Toll free numbers in ads

800 and 888 numbers prominent

[Content_ed]

Just had a look at the ads displaying on our site due to one of those 50% revenue crashes we all enjoy so much, and noticed that two out of three were little more than an invitation to call a toll free number. I don't recall seeing much of this on our site before, so I don't know if it's a new problem.

Anybody else seeing a lot of 800 numbers on a crashing channel, or know if it's an Adwords policy violation to display them?

[europeforvisitors]

Phone numbers in AdSense ads are nothing new. We've had a number of threads discussing them, and the arguments in defense of of phone numbers boil down to:

1) Most users would rather click than call;

2) Phone numbers instell confidence in users by suggesting that the advertiser is a legitimate brick-and-mortar business;

3) Google needs clicks just as much as we do, and since Google has clickthrough data that we lack, it's reasonable to assume that phone numbers wouldn't be permitted if people didn't click on the ads.

[netmeg]

I started running ads with a toll free number for one of my clients last year. The CTR actually increased. And these were ads we were paying upwards of $5/click for too, so I'm reasonably sure it didn't harm the publishers.

[Content_ed]

I don't know. Those sound like good arguments, but the channel they were appearing on is normally very high click through (albeit low paying per click). With the ads, the click-through was in the basement. Once the ad filter additions took effect, the click through turned back up on a dime.

BTW, I did e-mail Adsense about it, and while the response was cut-and-paste, they did conclude that they were looking into it, rather than saying it's not an issue.

[jatar_k]

we've had some past discussions on this
[webmasterworld.com...]