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All businesses could benefit from more calls coming in, as that provides you with opportunities to generate leads and make more conversions. But how do you focus on increasing your calls?
Google Ads phone calls let you make ads that are solely dedicated to increasing phone calls to your business. As with all other Google Ads services, it can be beneficial when used correctly, but you need to know how to do so.
We have gathered the best strategies to improve your call only ads and get the most from your campaign.
Google’s call ads will only appear when viewers are on a device that can make phone calls. The person clicks on the ad, and instead of taking them to your website or product page like a typical ad, their device calls your number.
As with other Google Ads, you bid in an auction to have your call ad displayed over the competition.
With that in mind, it is time to explore what you can do to improve your call only ads in 2024.
You can choose to either display your business’s phone number or a Google forwarding number (GFN) in your call ad. If you opt for a GFN, you can take advantage of call reporting, which makes this the best choice for most businesses. Call reporting provides you with data regarding the performance of the call ad or call extension.
Set a Minimum Call Length
As you set up your ad to track calls, Google will prompt you to choose a minimum call length to count. This is useful as it eliminates potentially misleading data on short calls that probably did not have enough time to provide any valuable action that helps your business.
Understand How Conversions Are Counted
In your call reporting, you will notice that calls made with a GFN will count as phone calls. You will be able to set the minimum duration requirement for a phone call to count towards your figures. One important note is that calls made using a GFN count as conversions on the day that the ad was displayed, even if it is different from when the person makes a call.
For example, assume someone sees your ad, notes your number, and then calls you several days later. The day that they wrote down the number would be your date of call conversion, and the date that they called will have a phone call reported.
You Can Share Numbers Across a Campaign
While setting up your call ads, keep in mind that you can use the same phone number for multiple ads, as long as they are in the same campaign or ad group.
When you create your Google call ad, you will have some required information and some optional information to enter. Required information includes your:
You can also opt to enter a display path. To make the most of your Google call ads, you should also fill out the following optional fields:
Extensions can appear in the case of location, structured snippet, or callout extensions. If you include an extension in your ad, it can improve the visibility of your ad. You should always have extensions when it is relevant to your business. There is not any cost to add a location extension, but if someone clicks on them, they will be sent to the location page. That being said, clicks on the extension or ad are charged as usual.
Remember that unless you include a Final URL on your call ad, a click anywhere on the ad will make a phone call instead of going to your website. Adding a Final URL lets viewers click on it to go to your website.
Even if you add the Final URL, it will not always be visible in your ad.
Extensions require a minimum Ad Rank to appear, and even then, it only shows when Google’s algorithms predict it will help with your performance.
Keep in mind that Google may not always display all of the above fields in each of your ads. It will show as many as it can, based on the screen size of the device the targeted user is on.
As mentioned, it is wise to include a Final URL in your call ad, as this gives viewers another option to contact you. That being said, you should also be aware of how it affects your bids.
How It Works Without a Final URL
If you do not include a Final URL, your ad only allows for clicks to call (not clicks to the website). In this case, your bid for cost per click should be the value you feel a phone call from the ad has. By default, Google will use the bid strategy of maximizing clicks and calls. You can change this to Target CPA bidding or maximize conversions, but only if you have conversion tracking set up.
When looking at your reports for the ads, calls will show up in the “Clicks” column of your campaign.
How It Works With a Final URL
If you include a Final URL, your bid will apply for both website clicks and call clicks. You still want it to indicate the value you would give a phone call from the ad. You always have the same default and optional bidding strategies.
Both calls and clicks from the ads will appear in the “Clicks” column, and they will appear together. You can opt to segment based on Click Type if you want to see them separately, but this requires an extra step.
No matter the information you include in your call ad, you will want to choose a bid based on the value that your business gets from calls. The best way to figure this out is to talk to the people responsible for answering calls or to look at raw figures regarding the calls.
Pay attention to the average order value, how long conversations that lead to sales typically last, how many calls lead to sales, and other related figures. You will also want to consider the lifetime value of call customers.
Consider Automated Bidding
You should also decide if you want to use automated bidding or prefer to manage the bids yourself. Google Ads Smart Bidding works for call ads and includes a setting to maximize calls.
Consider Starting With a High Bid
Some experts suggest that you start a new call campaign with high bids. This way, you will win the initial bids despite potentially losing money. You will also end up with plenty of data to let you reduce your bids, if possible.
Another factor in this strategy is that it is harder to gain ranking than to start at the top. If you start with high bids, you will be in the top position (or second position), and slightly slipping will likely be fine.
Google offers a free conversion tracking tool for your call ads. As mentioned earlier, Google will count the call as a conversion when it meets the minimum time requirement you set. Unless you change it, the default conversion action appears as “Calls from ads” in the Conversions column of your data reports.
Using the conversion tracking feature can make it easier to understand how well various ads, campaigns, and keywords work for your business and provide insight into your ROI. Once you have conversion tracking, you can also opt for automated bid strategies, including Target ROAS (return on ad spending) and Target CPA (cost-per-action).
How to Set It Up
Before you can set up conversion tracking, you will need to have a Google Ads account, a call only ad (or a location extension with a call option or a call extension), and enabled call reporting.
Head to your account and click on the tools symbol in the upper right corner. Go to “Measurement,” then “Conversions.” Click the blue plus and select “Phone calls.” Choose “Calls from ads using call extensions or call-only ads,” then “Continue.” You will need to fill out the following information:
You can also look at “Include in ‘Conversions,” a setting that is selected by default. Opting in includes the conversion action data in the reporting column for “Conversions.” Opting out does not, but it still appears in the column for “All conversions.” Uncheck it if you plan on using an automated bid strategy but don’t want that conversion data to play a role in the strategy.
