Easy to contact you
The customer has found you, read and decided. Now they want to call. If the number is tappable, the phone rings within a second. If they have to copy it out, you lose some of the calls right there.
How the checker measures it
The phone number or email address can be tapped directly (a tel or mailto link in the code).
The contact details exist but cannot be tapped: a form, or a number or email address that is only plain text.
No contact details were found on the page. Customers who cannot see right away how to reach you call someone else.
This check carries 15 of 100 points.
Why it matters
A tappable number calls straight away. A number as text has to be selected, copied and pasted into the phone app.
A call is usually the closest thing to a sale. The form is good, but the one who calls has already decided. The form in turn has to land in the right place, and how it travels from form to inbox is something I have written about separately.
Google can show a tappable number straight in the search result when it is marked up correctly on the page, and the same number belongs in your Google Business Profile so the customer can call straight from the map.
How to fix it
Open the site on your phone and tap the number. If it does not ring, the number is only text.
Make the number a link that starts with tel: and the email address a link that starts with mailto:. In most tools you do it by selecting the number and adding a link.
Put the number at the top of every page, not just the contact page.
If you have a form, keep it, but do not let it be the only way.
On the sites I build the number sits in the header of every page and is tappable, and missed calls can be answered automatically by text. See what it costs.
What it looks like in practice
Try it yourself on a phone: tap the phone number on your own site. If it rings, the number is a link. If nothing happens it is only text, and the customer then has to select the digits, copy them and paste them into the phone app with a thumb.
The checker looks for a link starting with tel: or mailto: in the page's code. If one is there the row goes green. If the number is only text, or there is only a form, it goes amber. If no contact details are found at all it turns red. The check carries 15 of 100 points, the same as https and mobile.
The most common amber case is the site where the number sits neatly in the footer as plain text and the contact page has a form instead of a number. Neither of those is wrong in itself. It is simply one more step for someone who has already decided to call.
A form and a tappable number do different jobs. The form catches the person getting in touch in the evening, the number catches the person who wants to talk now. Whoever calls has usually already chosen you.
Questions and answers
Is a contact form enough on its own?
It takes care of the person getting in touch outside working hours, but someone who wants to talk now wants to tap a number. With only the form, the row comes out amber in the report.
Should the number be on every page?
Yes, preferably at the top. Customers rarely make up their mind on the contact page but on the page where they read about the work you do.
What does a tel link mean?
It is a phone number marked up in the code as a number to call. Tapping it on a phone opens the phone app with the number already filled in.
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I personally look at every site that's submitted. Albin
The other checks
The checker looks at nine things. Each has its own page.