If you’re running Google Ads for a local business, you’re probably using Location Assets (formerly called location extensions). These allow your ads to show directly on Google Maps and in local search results with your business’s address, phone number, and hours of operation—just like a regular Google Business Profile.

But here’s the key difference: when shown as part of your ad campaign, these listings appear with a “Sponsored” label. That’s why many marketers call them “map ads.” They look organic, but they’re powered by your ad spend.

This visibility is powerful—but tracking leads that come from your Location Asset isn’t straightforward.

What Google Ads Will (and Won’t) Show You

Google Ads does offer some tracking for the Location Asset. Specifically:

✅ It will show you how many calls were driven by your Location Asset.
❌ It will NOT show you who called—you won’t see names, phone numbers, call recordings, or lead quality.

That means you’ll know the quantity of leads coming from your “map ads,” but not the quality—and definitely not which specific leads turned into customers.

Why This Matters

If you can’t tie specific leads to the Location Asset, you lose visibility on performance. That’s a problem if you want to:

Match leads to closed sales
Understand lead quality
Measure ROI for location-based ads
Optimize campaigns based on real customer data

Without this, you’re stuck guessing whether your Location Asset is bringing in high-value customers—or just generating low-quality calls.

The Solution: WhatConverts + a Dedicated Tracking Number

To fix this, the best solution is to use WhatConverts (affiliate link) with a dedicated tracking phone number set on your Google Business Profile (GBP).

Since the Location Asset pulls information directly from your GBP, replacing the number there allows you to capture every call made through your Sponsored listing—with lead-level details.

Step-by-Step: How to Track Location Asset Leads Using WhatConverts

1. Create a Tracking Number in WhatConverts

   • Go to your WhatConverts account.

   • Create a new tracking number specifically for use as your Google Ads Location Extension number.

   • Name it something like “Google Location Extension”.

   • For “Where will you use this number?”, select Offline.

   • Complete the setup wizard and click Finish.

   
   

2. Update Your Google Business Profile

   • Log into Google Business Profile.

   • Search for your business and select your profile.

   • Click the menu icon (⋮ or ☰) and go to Business Profile Settings.

   • Click on advanced settings

   • In the Google Ads phone number field, enter the WhatConverts tracking number

   • Click Save

What You’ll Gain

Every time someone taps “Call” on your Sponsored Google Maps listing:

• The call is routed through WhatConverts

• You see the lead in your dashboard

• You can listen to the call, assign lead value, and mark it as a sale

This gives you the attribution and lead quality data that Google Ads alone can’t provide.

Real-World Example

Let’s say your Google Ads dashboard shows 12 calls last week from the Location Asset.

With standard tracking, that’s all you know.

But with WhatConverts, you’ll see:

• Caller info: names, numbers, timestamps

• Call recordings: you can qualify or tag them

• Sales tracking: match the lead to a sale in your CRM

That’s how you get from “we got some calls” to “this campaign generated $4,200 in new business.”

Location Assets (aka “map ads”) are one of the most effective tools for local businesses advertising on Google. They get your business in front of high-intent searchers at exactly the right time.

But without proper tracking, you’ll never know which leads came through your map ad—and whether they were worth it.

Google Ads will show you the number of calls, but tools like WhatConverts are what let you see who those callers were, what they wanted, and whether they turned into paying customers.

If you’re serious about tracking real ROI from every part of your Google Ads campaign—including your Location Asset—this is the setup you need.