If you haven’t already noticed, Google rolled out new AdWords bidding units for those marketers and business owners who are only interested in generating phone calls for their business. While most businesses have phone lines and revel in the opportunity to speak directly to consumers, it took time for Google to recognize the true value of phone calls for local and national merchants.
The new Call-Only ads on Google AdWords are designed to work with your Pay Per Call campaign. In this post, we’re going to take a brief look at the new system, and offer a quick guide on adding phone numbers to your AdWords campaign.
Call-Only Ads for Pay Per Call
Google AdWords previously required a landing page or website to enable a click-through connection for consumers, which directs a consumer to your business site where they can find your number. Now, advertisers and business owners can bid exclusively on phone calls and use a Google tracking number or their own business extension to generate calls from consumers.
When placed in search results pages, the AdWords campaign features the phone number if consumers want to dial on their own, as well as a call button powered by click-to-call functionality that directly connects consumers. For business owners and advertisers interested only in phone calls, the new functionality allows them to bid exclusively on that feature.
How to Add Phone Numbers to Your Ads
In order to add a phone number to your ads, you first need to sign in to your AdWords account and click on the Ad Extensions tab. Next you’ll need to click the “View” drop-down menu and select “Call extensions.”
To add a new call extension to your campaign, click the “Create new” button. From here you’ll be able to select the campaigns you want to add the extension to, edit a phone number you’re already using on a campaign, and/or add a new phone number for calls. Clicking the “add a new number” option allows you to enter the country of origin and punch in a new extension number for your Pay Per Call campaign. If you are going to use your own extension, you’ll need to select the option to “use my own number.”
Once you have completed this step, you’ll have the chance to optimize how your ad appears. Your ad can appear with your website URL and business phone number, or show just your number. If the campaign you’re editing has a mixture of standard and mobile-optimized ads, you’ll want to click the “mobile” button at the bottom of the options menu.
Selecting the “mobile” button allows mobile-optimized AdWords ads to appear when consumers conduct a search on a smartphone, which produces the click-to-call button in the ad. If you click the advanced link, you’ll be able to further optimize your ads in terms of how and when they appear in searches.
These tips will help you get started adding new phone numbers and adjusting your Pay Per Call campaigns with AdWords to optimize each campaign for desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone searches.