• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 21, 2020

Marketing analytics platform CallRail said on Tuesday that it now automates the platform’s integration with Google My Business (GMB).

The change allows marketers to automatically -- rather than manually -- create and install a tracking phone number for their account. The feature also separates leads sourced from GMB from their main business line or organic search.

Marketers can view data by visitor behind callers from GMB and use these lead insights to inform their digital strategies moving forward.

The integration gives small businesses the information they need to report on real insights from local search marketing campaigns.

It’s about the lead data coming from GMB, according to Kevin Mann, CPO and co-founder of CallRail.

“There’s a big hole in call tracking,” he said. “Companies have been missing out on tracking calls that originated from Google search on desktop.”

Too many Google searches result in zero clicks, Mann said. This means the searcher does not click through to the company’s website, making it difficult for small and local businesses to understand where leads originate. More of the content from the company serves up in search results.

The latest version has “deeper insights” such as call recordings and transcriptions, in addition to showing the caller’s name. If someone calls and hangs up before the phone is answered, the call is removed.

Although there are multiple ways for consumers to find a small business on Google search, less than half of Google searches result in a click. It has become more important to implement call tracking to understand how all conversion points are performing.

Mobile doesn’t have the same challenges, he said.

Form tracking that comes from GMB will come next, Mann said. Consolidating services is also on the product roadmap.