Telephone numbers in ads

Is this allowed

[realgames]

I have noticed that one of our competitors adwords ad has a call to action to 'Call telephone number' giving their number. It seems an obvious ploy to get people to call rather than click through. Do google allow this? Surprised if so but who knows.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I have noticed that one of our competitors adwords ad has a call to action to 'Call telephone number' giving their number. It seems an obvious ploy to get people to call rather than click through. Do google allow this? Surprised if so but who knows.

Yes, this is OK.

Some folks have posted in this forum, in the past, saying that it worked quite well for them.

My intuitive take on it (i.e. not an opinion based on stats) is that most people searching on the internet are much more in a 'click to learn' mode, rather than a 'phone to learn' mode.

Bottom line, only testing will tell how it'll work for an individual advertiser/business.

AWA

<edit> edit for clarity </edit>

[edited by: AdWordsAdvisor at 1:17 am (utc) on Nov. 30, 2007]

[davewray]

Hmmm...It surprises me that this is allowed. Guess I just never asked ;) I may have to try it! Surely it would save on some PPC costs even if say 10% called instead of clicked? Could be a huge advantage really.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Hmmm...It surprises me that this is allowed. Guess I just never asked ;) I may have to try it! Surely it would save on some PPC costs even if say 10% called instead of clicked? Could be a huge advantage really.

Worth a try - maybe you'll let us know how it works for you. ;)

AWA

[briggidere]

It's worth noting that if (and i say if) it does make 10% of the people call you directly from the ad, your quality score will drop as your CTR has dropped. Not only that, you will lose valuable ad space to fit it in.

If someone is going to call you, (in my opinion) they will visit your site, and this is where the confidence builds with your company, then they call you.

My 2 cents

[JonW]

Adwords response to phone numbers in ads:

Thank you for your email and for informing us of your concern. I understand you are concerned about an ad on your site which abuses AdWords. Please note that advertisers are responsible for the ad text and keywords that they use for their campaigns. I would like to inform you that we do allow advertisers to write their phone numbers in their ads. Therefore, using the term 'call' in the ad text is acceptable. However, the term 'click' is not acceptable per our policy. We do not permit call-to-action phrases such as ‘click here’ regardless of content.

7-8-2007

Can we inlcude a call to action "Google" or "Search"?

[sem4u]

I have tested phone numbers in ads and sometimes it helps with clicks/conversions and sometimes it doesn't. I think that in some cases it can give customers confidence that you are a real company who will answer the phone.

I have also seen an ad where the display URL was www.example.com/00000000000 (phone number) which I was surprised was allowed. I haven't seen that ad for a while so maybe it wasn't working well for that advertiser.

[netmeg]

I tested using the 800 in an ad for a client. Didn't make a bit of difference as far as we could tell.

[davewray]

You'd be surprised how lazy some people are in that they may be willing to pick up the phone and dial instead of clicking the link. People are curious..and I think it would lend credibility that you are not a fly by night operation and that there is a real person on the other end...Even if they do click through, it could increase conversions on site as they'd automatically trust you more...