Google Call Ads Are Going Away. Here Is What You Need to Do Before February 2027.

A lot of local service businesses have been running call ads for years without thinking much about them. They work, so you leave them alone. The problem is that Google stopped allowing new call ads in February 2026, and the ones still running will go dark in February 2027. I see this kind of thing catch people off guard all the time. As a Google Ads expert, half the job is making sure a platform change does not quietly take out a piece of your lead pipeline before you notice.

This post covers what call ads are, why Google is removing them, what you need to do instead, and how to make the transition without losing leads.

What Are Call Ads, and Who Uses Them?

Call ads are a Google Ads format designed to get someone to call your business. On mobile devices, they show a phone number and a button that dials directly. The call is the conversion.

Businesses that relied on them most heavily tended to be local service providers where the phone is the main point of contact. Think plumbers, HVAC companies, law firms, dentists, home remodelers, real estate agents. If your business model runs on inbound calls, call ads were a clean, direct tool.

The catch is that they were a fixed, older school format with fixed headlines and descriptions. Google could not mix and match call ads with other assets or optimize across formats. That is why they are being removed.

Why Google Is Removing Call Ads

Google has been moving away from fixed ad formats for years. The direction of the whole platform is toward asset-based advertising, where you provide a pool of headlines, descriptions, images, call assets, and sitelinks, and Google's AI assembles the best combination for each individual search.

Call ads do not fit that model. They are a single-purpose, locked format. You cannot combine a call ad headline with a description from a responsive search ad. You cannot let the system optimize between showing a call button or a sitelink depending on the user. The format is rigid, and Google wants flexibility.

Responsive search ads (RSAs) can now include call assets that function the same way, showing a clickable phone number on mobile devices. From Google's perspective, RSAs with call assets do everything call ads do, plus more. So the standalone format becomes redundant. Of course, this removes another control lever from the advertiser's perspective but this follows a broader trend with Google.

What You Need to Do

Step 1: Add a call asset to your search campaigns

In Google Ads, go to your campaign or ad group. Under Assets (formerly Extensions), add a Call asset with your business phone number. Set call reporting on, which lets you track calls as conversions the same way you did with call ads. Once a call asset is attached, Google will display your phone number alongside your responsive search ads on mobile. Users can tap to call directly from the search results page. The user experience for the searcher is similar to what it was with call ads.

Step 2: Check your responsive search ads are in good shape

Call assets work alongside your ad copy so make sure your RSAs have strong headlines and descriptions. If your call ads were doing heavy lifting because your RSAs were weak, this transition is a good time to fix that.

A few things to check: ad strength rating should be at least Good, you should have at least 8 to 10 headline options in each RSA, and your top headlines should speak directly to what the searcher wants.

Step 3: Set up call conversion tracking

If you were tracking calls through your call ads previously, make sure your call conversion action is still active and connected to the call asset. Go to Goals, then Conversions, and confirm you have a Phone Call conversion action set up. Set a minimum call duration that represents a genuine lead for your business. Sixty seconds is common, but for higher-intent categories it might be 120 seconds or more.

Step 4: Pause your call ads before February 2027

You do not have to do this today, but you should not leave it to the deadline either. Pausing them yourself before the cutoff means you control the transition rather than Google cutting them off for you. It also gives you a few months to verify that your call assets are generating the call volume you need before the old format goes dark.

Will You Lose Leads in the Transition?

Not if you set things up correctly. Call assets on RSAs can replicate the same call-driving behavior as standalone call ads. The phone number appears prominently on mobile, and users who want to call can tap directly from the ad.

There are a couple of differences worth knowing about.

1. Ad scheduling: With call ads, you could set an ad schedule tied specifically to when phones were staffed. Call assets can also be scheduled, so you can set them to show only during business hours. Do this. There is no point driving calls at 11pm if no one is answering.

2. Call-only behavior: Call ads forced the call. RSAs with call assets still show a website link alongside the phone number. Some users who previously called may now click through to your site instead. This is not necessarily a problem, but track it. If you are seeing fewer direct calls but more website form submissions, your overall lead volume may be fine even if the call number looks different.

A Note on Call Ads in Performance Max

If you are running Performance Max campaigns, call assets work the same way there. Add your phone number as a call asset at the campaign level and Google will incorporate it where relevant across channels. PMax can serve call-focused ads on Search in the same way an RSA does.

Check Your Account Now: A Quick Audit

Here is a fast way to see if call ads are still running in your account and what needs attention.

• Go to Campaigns and filter by ad type. Look for any campaigns that have call ads as the primary format.

• Go to Ads and filter to see all Call Ads. Note which campaigns they are in.

• Go to Assets, then Call, and check whether those same campaigns already have call assets attached.

• If call assets are missing, add them.

• Confirm call conversion tracking is active and reporting correctly in your Goals settings.

The Bigger Picture

Call ads being deprecated is Google tidying up a legacy format that no longer fits the way the platform works. The replacement is functional and in some ways more flexible, because call assets can run alongside all your other ad copy rather than in isolation.

What this change is really a signal of is the broader direction of Google Ads: toward AI-assembled ads built from asset libraries, and away from manually constructed fixed formats. If changes like this one keep catching you off guard, it may be time to work with a Google Ads consultant who can keep your account ahead of the curve rather than reacting to it.