Google Is Deleting Call-Only Ads — and There's a June 15 Deadline You Might Have Missed

If your business generates leads through Google Ads and you are still running call-only ads, you are operating on a deprecated format. Google removed the ability to create new call-only ads in February 2026. Existing campaigns stop receiving impressions in February 2027. That deadline is a year away — but the damage to campaign performance starts well before the hard cutoff.

What call-only ads were and why they worked

Call-only ads were built for one outcome — getting a high-intent searcher to call your business directly from the search results page. No landing page, no click-through, no bounce rate. Just a phone call from someone actively looking for what you offer.

For Indian service businesses — real estate agents, clinics, coaching institutes, interior designers — this format consistently produced warm leads at reasonable cost. The simplicity was the advantage.

What Google wants you to use instead

Responsive search ads with call assets. This format shows your phone number alongside your headline and description, and gives users the option to call or click through to your site.

Google's argument is that offering both call and click options captures more of the intent — some searchers want to call immediately, others want to check the site first. In practice, for businesses where phone calls are the primary lead type, the migration requires rebuilding ad creative rather than a simple format toggle. Your old call-only ad copy does not transfer automatically.

The June 15 deadline most businesses have not checked

Separate from the call-only deprecation, there is a Google Ads API change taking effect June 15, 2026 — eleven days from today.

Starting June 15, Google Ads API will no longer accept new adopters for legacy offline conversion imports, including enhanced lead conversions. The Data Manager API becomes the primary method for importing offline conversions.

If you import leads from your CRM back into Google Ads — to tell the platform which campaigns generated actual paying customers, not just form fills — and you are using the legacy API method, you need to migrate before June 15. After that date, new imports using the old method will return errors.

What to do this week

Open your Google Ads account and filter campaigns by type. Any active call-only campaigns should be paused and rebuilt as responsive search ads with call assets. Do not leave them running to the February 2027 deadline — Google's system progressively deprioritises deprecated formats before the hard cutoff.

If your agency manages your Google Ads, ask them two specific questions: have they migrated your call-only campaigns, and are your offline conversion imports using the Data Manager API or the legacy method? Both are actionable this week.

The February 2027 deadline feels distant. The June 15 offline conversion deadline does not.