Test whether your number is tappable right now
Open your website on your phone and tap your phone number. If the dialer opens with your number already filled in, you have tap-to-call and this guide is a 5 minute placement check. If nothing happens, or your phone tries to select the text instead, every mobile visitor has to memorize your number, switch to the phone app, and type it in. Some will. Plenty won't, and they'll go back to the search results and call the next roofer instead.
The person on your site usually has a problem in front of them: a furnace that won't fire, water where water shouldn't be. They want to talk to a human, and the call is the whole point of the website. Making the number tappable is the cheapest conversion fix there is.
Don't trust your eyes here. Safari on iPhone auto-detects numbers and makes them tappable even with no link in your code. That detection depends on formatting and works differently across Android browsers, so a number that taps fine on your iPhone can be dead text on a customer's Samsung. The real fix is the link itself.
The one line of code
A tap-to-call link is a normal web link that uses tel: instead of https:. Here it is with a Wisconsin number:
<a href="tel:+12625551234">Call (262) 555-1234</a>
Two parts. The href part (tel:+12625551234) is what the phone dials, and it should be +1 followed by your 10 digit number, no spaces, no dashes, no parentheses. The visible part between the tags can say anything: the formatted number, "Call now", "Talk to Dave". Write it however your customers read it.
The +1 matters. The link usually works without it, but with it the number dials correctly from any phone, set to any region. Get the digits right too: a typo here sends every tap to a stranger, and nobody reports it, they just assume you didn't pick up.
Copy this and swap in your number: <a href="tel:+1XXXXXXXXXX">Call (XXX) XXX-XXXX</a>. The href gets +1 and ten digits with nothing between them. The visible text can be formatted any way you like.
Add it in your website builder
You don't need to touch code in any mainstream builder. The link option is built in, it's just labeled differently in each one.
- WordPress: highlight the phone number in the editor, click the link button (the chain icon), and type tel:+12625551234 as the address. Hit enter and update the page.
- Wix: click the text or button with your number, choose the link icon, and pick 'Phone number' from the list. Wix formats the tel: part for you.
- Squarespace: highlight the number, click the link option in the text toolbar, and choose Phone. Enter your number and save.
- GoDaddy Website Builder: edit the header section, and use the phone number field there, which creates a call button automatically. For numbers in page text, use the link option and enter tel:+1 plus your digits.
- Hand-coded site: paste the line from the section above into your HTML wherever the number appears, and repeat it on every page.
Put the number where thumbs can reach
A tappable number buried at the bottom of your About page doesn't do much. Placement is half the fix.
Top of every page, visible without scrolling. The header is the first place people look for a number, and it should be there on the homepage, every service page, and the contact page, not just one of them. Someone landing on your 'water heater replacement' page from Google should never have to click somewhere else to find the number.
Add a sticky call button on mobile. That's a button pinned to the bottom of the phone screen that stays put while the visitor scrolls. On contractor sites it's routinely the most-tapped element on the page. Wix, Squarespace, and most WordPress themes have a pinned or sticky button element, and it takes a few minutes to turn on. Make it big enough for a thumb: Google's guidance is a tap target around 48 by 48 pixels with space around it.
Repeat the number in the footer. People scroll to the bottom of a page when they've finished reading and are deciding what to do. Meet them there.
Two details that trip people up
Desktop clicks. On a computer, clicking a tel: link pops up a handler prompt: FaceTime on a Mac, Phone Link or Skype on Windows. It looks odd but it's harmless, and some people do complete the call that way through a paired phone. Leave the link in place on desktop. The visible formatted number covers everyone who'd rather just dial it.
Number consistency. The number on your website should match the number on your Google Business Profile, your Facebook page, and your directory listings. Google cross-checks these, and mismatched numbers muddy the signal that ties your site to your local listing. If you're considering a separate 'tracking number' on the site to count calls, hold off until you read the FAQ below, because doing it wrong can cost you local ranking.
Test it and count the calls
Testing takes two minutes and catches the failure nobody reports. On your phone, tap the number in the header, the sticky button, and the footer, on your homepage and your busiest service page. Each tap should open the dialer with the right number. Let one call connect so you hear your own greeting. Test on both an iPhone and an Android if you can.
Then decide how you'll know it's working. The simple version costs nothing: for the next few weeks, ask every new caller how they found you, and watch whether 'I was on your website' comes up more. Your Google Business Profile also reports calls under its Performance tab, but only calls tapped from the profile itself, not from your site.
If you want a real count of website taps, Google Tag Manager can fire an event whenever a link starting with tel: gets clicked, and send it to Google Analytics 4. Both tools are free. It's an afternoon project, not a 30 minute one, so treat it as a later upgrade. The link itself is today's job.
The whole fix, in order: add the tel: link, put the number in the header and footer of every page, turn on a sticky mobile call button, tap-test on a real phone. Done in under 30 minutes.