A couple of months ago, Google launched “Call Only” campaigns. In this short period of time, here are our key takeaways:
#1 – Ads are mobile only (a bit obvious, but has to be stated).
#2 – People will be connected to you without ever having visited your website.
#3 – Geo target according to the number you’re using.
#4 – Bid to show in spot #1.
#5 – Optimize your ad text to get the click.
#6 – Set up a call only campaign, even if your site is terrible.
#7 – Most importantly: Advertise when you’ll answer the phone!
How to add a Call Only Campaign?
Call Only campaigns can be found under the campaign tabs with all the other campaign types, but it’s a little hidden. To find it, add a new search network only campaign and it will show up on the right is one of your campaign options.
So what is a Call Only Campaign?
A call only campaign is a campaign that’s targeted specifically at mobile devices. When people on their mobile devices click on your ad they will immediately be connected to you via phone. This is different from regular text only ads where they will be directed to a landing page on your website. A call only campaign completely skips this process and connects them directly to you.
Two key points to highlight there: #1 – mobile only. #2 – they will be connected to you without ever having visited your website.
As I’m going through these tips below please keep in mind that you should continue utilizing best practices one setting up your call only campaign. Think of this campaign type is another text only campaign, and use proper campaign structure, ad groups, and keyword distributions when setting it up.
5 Call Only Campaign Tips
1. Call Only Location Targeting – Target the geography that matters to you!
The current default targeting depends on how your account was set up. If United States for example the default will be to target all of the United States. This may or may not fit with your particular campaign strategy, but if you are a local business you should definitely narrow down the focus to your local geographic area where you will actually service customers.
You should also bear in mind what phone number you are optimizing for: is it a toll free, or a local number? If you are using a local number like a 212 or a 646 area code, both of which are based in New York City, it doesn’t make sense to advertise those numbers in Los Angeles. Use a toll-free number in that case if that kind of targeting applies to you.
Bottom Line: Using a local number, focus on local geographic targeting.
2. Bid Strategy – Bid to show!
You can choose from one of several bid strategies: Maximize Clicks, Target CPA, Target Return On Ad Spend, Target Search Page Location, Target Outranking Share, Manual CPC.
We recommend that you determine your bid strategy based on your goals, but bottom line use Manual CPC or Target Search Page Location. If you choose the default – Maximize Clicks – you cannot choose your ad scheduling. Automatic bidding campaigns automatically choose when the time to best serve your ads. If you don’t feel comfortable with this and you want to change your ad scheduling to reflect your exact business hours then choose a manual CPC campaign.
A second point of note is we’ve discovered is the ‘Maximize clicks’ doesn’t always work. It seems to go through a Call Only learning stage that can take days or weeks. It sets an auto bid level that is difficult to understand, and as a result we haven’t had much success with this strategy. This is in addition to the fact you give up all bid control to the machine, and with something as important as bids, you want some control.
An interesting trick that we are testing is mobile bid adjustments. You have the ability to adjust your bids with a bid adjustment, either positive or negative. We’re finding great CTR’s (click through rates) in campaigns that have a mobile bid adjustment increase of 50% or more. This gives you some control, yet also allows for flexibility in a competitive auction.
Bottom Line: Manual CPC has worked the best for our campaigns to date due to the fact the ads are actually showing, and generating clicks and positive ROI, but this may change over time.
3. Ad Text – Get the click!
You can learn how to write a great call only ad using the tips from Google. You will be asked for:
- Your business name (25 Characters)
- Your phone number (be sure to choose your country)
- Two lines of description text (35 Characters)
- A display URL (35 Characters)
- An optional verification URL. This is the URL of a webpage that includes your business phone number.
All of these fields are eligible to be hidden when your ad appears on mobile phones, in order to make the most of the smaller screen space on these devices. This means you have to take into account each line of text you write and make sure that make sense on its own.
Optimize your display URL in addition to your ad text. Every character counts.
If you are adding an ad in most other countries, the call forwarding option isn’t there. You would use the setting as though you were just using your own number.
What we’ve learned is it’s just as important to write good quality text and to have a descriptive destination URL to help get people to click on your ad. Keep in mind the goal of the ad is to get click and in this case that the phone call. Your text should be relevant have good calls to action and yet still fit in the limited number of characters available.
Bottom Line: You lose your headline, and your display URL should be optimized to get the click.
4. Call Only Ad Scheduling – Advertise when you’ll answer the phone!
As mentioned above in the bidding strategy, if you select maximize clicks which is the recommended setting for call only campaigns you will not have the ability to be able to optimize for your business hours. The last thing you want to do is pay for clicks when you are not available in the office so keep in mind that if you choose a manual CPC bidding strategy you will be able to control when your ads are shown.
Bottom Line: Control when your ads show.
5. Call Only Keywords – and Quality Score!
One of the most interesting things about a call only campaign is your website. Or to clarify, it doesn’t really matter what your website looks like. You can have a website built back in the ’90’s and still be able to advertise.
From a quality score perspective, it does matter that you bid on keywords that are relevant and applicable to your website offering. In case you didn’t know your quality score determines how high you rank in the auction. If you are willing to bid high enough to offset your site’s shortcomings in quality score, you should be able to climb to the top of the auction and get some calls.
The reason I said it doesn’t matter what your site looks like is people, if they click on your ad, will never actually see your website. They will just immediately be connected to you via phone. All you need to do is maintain your contact page that has the number for verification purposes and all of a sudden you can be competitive with your ads despite an old or outdated website. No evaluation, just click to call!
Your Call Only ads competes in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) for real estate with text ads. But only on mobile phones. The best success rates we found to date have been in bidding and positioning our call only ads in position number one. Any ads that are showing up with an average position of 2.0 or higher are getting very low click through rates. This makes sense when you think about it because of your on your mobile phone and looking for a specific solution to a problem. When you find that solution and click on it, and if someone answers the phone and can solve your problem, you never go back to search again and click on number two.
One last thing to keep in mind is don’t forget about adding lots of negative keywords. People search differently on their mobile devices and you have to keep that in mind when you’re targeting them. Call only clicks won’t be cheap so you have to keep on top of your negative keyword list to make sure every dollars being spent the most effective way possible.
Bottom Line: You can bid for important keywords, even if your site sucks.
Key Call Only Campaign Takeaways:
#1 – Ads are mobile only.
#2 – People will be connected to you without ever having visited your website.
#3 – Geo target according to the number you’re using.
#4 – Bid to show in spot #1.
#5 – Optimize your ad text to get the click.
#6 – Set up a call only campaign, even if your site is terrible.
#7 – Most importantly: Advertise when you’ll answer the phone!
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