If you take the above advice and use conversion tracking, keep in mind that your conversions from call ads will appear along with conversions from other types of ads and campaigns. This is especially important when you include the Final URL and are therefore using call ads to drive traffic to your website in addition to driving calls.
You want to know which conversion types your campaigns drive. After all, you will use that information to adjust your strategy, including how you allocate your budget.
Ensuring that you understand this is as simple as regularly looking at your campaign performance in a version where the data is divided by the conversion type. This will let you see which ad groups or campaigns drive the most conversions so you can focus on those terms.
Google suggests that you make an exclusive ad group that has call only ads and do not include any of your text-based ads in the group. This will let you more easily adjust the bids or change your automated bid strategy for this type of ad. That can be helpful given the differences between them and other Google ads.
You could use any keywords you want for your Google Ads phone calls, but you will get the best results if you target keywords that make people more likely to call. You need a proper keyword research tool like PPCexpo Keyword Planner Chrome Extension which can help you to find similar keywords as well.
One example would be keywords that focus on location, as people are likely to call to check if you have something in stock or confirm store information.
Another example would be keywords that tend to appeal to customers who are closer to making a purchase as opposed to those who are higher in the purchasing funnel.
For local businesses, make sure that you include location targeting in the ad. This includes opting for keywords that contain the location and choosing a phone number with a local area code. If you have several locations, make sure to set it up, so the calls automatically go to the one closest to the caller.
As with any other type of ad you create, you want to ensure that your Google Ads phone calls feature compelling text that will give viewers a reason to call you. The text should show your value to the customers. It can take some creativity to fit this in a two-line description, but that is the case for most ads.
Use the space to let viewers know why you are a better choice than the competition. You should also use it to confirm the nature of your business if it is ambiguous. For example, if you are a service that helps people find a plumber, make it clear that you do that and are not plumbers. After all, you don’t want to pay for clicks that are unlikely to convert as you don’t offer the service they need. A great way to avoid this issue is to list some of your services if they can fit.
When creating the ad copy, you should try to include your keyword, just like you would in a text ad.
Google offers the ability to use remarketing lists for call ads just like it does with search ads. This allows you to target people who have already visited your website with the call only ads.
With remarketing lists, you can adjust your ads and bids for people who have shown interest but have not bought anything yet. You can use similar strategies to what you would for Google search ads with call ads.
One option is to take your current keywords and optimize bids for those on your remarketing list. For example, you could increase your bid for those on the remarketing list. The other option is to bid on new keywords just for your remarketing list.
In addition to remarketing to those who visited your website without making a purchase, you can remarket to people who previously called but did not result in a conversion or sale. This is ideal, as callers tend to be more highly engaged, increasing their chances of conversion.
When someone clicks on your call-only ad, their phone does not automatically call you. Instead, it opens the phone screen with the number already dialed; they still need to hit the call button. You still pay for the click if they don’t actually call you.
Because of this, it is wise to calculate your call-through rate, meaning how many of your clicks result in calls. Conveniently, if you use call reporting, you can add a column for the PTR (phone-through-rate) to the reporting. This is displayed as a percentage of the total impressions.
If you notice that you have a lot more clicks than calls, your call abandon rate is high. This may indicate that your customers prefer not to call you and would rather reach you with a different method.
Take the time to track the quality of the calls, meaning which calls result in customers or meet your other goals, such as gathering leads. Some of this can come from the call tracking metrics that Google offers.
It is essential to pay attention to the quality of calls, as you don’t want to accidentally drive calls that don’t result in sales and waste the time of your agents.
Customer Match is a strategy that shares your ads with people who share similarities with your customers or those who have visited your website. Essentially, it shows your ads to those who are most likely to be interested in them, judging who that is based on data from past customers.
As you set up your Google call ads, keep in mind that they will lead to viewers calling your business, not clicking on your website. As such, you likely want to have someone available to answer the phone when people call. If you offer 24/7 service, such as a pest control company or a hotel, this is not a concern.
However, if your business is only open for set hours a day, you may want to restrict when the ads are shown to only times that your business can accept calls. This will reduce the risk of people calling you, only to get frustrated that your company does not answer. This is especially a concern given that many people have doubts about leaving messages and whether they will be answered.
Not only should you make sure that you display the call ads during times when you have someone on hand to answer, but you should use your reporting as guidance as to staffing to answer those calls. Look at the frequencies of calls and how long they last. Then use this information to see whether you need to adjust your staff’s schedule to reduce wait times and maximize the ability of customers to reach you.
When someone calls your company, make sure that you provide them with a great customer experience. This typically results in improved conversion rates, as people will assume that you will continue to deliver a great experience in other areas.
One of the critical factors of call only ads is that they only target people on a device that can make phone calls. This means that they do not drive calls from desktop users. While you can drive conversions from desktop users in other ways, such as via text ads, you may also want to take steps to boost phone calls from non-mobile users.
The best way to do this would be to make sure that your phone number is prominently displayed on your website. This can also give you another way to get calls from mobile users, especially if you enable click-to-call from your website.
Google Ads phone calls take people who click on them to their phone’s auto-dialer, and they can also include an optional URL. They are an excellent way to increase your calls. To maximize the quality or value that you get from these call only ads, make use of conversion tracking, including a Final URL, and display them when your team is available to answer the calls, along with a few other tips.
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