Yes, Call Ads are an excellent mechanism for generating phone calls to your business. It’s a frictionless experience for web users: they Google a term, see your Call Ad, click on it, and their mobile device dials your number. There is no real drop-off point, and the lead does not even need to visit a landing page if you don’t want them to.
If you want us to make your phone ring with new leads, get in touch – we are one of the nation’s leading law firm search engine optimization agencies, and we’ve created countless creative law firm PPC campaigns as well.
To learn more about Call Ads and how they can help you, read on.
What is a Call Ad (Formerly Call-Only Ad) in Google Ads?
Call Ads, formerly called Call-Only Ads, are search ads that prominently display your phone number on Google. They show on mobile devices capable of making calls. As the advertiser, you select keywords, negative out irrelevant keywords, and adjust bids just like a traditional search campaign.
When a visitor clicks on the phone number section of your ad, their mobile device opens the call app and your number is dialed.
Here’s an example:
Anatomy of a Call Ad
There are nine editable fields in a Call Ad:
- Phone number (required)
- Final URL (not required) – this allows someone to click through to a landing page
- Verification URL (required) – Google will check to see if the phone number on this URL matches the # in the advertisement
- Display path – not required (like this: https://example.com/display/path)
- Headline 1 – not required (30 characters)
- Headline 2 – not required (30 characters)
- Business Name – required (25 characters)
- Description 1 – not required
- Description 2 – not required
How Are Updated Call Ads Different From the Former “Call-Only” Ads?
The newest permutation of Google’s Call Ads is a prominent “Visit Website” call to action beneath description fields. This is optional, as it may not be in your best interests to encourage people to click through to your website.
It can be useful though, especially if you have well designed landing pages with a phone call-to-action.
How Do You Track Conversions From a Call Ad?
There are three levels of conversion tracking you’ll need to consider with Call Ads: top level call tracking, secondary phone tracking in CallRail, and website conversion tracking.
Phone Conversions from Call Ads
Google uses forwarding numbers to track whether or not a call occurs and how long it lasts. To enable call tracking in the Google Ads UI, click Tools & Settings > Conversions > Phone Calls > “Call from ads using call extensions or call-only ads.”
Once you’ve clicked that last option, you can adjust various settings, like:
- In order to count as a conversion, how long must the call last? (I recommend 7-10 seconds as your minimum so you account for missed calls)
- Conversion window (60 day maximum)
- Attribution model
Second-Level Phone Tracking
We recommend setting up tracking phone numbers in CallRail or a similar platform – with these, you can record calls and track the actual quality of your leads. You will need to make sure this tracking number is also visible on your landing page – Google checks to make sure your landing page phone number matches the number shown in your ad.
Website Level Conversion Tracking
If someone does click through from an advertisement to your website, you need to be able to track their activity. Use Tag Manager to set up phone call click events, form submission click events, and any other meaningful CTAs – you can then import these Google Analytics conversions into Google Ads to track activity back to the keyword level.
How Are Call Ads Different From Call Extensions?
Firstly, Call Ads only show on devices that can place phone calls. Text ads with call extensions can show on mobile and desktop, unless you specify that the call extension should only show on a mobile device.
Secondly, Call Ads urge the visitor to call (obviously), while text ads encourage click-throughs to your website. Even when your text ads include call extensions, visitors are more likely to click the headline through to your website.
A third difference – in Call Ads, you are not required to fill out the headline fields. More information below:
Testing Different Call Ad Configurations
Like any other ad campaign, you’ll want to A/B test different Call Ads and optimize them for performance. Measure CTR, quality score, total impressions, conversions, and most importantly, actual clients signed.
Configuration #1 – Fully Loaded
Start with a “fully loaded” Call Ad – fill out the URL path, include a final URL, and write two headlines and two descriptions. This allows you to present as much information to potential leads – include any current offers, cases you’ve won (great for lawyers), and other information that can differentiate you from competitors.
Configuration #2 – No Headlines
Since you have the option to omit headlines from your Call Ads, it’s worth a test. Sometimes you can confuse or distract potential leads with too much information, and if you only want them to click the phone number, make it as easy as possible for them to do that.
Configuration #3 – No Final URL
The prominent website call-to-action in Call Ads may seem counterintuitive to you, and you’re not alone. Why include a website link when you specifically want people to call you. These clicks can be very expensive, so adding more friction to the customer journey might not make sense.
Test an ad that does not have a final URL, and see how that affects your overall CPL over time.
Call Majux To Get Your Phone Ringing
If you need help generating leads for your business, give us a call. Our industry-leading strategy for SEO for personal injury lawyers and other marketing services generated thousands of calls across our client base every month. It’s always free to get in touch, and we’d love to speak with you.
