What is Click-to-Call?
Click-to-call refers to a type of Google Ads’ ( formerly AdWords) ad that, when clicked, directly calls the business as opposed to linking to their website. These ads can only show on mobile devices; therefore, they are vital to mobile marketing campaigns. There are both click-to-call ad extensions and click-to-call, call-only ads.
How does Click-to-Call work?
There are two instances in which an ad can become a “Click-to-Call” ad. The first is when running a call-only ad. These are ads that only call businesses when clicked, they never direct to the website. These ads are by default – click-to-call only because they only show up on mobile devices.
The second instance is when running a call extension on any normal ad. These will appear with a “click-to-call” button when showing on mobile devices. When these ads show on desktop or tablets however, the phone number will just be next to the ad.
Who Uses Click-to-Call?
Similar to the use of call extensions and google forwarding numbers, any advertiser looking to encourage calls to their business should be using click-to-call ads as part of their overall advertising strategy.
How to Set Up Click-to-Call:
There are two ways to set-up click-to-call ads. First would be adding a call extension to a normal ad. This is done under the “ad extensions” tab, under the “call extensions” menu.
Here you’ll set up a call extension like normal and then anytime your text ads appear on a mobile device, they’ll have a “click-to-call” button alongside them.
In the above example, if you clicked the box in red – it would call the business.
The second setup is running a call-only ad. This post goes into more depth, but it’s another ad type you can run from a normal campaign or a call-only campaign. The benefit to running a call-only ad in a call-only campaign is that you can bid specifically for click-to-calls, as opposed to bidding for both calls and website clicks.
Keep in mind that when running call-only ads you are not giving the prospect a way to go to your business’s website. If you’re offering a product with a longer sales cycle, or if it’s likely some customer education needs to be done prior to a phone call, saving these kinds of ads for brand searches or other applicable searches can often be the right move. That said – it’s always worth testing/experimenting with different ad types to improve your results.
When implementing these kinds of ads it’s always important to gain as much insight as possible into the calls generated. Using a Google forwarding number can get you part of the way, but working with a call tracking provider can gain you a host of other insights; whether it’s utilizing a click-to-call integration to learn what keywords are generating calls or automated lead scoring to instantly identify which calls are good leads.
To learn more about how call tracking and analytics can improve your business, request your no-obligation demo of CallRail, or go ahead and start your 14-day free trial.
