How to Track Google Ads WhatsApp & Call Conversions with GTM

Google Ads conversion tracking isn't just for form submissions or product sales. When a user comes to your site from an ad and calls you or sends a WhatsApp message, they are one of your most valuable leads. If you don't measure these interactions, you face several problems:

• Bad Data, Bad Decisions: You won't know which campaign, ad group, or keyword is actually bringing you customers.
• Wasted Budget: You will continue spending money on keywords that only generate clicks but no real engagement.
• Missed Optimization Opportunities: Without real conversion data, you can't effectively use Google's smart bidding strategies (e.g., Maximize Conversions).

Before starting this GTM conversion tracking setup, make sure you have access to the following two tools:

• Your Google Ads Account
• A Google Tag Manager (GTM) Account already installed on your website

First, we need to tell Google Ads what kind of conversion we want to track.

1. Log in to your Google Ads Account. Navigate to Tools & Settings (the wrench icon) > Measurement > Conversions.
2. Click the + New conversion action button and select Website.
3. After entering your website URL and scanning it, scroll to the bottom of the page and click + Add a conversion action manually.
4. Fill out the form as follows:

• Goal and action optimization: Choose a suitable category like Lead or Contact.
• Conversion name: Give it a descriptive name you'll remember, e.g., WhatsApp and Call Button Clicks.
• Count: Select One. This ensures that even if a single user clicks the button multiple times, it will only be counted as one conversion, which is the most accurate method for lead tracking.

5. After clicking Save and Continue, switch to the Use Google Tag Manager tab.
6. Copy the Conversion ID and Conversion Label provided. You will need these in the next step.

Now, we will instruct GTM to send a conversion signal to Google Ads when the specified buttons are clicked.

A. Enable Necessary Built-In Variables

We need to enable GTM's ability to "read" the details of a click (e.g., which URL was clicked).

1. In your Google Tag Manager panel, click on Variables in the left-hand menu.
2. Next to the Built-In Variables box, click the Configure button.
3. Under the Clicks heading, check all the boxes (Click Element, Click Classes, Click URL, etc.).

B. Find Your Click Event Name (Critical First Step)

Before creating a trigger, we need to know the exact event name GTM "hears" when a user clicks your button.

1. Start the GTM Preview mode from the top right corner of the panel.
2. On your website, click on your WhatsApp or Call button.
3. Go back to the Tag Assistant window (the preview tab). In the event summary list on the left, you will likely see an event named Link Click.
4. Click on this Link Click event.
5. Now, select the Variables tab in the main section of the Tag Assistant.
6. Find the variable named Event. Its value will be like "gtm.linkClick". This is the exact event name we need for our trigger.

C. Create the Trigger: The Most Critical Step

First, Discover Your Website's Link Structure

Every website's code structure can be different. Therefore, before creating the rule, you must first identify the structure of the links on your own buttons.

1. Open your website and hover over the WhatsApp or phone icon/button you want to track.
2. Right-click and select Inspect.
3. A panel with your site's HTML code will open. Find the part of the code that starts with href="...". This is the destination address that is clicked, and it is our critical Click URL value.

• For a phone button: you should see something like href="tel:+1234567890"
• For a WhatsApp button: you should see something like href="https://wa.me/1234567890"

Now we know we need to listen for clicks that contain the url like href="tel:+1234567890" and href="https://wa.me/1234567890"

Now, Let's Create the Trigger

1. In GTM, navigate to Triggers > New.
2. Name the trigger Trigger - Call and WhatsApp Clicks.
3. For the trigger type, select Just Links.
4. Check the Some Link Clicks option.
5. Configure the rule as follows: "Click URL - contains - tel:".
6. Click the + button to add a second condition: "Click URL - contains - wa.me".
7. Ensure that the OR condition is selected above these two rules. This will make the trigger fire if the clicked URL contains tel: OR wa.me.
8. Click Save.

C. Create the Google Ads Tag

The Tag is the action that will be performed when the trigger fires.

1. In GTM, navigate to Tags > New.
2. Name the tag Google Ads - Conversion - Call and WhatsApp.
3. For the tag type, select Google Ads Conversion Tracking.
4. Paste the Conversion ID and Conversion Label you copied from Google Ads in Step 1 into the respective fields.
5. Click on the Triggering section at the bottom and select the Trigger - Call and WhatsApp Clicks you just created.
6. Click Save.

Finally, we need to make sure everything is working correctly.

1. Start the Preview mode from the top right corner of your GTM panel.
2. When your website opens, click on both your phone and WhatsApp buttons.
3. Return to the Preview panel. You should see a Link Click event in the left-hand event summary. When you click on it, your Google Ads - Conversion - Call and WhatsApp tag should appear under the Tags Fired section.
4. If you see the tag has fired, the setup is successful!
5. Return to your GTM dashboard and click the Submit button to publish your changes.

For more information, you can review Google's official help documentation.

Remember, accurate conversion data is also the first step in the fight against ad fraud. By measuring valuable interactions made only by real users, you can more clearly analyze the impact of invalid clicks on your budget.

For more PPC tips and optimization guides, continue following the ClickSambo Blog.