Click-to-call link generator: tel: and text links for your website
A tap-to-call button is the most important element on a plumber, electrician or cleaner website, and it breaks quietly when the number is written with spaces, brackets or no country code. Type your number once and copy a tested tel: link, an optional sms: link and the full button HTML. It runs in your browser. Nothing is sent or stored.
Your links
Enter a number.
Why the number format matters
A tel: link is a web address that tells the phone to start a call. The standard behind it, RFC 3966, defines a global number as a plus sign followed by the country code and the number, and describes visual separators such as spaces, dots and dashes as decoration that dialers may ignore. Some phones and desktop apps handle them badly, so the safest link carries digits only: tel:+15125550100. The text a visitor reads can still be written the friendly way, (512) 555-0100.
Five mistakes this avoids
- No country code. A link that works for a local visitor fails for someone roaming, and for a call button inside a search result. Always start with the plus sign.
- The leading zero. Many countries write a trunk zero for domestic calls (UK 020 7946 0000). In the international form it is dropped:
+442079460000. The generator removes it for you. - Link text that is only an icon. Screen readers announce a link by its text. The button above keeps the number in the visible words, so people using voice control can say "click Call now".
- A phone number as plain text on a phone. Phones often turn plain numbers into links on their own, but not reliably. Make it a real link.
- A desktop that cannot dial. On a laptop with no calling app, a
tel:link may do nothing or open an app the visitor does not use. Keep the number readable as text in the button, so it can be typed into a phone.
Extensions and text messages
RFC 3966 allows an extension written as ;ext=204, but phone dialers differ in how they treat it. If most of your calls go to a single mobile line, skip the extension. The sms: link opens the messaging app with your number filled in. A pre-filled body is added with ?body=; how the body is read varies between phone makers and apps, so test it on an iPhone and an Android before you rely on it. Only offer text messages if you will actually answer them.
Where to put the button
Put one call link in the header and one directly under the main heading, so it is visible without scrolling on a phone. The same number, spelled exactly as it appears in your footer and your Google Business Profile, also keeps your name, address and phone consistent for local search. If you are marking up your business with structured data, the LocalBusiness schema generator outputs the same number in the format Google expects. Before you launch, run the local trade website checklist.
Building a whole site for a trade? The Callout Kit ships with a call button in the header and on every page, in four ready-made trade sites, and part of it is live in the demo.