31–90 (monitor and stabilize):

1. Compare weekly call volume between legacy call-only ads and new RSAs.
2. Review call recordings for quality signals — are the calls from the right service areas and job types?
3. Begin importing offline conversion values for booked jobs.
4. Adjust RSA headlines based on which combinations Google Ads reports as “Best” or “Good.”
5. Pause call-only ads in campaigns where RSAs have shown two consecutive weeks of stable call volume.

Days 91–180 (optimize and scale):

1. Retire all remaining call-only ads.
2. Switch top campaigns to Target CPA or Maximize conversion value bidding once conversion data is sufficient.
3. Expand RSAs to additional campaigns and geographies.
4. Build a call quality dashboard combining Google Ads data and third-party call tracking.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

• Forgetting verification URLs. Call assets get disapproved without them. Check every asset after submission.
• Phone number mismatch. The number in the ad must match the number on the verification URL page exactly. A tracking number on the page but a direct number in the ad will fail review.
• Turning off ad scheduling. Calls outside business hours burn budget and produce missed-call signals that hurt bidding performance.
• Not importing offline conversions. Optimizing on call count alone pushes Smart Bidding toward high-volume, low-quality call sources.
• Deleting call-only ads too soon. Keep them paused for 30 days post-migration as a rollback option.

Pro Tip: Keep a mirrored tracking tag on both your legacy call-only ads and new RSAs during the overlap period. If your third-party call tracking shows a sudden drop in attributed calls, you can identify whether the issue is the ad format or the tracking setup before it affects your lead flow.

For contractor-specific Google Ads campaign architecture, the Google Ads for contractors playbook covers campaign structure and call handling in more detail.

Optimization after migration: bids, schedules, and creative

Once your RSAs are live and call conversions are tracking, the work shifts from setup to performance. Here is where most of the long-term call volume gains come from.

Bid strategy selection:

• Use Maximize conversions when you have fewer than 30 call conversions per month — it needs less data to function.
• Switch to Target CPA once you consistently hit 30+ conversions in a 30-day window and have a clear cost-per-lead target.
• Use Maximize conversion value when you have imported offline conversion values and want Smart Bidding to prioritize higher-revenue job types.

Ad scheduling and bid modifiers:

• Review your call conversion data by hour and day. Most contractor businesses see peak call intent on weekday mornings (7–10 AM) and early afternoons.
• Apply positive bid adjustments (+15–25%) during peak call windows and reduce bids or pause ads during low-conversion hours.
• For HVAC contractors, seasonal patterns matter too — summer emergency AC calls and winter heating calls often justify separate campaign schedules.

Creative and landing page:

• Write RSA headlines that surface the phone action directly: “Call for a free estimate,” “Same-day service available,” “Speak to a technician now.”
• Your Final URL landing page must show the same phone number as the call asset, with a tap-to-call button above the fold on mobile.
• A/B test landing pages with and without a prominent call-to-action button to measure the impact on call rate.

Call quality filters:

• Set your call conversion duration threshold at 60–90 seconds to exclude hang-ups and wrong numbers.
• Review call recordings weekly for the first 90 days to catch quality issues early.
• Use call duration data to identify which campaigns produce longer, higher-quality calls and shift budget toward them.

Alternatives and complementary channels for phone call leads

RSAs with call assets cover most of the ground that call-only ads held, but a few complementary channels can fill gaps or diversify your lead sources.

Channels that work alongside RSAs:

• Local Services Ads (LSAs): Google’s pay-per-lead format for verified service businesses. Calls come through the LSA interface and are charged per lead, not per click. LSAs appear above standard search ads and carry a Google Guaranteed badge, which builds trust quickly for new advertisers.
• Google Business Profile calls: Your GBP listing shows a call button in local search results and Google Maps. Optimizing your profile for local keywords drives call volume without ad spend.
• Organic local SEO landing pages: A well-optimized service area page with a prominent click-to-call button captures high-intent searchers who scroll past ads. This is slower to build but produces calls at zero marginal cost per click.

