How to tell which calls and enquiries come from Google

Ask a practice owner where new clients come from and the answer is usually a guess: "Google, mostly, and word of mouth." That guess shapes real decisions, such as whether to keep paying for ads or whether the website needs work. The good news is that you can replace most of the guessing with a few simple settings.

Decide what counts as an enquiry

Before measuring anything, write down the actions that mean someone wants to become a client or patient. For most practices that list is short:

• A phone call
• A booking made online
• A contact form sent from your website
• An email to your main address

Everything else, such as page views or time on site, is background. Useful, but it doesn't pay the rent.

Start with your Google Business Profile

Your Business Profile has a Performance section that shows how people interacted with it, including calls, website clicks and direction requests. It's free and already collecting data.

Two limits are worth knowing. The call figure counts taps on the call button, so it misses people who read your number and dial it themselves. And it can't tell you whether a call became a booking. Treat it as a useful signal, not the full picture.

Label the website link on your profile

When someone clicks through from your profile to your website, your analytics tool often can't tell that visit apart from other Google traffic. A small label fixes that. Add campaign tags to the website link on your profile, for example:

https://yourpractice.ca/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=business_profile

Now visits from your profile appear as their own line in Google Analytics, separate from people who found your website in ordinary search results.

Set up key events in Google Analytics

In Google Analytics, the actions you care about most are called key events. Set one up for each item on your list:

• Phone clicks: taps on your phone number on the website
• Booking clicks: clicks on your booking button or link
• Form sends: a thank you page or confirmation after a form is sent
• Email clicks: clicks on your email address

Once these are in place, Analytics can show which sources lead to enquiries, not just visits.

Consider a call tracking number

Phone calls are the hardest enquiry to measure, and for many practices they matter most. A call tracking service gives you a separate number that forwards to your main line and records where each call came from.

Google requires the number on your profile to be under your direct control. Many tracking services suggest showing the tracking number as the primary phone on your profile and keeping your main line as an additional number. Check Google's current guidelines before you change it, and keep your main number the same everywhere else online.

If you run Google Ads, connect them

Google Ads should count the same key events as your analytics. When ads and analytics agree on what an enquiry is, you can see the cost of each one rather than the cost of each click.

Ask people, too

No tool catches everything. A simple question at intake, "How did you find us?", fills the gaps, especially for people who searched, waited a week and then called. Keep the answer options short and the same every time so you can count them.

Look at it once a month

You don't need a dashboard you check every morning. Once a month, write down four numbers: profile calls, website enquiries, bookings and what clients told you at intake. After a few months the pattern is usually clear, and decisions about your profile, website and ads get much easier.

Sources

• Google Business Profile guidelines
• Google Analytics help: key events
• Google Analytics help: URL builders and campaign data

This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Rules and Google features change, so check the current source before acting.