Call-only ads suit urgent, simple work where nearly every job starts with a phone call. Run them only during hours someone answers, keep them away from research searches, and count calls by length.

A number instead of a link

A call-only ad in AdWords appears on phones with your business name, a short description and your phone number. Tapping it does not open your website. It starts a call.

For a business where almost every job begins with a phone conversation, that removes a step. Someone stranded at the roadside does not want to read a home page first.

The catch is in how they are paid for. You are charged when someone taps the ad, whether or not anybody answers.

How call-only ads work

A call-only ad shows only on devices that can make calls. Alongside the number it needs a page on your site where that number appears, which Google uses to check it.

Bidding works like ordinary search ads, with the tap counting as the click. AdWords can route calls through a forwarding number and report each call's start time, duration and whether it was answered.

That call report is the most useful part. It shows exactly what the ads produced, call by call.

Businesses they suit

The last is the borderline case. Call-only ads work for bookings only when someone answers during service, and a restaurant phone ringing through a busy dinner hour is easy to miss.

When they waste money

Work that people research before buying suits them badly. Someone planning a kitchen renovation wants photographs, prices and reviews before talking to anyone, and a call-only ad offers none of those.

They also waste money whenever the phone goes unanswered: after hours, at lunch, or while the only person who answers is out on a job. Every missed call has still been paid for.

Work that has to be seen before it can be priced, such as roofing or painting, gains little from a call that ends with a request to email photographs.

And some searches look urgent but are not: job seekers, people comparing specifications, and students researching a trade.

Schedule them for staffed hours

Ad scheduling in AdWords is set for each campaign, so put call-only ads in a campaign of their own. Text ads can then run around the clock while call-only ads run only when someone answers.

Set the schedule from the call report rather than from the opening hours on the door. If calls go unanswered between noon and one, take that hour out.

Where nights are covered by one person on call, consider lower bids overnight, since that person cannot answer while already out on a job.

A worked example

A three-truck towing company in a valley town ran text ads that sent searchers to its website, which loaded slowly on a phone.

Most of its customers were standing beside a broken-down car with a phone in their hand.

The owner moved the urgent searches to call-only ads, so a tap on the ad dialled the company directly.

The call report soon showed a pattern, though: missed calls between midnight and six, when the single driver on call was already out on a tow.

The ads were also showing for searches such as towing capacity and tow hitch installation, which brought calls from people wanting nothing the company does.

The call-only campaign now runs from six in the morning until midnight, with negative keywords for capacity, hitches, trailers and jobs. Overnight, ordinary text ads run instead, at lower bids.

Long-distance transport, a planned job people compare quotes for, stayed in a separate campaign of text ads leading to a quote page.

Searches that only look urgent

Go through the search terms report weekly for the first month. It shows the real searches your ads appeared for, which are often looser than the keywords you chose.

Add negative keywords for the patterns that bring the wrong calls: jobs, salary, training, how to, specifications and anywhere outside the area you serve.

Tighten the location targeting too. A call from two hours away is still paid for, and still has to be turned down.

Write the ad for the call

A call-only ad has very little space, so every word should help the right person decide to call and the wrong person decide not to.

Say what you do and where: the service, the towns or area covered, and whether a person answers around the clock.

Use the business name callers will hear when the phone is answered, so nobody wonders whether they have reached the company in the ad.

When the phone rings

Whoever answers needs to know the ads are running. Answer with the business name, and for the first few weeks ask each caller how they found you.

Missed calls need a habit as well. Somebody at the roadside who reaches voicemail will try the next company within minutes, so return missed calls from the phone's own log straight away.

A missed call returned within five minutes is often still a job. One returned after lunch rarely is.

Count the calls that matter

A call that lasts ten seconds is usually a wrong number or a hang-up. Set call conversions to count only calls above a minimum length, such as a minute, so the figures reflect real conversations.

Check the missed calls every week. A growing number of unanswered calls is a staffing question before it is an advertising one.

The counter-case

For many businesses, ordinary text ads with a call extension do better. On a phone they offer both a call button and a link to the site, so the visitor chooses.

That suits anyone whose customers sometimes want to check reviews or prices first, and any business that cannot promise to answer.

Call-only ads belong where the need is urgent, the job is simple and the phone is answered every hour they run.

Setting them up

  1. Confirm someone answers every hour the ads run.
  2. Give call-only ads a campaign of their own.
  3. Schedule that campaign for staffed hours only.
  4. Choose urgent searches, not research searches.
  5. Add negative keywords from the search terms report.
  6. Count calls above a minimum length.
  7. Check missed calls every week.

Step one decides whether the rest is worth doing. A call-only ad that rings an unanswered phone has been paid for in full and produced nothing at all.

Checking where the rest of the campaign shows up is covered in the display network box left ticked.

Frequently asked questions

What is a call-only ad?

An AdWords ad shown only on phones, with the business name, a short description and a phone number. Tapping it starts a call instead of opening a website.

Am I charged if nobody answers?

Yes. The charge is for the tap on the ad, whether or not the call is answered, so unanswered hours cost money and produce nothing.

Which businesses suit call-only ads?

Urgent, simple work where nearly every job starts with a call: towing, locksmiths, emergency plumbing, taxis, and simple bookings when someone always answers.

How do I limit them to staffed hours?

Put call-only ads in a campaign of their own and set its ad schedule from the call report, not from the hours on the door.

How do I stop calls from wrong searches?

Read the search terms report weekly at first and add negative keywords for jobs, specifications, how-to searches and places outside the area you serve.

When are text ads with call extensions better?

When customers sometimes want to check prices or reviews first, or when nobody can promise to answer, since they offer both a call button and a link.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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