# Call tracking Short answer: Call tracking is a way of finding out which marketing source led someone to phone your clinic, usually by showing a different phone number for each source, such as an ad, a listing or a mailer. Calls to each number are counted and logged with their source. ## Why does call tracking matter for a clinic? Many patients still prefer to call, especially for a first visit or anything involving money. Without call tracking, those bookings appear in no marketing report, so the channels that make the phone ring look weaker than they are. The phone is the oldest marketing channel and still the one that keeps the fewest receipts. A dental practice running search ads and a mailer might find that most new patient calls come from the mailer it nearly cancelled. ## How does call tracking work? - Each source gets its own number: one for search ads, one for the Google Business Profile, one for the mailer. - On the website, the number shown changes to match how the visitor arrived, often called dynamic number insertion. - Calls forward to the clinic's main line, so patients reach the same team whichever number they dialled. - Each call is logged with its source, time and length, plus the outcome where the team records it. Shops have done the analogue version for years with coupon codes. A flyer gets one code and a newspaper ad another, and the till shows which one brought people through the door. ## How is call tracking different from closed-loop attribution? Call tracking stops at the phone call: you know the source and that the phone rang. [Closed-loop attribution](https://agentblue.io/glossary/closed-loop-attribution) carries the source on to the booking, the visit and the revenue, across calls, forms and chats. Most clinics start with call tracking and add the rest of the loop later. The honest catch: tracking numbers can clash with [local SEO](https://agentblue.io/glossary/local-seo) if they replace your main number in listings. Keep the main number on your Google Business Profile and directories, and remember that a tracked call is still only a call until someone books. ## Frequently asked questions ### Will tracking numbers confuse patients? Rarely. They look like normal local numbers and ring the same team. Keep your main number wherever patients already know it. ### Does call tracking work for missed calls? Yes. A missed call to a tracking number still shows its source, which also makes it a useful trigger for [missed call text back](https://agentblue.io/glossary/missed-call-text-back). [See call tracking for clinics](https://agentblue.io/solutions/call-tracking-and-attribution) ## Related terms - [Closed-loop attribution](https://agentblue.io/glossary/closed-loop-attribution): Closed-loop attribution connects a booked and attended appointment back to the marketing source that started it, such as an ad, a search listing or a referral, and reports that outcome by source. The loop is closed when the real visit, and ideally its revenue, is matched to the first touch. - [Patient acquisition cost](https://agentblue.io/glossary/patient-acquisition-cost): Patient acquisition cost is the total a clinic spends on marketing and sales in a period, divided by the number of new patients who had a first visit in that period. It answers one plain question: what does a new patient cost us? - [Missed call text back](https://agentblue.io/glossary/missed-call-text-back): Missed call text back is a phone setup that sends a text message to a caller whose call went unanswered, usually within a minute or so, inviting them to reply by text. It turns a missed call into a conversation the clinic can pick up. - [Local SEO](https://agentblue.io/glossary/local-seo): Local SEO is the work of helping a business appear when people nearby search for what it offers, in map results and searches such as dentist near me. For a clinic, it covers the Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent listings and location pages on its own site. Source page: