Call Tracking
Also known as: Call Attribution, Dynamic Number Insertion
Call tracking assigns unique phone numbers to each ad, campaign, or channel so you know exactly which marketing made the phone ring.
What it actually means
For businesses that sell by phone, the biggest attribution gap is the call itself — the pixel sees the click, then the customer dials and the trail goes cold. Call tracking closes that gap by showing different phone numbers to visitors from different sources (a technique called dynamic number insertion) and routing them all to your real line. When a call comes in on the 'Meta ads' number, the source is proven. Good call tracking also records duration and outcomes, so you can separate a 30-second wrong number from a 10-minute booking, and feed real phone conversions back to ad platforms as offline events.
A dentist running Google and Meta ads with one phone number can't tell which platform books patients. Two tracked numbers answer that in a month — and usually reallocate the budget.
Related terms
Attribution is the process of crediting conversions to the ads, clicks, or impressions that led to them, determining which marketing earned the result.
Offline conversions are sales that happen away from your website — calls, store visits, signed contracts — uploaded back to ad platforms for credit.
A lead is a person who has shown interest in your business and shared contact information — a name, phone number, or email you can follow up with.
UTM parameters are tags added to a URL that tell analytics tools where a visitor came from — the source, medium, and campaign that brought them.
Want this metric run for you?
Karbon Agency runs Meta, SEO, and landing pages for local businesses — and shows you every metric, live.