When working with Google’s Call Only PPC ads, you need every advantage you can get. Although Call Only Ads generally have significantly higher conversion rates, their ad quality scores are generally lower than search ads. Lower ad quality scores are due in part to the limited real estate of Call Only ads versus conventional search ads which have more liberal character limits and ad extensions. There are currently 10 types of ad extensions in Google Adwords (see Figure 1). The good news is that you can use some of these extensions to boost Call Only campaign performance.
Figure 1: PPC Ad Extensions
Ad extensions add information to your text ads to make them more useful. There are sitelinks that direct people to different areas of your site, review extensions that list your testimonials, and even message extensions where users can text your office. Google uses the optimal combination (best performing) extensions in your ads that have high enough Ad Rank. The higher your ads rank, the more extensions are used.
Call Only Ad Extensions
Google currently allows three types of ad extensions for Call Only ads, Structured Snippets, Callouts, and Locations. Although fewer of each ad extension are used on mobile’s limited real estate, used properly their presence will boost your ad’s performance.
Structured Snippets
Structured snippets highlight specific aspects of your products and services. Snippets show in your text ad in the form of a header (i.e., “Service Catalog”) listing the values (ex: “Smile Makeovers, Porcelain Veneers, Invisalign…”). On the desktop, Google shows up to two headers at a time, while on mobile and tablet devices only one header is shown. Adwords decides the best header or combination of headers to show based on their optimization algorithm, so it is best to add many headers for Google to choose from. There are currently 13 categories of Structured Snippets that you can add (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: PPC Add Structured Snippets
Callout Extensions
Callout extensions highlight unique offers or special promotions to your customers (see Figure 3). Anywhere from 2 to 6 callouts show below your ad text in qualifying ads. Phrases like “Free Shipping”, or “24/7 Customer Service” are appropriate callouts.
Figure 3: PPC Callout Extensions
Google tracks callout performance so you can optimize your ad extensions. Try testing different word variations to find which extensions work best. In this case, we decided to delete the “24/7 Dispatch” as it had lower clickthrough, lower conversion rates and higher cost per click and cost per conversion versus “24-7 Service” (see Figure 3).
To remove a Callout Extension bring up the add callout dialog, hover over the offending Callout and click remove (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: PPC Delete Callout Extensions
Location Extensions
Location extensions help people find your business by showing your address, a map, or the distance to your office (see Figure 5). People can click on your location to go to your Google Business page to find out more information and call. There is some speculation that review data will be shown in location extensions in the future. Location extensions are derived from your registered Google My Business account.
Figure 5: PPC Location Extensions
An example of all of these extensions in action is shown in Figure 6. A search for “ann arbor personal injury lawyer” brings up many PPC ads. The Goodman Acker ad shows all three extensions in action, location (10 Mile Road), callouts (No Recovery No Fee), and structured snippets (Car Accidents). On a mobile device, Google would show a subset of these desktop extensions.
Figure 6: PPC Location Extension Example
Sample Mobile Ad
Google Adword’s Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool shows a sample mobile ad from MiGreenCars.com (see Figure 7). The ad shows a couple callouts (On Time Pickup, Provide Email Receipt). Note that mobile ads have limited real estate and show a small subset of the extensions available. Nevertheless it is a good idea to fill your extension hopper to let Google find the best combinations to maximize your ad performance.
Figure 7: PPC Sample Ad with Extension
Conclusion
There are currently three ad extensions that can be shown with Call Only ads: Structured Snippets, Callouts, and Location extensions. Adding these three ad extensions to Call Only campaigns can boost click-through and conversion rates.
Further Reading
- MiGreenCars.com
- Michigan Green Cars s the subject of this PPC article. A local green cab company with offices in Ann Arbor and Southfield Michigan, MI Green Cars deploys a fleet of hybrid, gas-sipping Toyota Prius’s throughout southeast Michigan.
- PPC Optimization: Abbreviate Ad Text
- Abbreviating key phrases in PPC text ads can lower CPC and the cost per conversion. Our otherwise identical text ad with “Michigan” abbreviated to “Mich” decreased the cost per call by more than 35%, and increased the conversion rate by 33 percentage points.
- PPC Optimization: Ad Text Position
- Leading with benefits can improve PPC text ad conversion rates. We show a case study that improves conversion rates by 1.8X.
- PPC Optimization: Age Range Targeting
- You can target specific age ranges in Google Adwords to optimize conversion rates. By tweaking the bids on high performing age ranges you can tilt your campaigns to those folks more likely to convert.
- PPC Optimization: Average Income Targeting
- Targeting your desired audience within particular geographic area using income is a powerful tool you can use to improve your conversion rates. Average household income is just the first demographic that Google has rolled out for that purpose. Coming soon are gender, age, and parental status which could be used to further refine your campaigns.
- PPC Optimization: Be Specific
- Using specific copy in your PPC ad text can improve conversion rates. Giving searchers ad text that more closely matches their search queries gives them results that more closely match their goals.
- PPC Optimization: Display URL Expansion
- By including keywords or calls to action in your display URLs you can boost text ad performance in Google Adwords. This article shows a real-world example of display URL optimization.
- PPC Optimization: Early Warning
- In Google Adwords, you can use phone call metrics as an early warning system to optimize text ad conversion performance. Avoid scary PPC ad spend using fast-reported phone calls.
- PPC Optimization: Experiments in Punctuation
- By varying the punctuation and plurals within your text ads, you can optimize their conversion rate and cost per conversion. This article shows a case study of call only text ad optimization.
- PPC Optimization: Gender Targeting
- In Google Adwords you can optimize conversion rates using gender targeting. Learn how to squeeze more leads out of your PPC spend by targeting high performing demographics singly or in combination.
- PPC Optimization: Strange Attraction
- Learn how using strange attraction in your ad text can lower CPC and boost CTR and conversions. Grab attention with letter and symbol combinations to optimize PPC campaigns.
- PPC Optimization: Wordplay and Humor
- Humor and wordplay can make your advertising stand out from the crowd. Unexpected word combinations and humor attract valuable attention and can garner higher PPC click-through and conversion rates.
- PPC Optimization: ZIP Code Targeting
- Learn how to add ZIP code targeting to your PPC campaigns to boost conversion rates. By optimizing the performance of individual demographics and locations, you can improve conversion rates to squeeze more leads out your AdWords spend.
- Supercharge Your Call Only Ads with Ad Extensions
- Google shows which ad extensions can be used with Call Only ads.