Why a call never landed on a visit in Yandex Metrica
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A call did not land on a visit when Metrica could not tie it to a visitor. The calls help describes that for a static number, an automatic counter, an identifier that is not in the database, a call that happened before the visit, and a visit older than 21 days before the data was sent. Until the link exists, "Call" goal statistics do not show up in reports.
Below is what to check, in order, and what that check does not prove. Goals, including a call as a goal, are set up as described in How to set goals in Yandex Metrica. Call fraud is a separate question. Its signs are in Fake calls.
Which call can land on a visit at all
For calls to reach Metrica you need a call-tracking service that sends them through the API. Automatic counters do not collect call data. The counter that receives them is one you created. The first transfer creates a goal.
The dynamic method pins a number to a session by swapping it. Metrica ties that call to the nearest visit that fits by time. A static call is not tied to visitors' visits. If the site shows one permanent number, the help does not promise a visit link: the call can sit in the calls report and still not become a visit with a goal.
The call date and time are required. Duration, whether it was missed, whether it was the first call, the number, the page URL, a tag and a cost are not required for the link. Call tracking may send them. Metrica records what arrived. That help page does not describe a separate fraud detector: it accepts the transfer, it does not judge the call.
Data appears in reports within 3 hours after the upload. Three hours is the wait after the upload, not the length of the conversation. If the file just left, an empty report does not mean anything yet.
Four reasons the link will not happen
Metrica does not tie a call to a visitor and a visit in three transfer cases, and a static number adds a fourth.
The transfer includes a visitor or click identifier that is not in the Metrica database.
The visit happened after the call. The link looks for a visit that already occurred, not a future session.
The visit was earlier than 21 days before the data was sent. The window runs to the moment of sending, not to the moment of the conversation.
The number is static: that call is not tied to visitors' visits, even when the date and the identifier are in order.
"Call" goal statistics appear when the link succeeds. If the goal row is missing, check these four points before you touch the ad account.
A walk-through on the help's time limits, not on your campaign. The call is on 1 April, the data goes out on 30 April. If the visit was on the day of the call, more than 21 days passed before sending: there will be no link. The same call sent on 10 April falls inside the window. Here, 21 days is the call-link window.
Why 13 March shows the call and not the conversion
The date in the "Calls, in detail" report is the moment of the call. The goal completion sits on the visit, which may have been earlier.
The help's example: a visit on 11 March, a call on 13 March. On 13 March the detail report shows the call. Conversions for 13 March do not show the completion: the goal landed on the 11 March visit. If you only look at the call's day in Conversions, the call seems lost. It is recorded on another day.
Check "Calls, in detail" on the call date and Conversions on the date of the visit the dynamic number should have linked. The days do not have to match. The date gap is what you get when the goal lives on the visit.
| Where to look | Which date | What an empty row means |
|---|---|---|
| "Calls, in detail" | The moment of the call | The transfer is not in yet, or 3 hours after the upload have not passed |
| The "Call" goal | The visit the link landed on | The link did not succeed |
| Conversions on the call's day | The call's day, not the visit's day | The goal may sit on an earlier visit |
What to check before you change the campaign
Walk one call you heard yourself.
The counter is one you created, not an automatic counter.
The number was swapped for the session. The help does not tie a static number to a visit.
The transfer has a date and a time. The other fields may be empty. That does not block the link.
The visitor or click identifier exists in the Metrica database.
The visit was before the call, and no more than 21 days passed between the visit and sending the data.
If the report is still empty, less than 3 hours have passed since the upload.
Read Conversions on the visit's day, and the detail report on the call's day.
If step 2 is a static number, the later steps will not fix the link. You need a number swapped onto the session. If step 5 shows the 21-day window already closed, sending the same old visit again will not create the link: the help cuts on that deadline.
Do not mix up 3 hours and 21 days
The help gives 3 hours for data to show up in reports after the upload. If the file left this morning, the detail report can stay empty until that window ends, and that is not yet a refused link.
21 days is a different window. It runs from the visit to the moment the data is sent. A call exported the next day sits inside it. A call that sat in call tracking for a month and then left for Metrica in a batch can fall outside 21 days, even when the conversation was long and the number was dynamic. Call duration does not stretch this window: duration is not required for the link and it does not move the deadline.
An empty report in the first hour after the upload and an empty goal a month later are different failures. Waiting closes the first one. Waiting does not fix the second.
What this check does not prove
A successful link means a dynamic call landed on a visit that fit by time. It does not score whether the conversation was a target call: duration is not required for the link. It does not say the ad click was a person. The calls help does not describe a fraud detector. A suspicion of fake calls is checked separately, in the article on call fraud, not by an empty link row.
An empty goal next to a real call in the detail report usually means a static number, an unknown identifier, a call that happened before the visit, or a missed 21-day window. That is a broken tie between visit and call. Campaign spend is neither subtracted nor confirmed by it.