This, coupled with major pain in the #$% issue of data consistency across hundreds of review/directory sites…seems like a no-brainer with regard to the question: to use or not to use call tracking numbers. I’m sure for marketers who have enjoyed the powerful analytics call tracking offers, the thought giving them up is extremely unsavory.

But like you point out…is it really about us in the end or about the business owners and their LONG TERM viability and ranking in local search?

-Aubrey

You mention that you “cannot prove you are increasing performance if you can’t track the conversions”, but we’re talking here about increasing the rankings of a business’s listings — which would still benefit clicks to the website which can be tracked, even if you cannot track the phone calls. So, yes, we can prove we’re increasing performance in this case, and there is still some tracking available. (In fact, there’s still other, more “old-fashioned” types of tracking available even if one opts not to use tracking numbers, such as training employees to ask new customers where they found your listing, and using special offer language or codes in order to figure out where referrals originated.)

Yet, the bigger strategic point is that you’ve stated “what does it matter if you can’t track the results…” — well, it matters because the client has a much better chance of getting results in this case if their ranking has not been impaired by using a different phone number. Here’s what matters from the client point of view in most cases, I believe: results. And, you’re going to reduce your chances of getting better results with the use of the tracking number.

I think you’re coming at the issue from a POV of doing what’s in the best interest of the agency, rather than the client — it’s better for you if you can track what’s been done with call tracking, than it is for the client. I will agree that if this didn’t sometimes impair performance, it would indeed be ideal to track calls in addition to click sources, but that’s not the paradigm we’ve been handed.

You can’t really say that I’m “militant” when I’ve provided the industry with a potential solution which would help mitigate the problem introduced with the call tracking, and pointed out others’ solutions as well — so, I’m not opposed to the possibility of using tracking in the future. The industry itself has chosen to not directly address this issue as of yet, and until they do, I don’t believe we can recommend using tracking phone numbers in good conscience. Further, my statements are indeed qualified by broad knowledge of how the search technology and listing matching algorithms generally operate, and by research/observation in the field, and by discussing the issue with a number of other qualified colleagues in the field.