1. Make the number a link
A number typed as plain text has to be copied or remembered. A linked number opens the dialer. Google's own guidance for web builders is short: "Wrap all phone numbers in hyperlinks with the tel: schema." Phones often turn numbers into links by themselves, but the same page says "it's a good idea to do this directly in your code". Of the 212 Twin Cities roofing homepages we tested, 22 had no call link.
2. Put the Call button where the thumb is
One Call button at the top is gone as soon as someone scrolls. Keep a bar at the bottom of the phone screen with Call on it, on every page. The accessibility standard asks for tap targets "at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels". Make yours several times that.
3. Say when you answer
Put your hours beside the number. A person who taps Call at 9 pm and gets no answer may not try a second time. If you are closed, say so, and point to the form.
4. Give the night visitor a form
A form catches the people who look when you cannot pick up. In our roofing test, this is how the 212 homepages divided.
| The homepage had | Pages |
|---|---|
| A call link and a form | 124 |
| A call link, no form | 66 |
| A form, no call link | 9 |
| Neither | 13 |
Keep the form short: a name, a phone number and what they need. You are asking for enough to call back, not for an application.
5. Answer the first question on the page
Do you come to my town? What does it cost, roughly? Are you open Saturday? Each answer on the page is one less reason to leave without calling, and one less call that goes nowhere.
6. Make the page show fast
Nobody can call a number they have not seen yet. 158 of the 191 roofing homepages we could time took longer than 2.5 seconds to show their main content. What slows a page, and how to test yours, is in how fast a small business website should be.
7. Send Google to the same number
Some callers never reach your site: they tap Call on your Google listing. Use the same number there as on the site, and keep the hours identical. The Google Business Profile checklist has the rest.
8. Count the calls
You cannot tell whether a change helped if you do not count. The plain way: for one month, ask every new caller how they found you, and keep a tally by the phone. Do it before you change the site and again after. It costs nothing and it is your own number, not an estimate.
What we will not tell you
We will not tell you how many calls a new page will bring. Nobody knows that in advance, and a number promised before the work is a guess. What we do is make these eight changes, test the site on a phone before and after, and show you both sets of figures. The counting in step 8 is yours.
If you want to know where your site stands today, the free site check covers steps 1, 2, 4 and 6 on your own homepage.
Sources
- web.dev, Click to call.
- W3C, Understanding Target Size (Minimum).
- Our own test of 212 Twin Cities roofing homepages, November 2026: what we found and how we tested.
