Local Swap allows you to add additional area codes to your website pool that swap to match a website visitor’s geographic location. For example, a visitor in Chicago would see a tracking number with a Chicago area code, while a visitor in Tampa would see a tracking number with a Tampa area code. Local Swap is a great option for businesses that service multiple locations and want their customers to feel confident choosing a business available in their area.
Getting started
This feature is currently only available for US and Canada tracking numbers.
Local Swap is a feature used for website pools and requires the JavaScript snippet in order to swap numbers.
Learn how to create a website pool in this help article.
Each time you add Local Swap numbers, your website pool increases, which affects the total numbers on your invoice. You can add as few as two Local Swap numbers per area code to your pool.
Once Local Swap numbers are added to a pool, Local Swap will be locked and cannot be deactivated for the website pool. You can always add additional area codes or increase the size of a Local Swap pool.
If your website pool contains toll-free numbers, visitors who don't have an exact geographic match will see one of them. We recommend using a toll-free number for Local Swap to ensure that visitors never see a number that is completely non-local to them (for example, a visitor in New York seeing a number from an Arizona area code).
Activate Local Swap
You can activate Local Swap for an existing website pool or after creating a new website pool using the edit number page. If you’d like to add more than one website pool per company, you can follow the instructions in our support article to enable multiple website pools in your account.
- Select the Settings icon on the left navigation bar.
- Choose the company where you'd like to add Local Swap numbers to the website pool.
- Select the Pencil icon next to the website pool you want to update.
- On the page that follows, select the Pencil icon at the upper-right of the Advanced Options menu.
- Locate the Local Swap toggle and turn it ON.
- After turning Local Swap ON, you’ll automatically see the total number of your original website pool appear below (in this example, a pool of eight 888 toll-free numbers). You can always increase the size of your original website pool if needed.
At this point, Local Swap can still be deactivated. However, it will not be fully activated until you add area codes and save your changes at the bottom of the section.
Add Local Swap numbers
Search for Local Swap numbers by area code and add them to your website pool. Your initial pool numbers will be automatically added to your new Local Swap number pool.
- Select + Add Local Swap Numbers by Area Code.
- Enter an area code you’d like to add to your pool and select how many numbers you’d like for that area code pool (minimum of two numbers).
- Select + Add Local Swap Numbers by Area Code again to add another area code. Repeat this process as many times as needed to create your Local Swap pool.
- When you’ve created the Local Swap pool you’d like, select Save at the bottom of the section.
- Your Local Swap activation for this pool will be locked and your area code pools will be added to your website pool.
- If any area codes you selected are unavailable, you will see an error alert and Local Swap will not be locked. If you’d like to deactivate Local Swap at this point, you can toggle OFF and Save. Otherwise, try another area code and select Save at the bottom of the page.
Edit Local Swap numbers
After activating Local Swap, you can always edit your website pool to add additional area codes or increase the size of your existing pools.
To decrease the quantity of numbers in your pool, you'll need to deactivate your Local Swap website pool, and use the instructions from the first section of this article to recreate your pool with the preferred amount of numbers.
For more information on changing pool size, read this help article.
Deactivate Local Swap
To deactivate Local Swap, you’ll need to deactivate the website pool.
- Select the Settings icon on the left navigation bar.
- Choose the company where you would like to deactivate Local Swap.
- Select the Edit icon for the website pool you'd like to update.
- In the upper right corner of the page, select the button that says "Deactivate [name of website pool]."
- Select Permanently deactivate this website pool to allow CallRail to permanently delete the selected website pool. All the tracking numbers will be immediately deactivated.
FAQs
How does Local Swap determine a visitor's geographic location?
Local Swap uses a visitor’s IP address to match their area code. If an IP address is not available for a visitor, Local Swap will use a number from your initial website pool or a toll-free number (recommended).
Will visitors see a different area code if they change locations?
After visitors are assigned an area code on their first visit, they’ll continue to see the same area code for consistency even if they change locations.
How should I use toll-free numbers in Local Swap pools?
If you’re using Local Swap to appear national, or available in large regions, we recommend using a toll-free number website pool for Local Swap. This will ensure that a visitor never sees a number that is completely non-local to them (for example, a visitor in New York seeing a number with an Arizona area code). If you’re using Local Swap for smaller, nearby regions (like neighboring cities), you can either use a local website pool or a toll-free website pool, depending on your preference.
What if I don't use toll-free numbers?
If you choose not to add toll-free numbers to your pool, Local Swap will match the next closest area code to your visitor's IP address. If they've already been shown a Local Swap number, they will continue to see their first assigned number.
What about areas that have multiple area codes?
When you're in a layered area code location like Atlanta, and there are multiple codes in your Local Swap pool (ex. 404 and 678), Local Swap follows normal swap precedence rules by swapping in the least-recently-used number of those area codes.
Learn more about swap precedence in this help article.
Should I have multiple area codes in the same state?
If you're covering an entire state, you can have multiple area codes in your Local Swap pool for the same state to better target specific regions. Ideally, you'll also have a toll-free number in your Local Swap pool so if a caller doesn't have an exact area code match, they'll see a toll-free number instead. If a caller's area code doesn't match one of your area codes and you do NOT have toll-free numbers in your Local Swap pool, they'll be assigned the next closest area code to their IP address. Sometimes this can show callers an area code not local to them, which is why we recommend toll-free numbers.
How many Local Swap numbers should I add for each area code?
The number of Local Swap numbers you’ll want to add for each area code is completely customizable and depends on your specific business needs by location. You can add as few as two numbers per area code.
For website pools in general, you need one phone number per concurrent visitor (with a minimum of four numbers), or enough numbers to cover concurrent visitors during peak hourly traffic on your website. You can estimate how many simultaneous visitors you have by looking in Google Analytics. For Local Swap, you’d ideally want to cover all concurrent visitors in each additional area code location (with a minimum of two numbers).
Read this help article to learn how to find this information in Google Analytics.