When to use each option:

1. RSAs with call assets — your primary paid search channel for immediate call volume.
2. Local Services Ads — use when you qualify for Google Guaranteed and want a pay-per-lead model with lower risk.
3. GBP calls — always active; optimize your profile regardless of what paid channels you run.
4. Organic SEO landing pages — invest here for long-term call volume that does not depend on ad budget.

Callback and scheduling tools: If some users prefer not to call immediately, a callback widget (like CallPage or similar tools) or an online booking integration captures that intent without losing the lead. Pair it with an immediate SMS or email follow-up to close the gap between form submission and first contact.

Measurement note: compare channels on cost per booked job, not cost per call. LSAs and organic calls often look more expensive per click but cheaper per closed job because the intent is higher.

What contractors actually do versus what works

Most contractors who run call-only advertising react to this migration in one of three ways: they ignore it until the deadline forces action, they do a partial migration without updating tracking, or they migrate the ads but forget to update the landing pages. All three approaches produce the same outcome — a drop in call volume that takes months to recover.

What actually works is the staged approach described in this article. Set up RSAs with call assets first, confirm tracking fires correctly on both formats, then retire the old ads only after you have two to four weeks of clean performance data. The contractors who do this well tend to see call volume hold or improve within 60 days, because RSAs surface better ad combinations than the static call-only format ever could.

The single most underestimated step is connecting call recordings to a CRM and tagging lead value. When Smart Bidding knows that a 90-second call from a “water heater replacement” keyword produces a $1,200 job, it optimizes toward that. When it only knows a call happened, it optimizes toward call volume — which often means more calls from tire-kickers and fewer from buyers. Feed it the right signal and the system works for you.

Denvercountywebdesign handles your migration from start to finish

Phone calls are the lifeblood of most contractor businesses, and losing that lead flow during a format transition is not a risk worth taking. Denvercountywebdesign manages the full migration for home service businesses and contractors across Colorado: Google Ads campaign setup, call asset verification, call tracking integration with tools like CallRail and WhatConverts, and landing page updates that keep click-to-call behavior front and center.

The engagement follows a clear sequence: audit your current call-only ad setup, stage the migration by campaign, build the measurement stack, and optimize bids once qualified call data is flowing. You get a Google Ads account that tracks real lead value, not just call count, and a landing page that converts call-intent traffic whether it arrives from a paid ad or an organic search result. If your website needs a click-to-call overhaul to support the new format, our Brighton web design service delivers fast, SEO-ready pages built for local lead generation with no monthly fees. Ready to protect your call volume before the February 2026 deadline? Get a free SEO and ads audit and we will show you exactly where your setup stands.

Sources

The sources below cover the technical steps, timeline, and practical context for this migration directly from Google and industry coverage.

• Google to phase out Call-Only Ads by 2027 – Search Engine Land

FAQ

What are call-only ads?

Call-only ads, also called call ads in Google Ads, are a search ad format that appears exclusively on mobile devices capable of making phone calls. Tapping the ad opens the device dialer directly, making a phone call the only action available.

Is Google getting rid of call-only ads?

Yes. Google is retiring the format in two stages: new call-only ads cannot be created after February 2026, and existing ones will stop serving entirely by February 2027. The replacement is Responsive Search Ads with call assets.

Are call-only ads being deprecated?

They are. Google’s official guidance states that call ads are being replaced by responsive search ads with call assets, and the deprecation timeline runs from February 2026 through February 2027.

How do you create a call ad replacement in Google Ads?

Add your phone number as a call asset under the Assets menu, supply a verification URL where the same number appears on your website, then create an RSA and attach the call asset via “More asset types.” Set ad scheduling to your business hours and enable call conversions to track results.

Will call volume drop after migrating to RSAs?

It may dip initially because RSAs give users the option to visit your website instead of calling. Updating your landing page with a prominent tap-to-call button and matching phone number reduces that leakage and helps preserve call volume over time.

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