What is Google Click-to-Call?
Google Click-to-Call allows advertisers to display their phone number as the last line of ad text on smart phone mobile devices with full internet browsers. The user can then literally click to call directly from their mobile device after clicking on the phone number.
How Does C2C Work?
C2C can be used for both local and national focused advertising. Local advertisers must be opted into local extensions, which allow you to extend your AdWords campaigns by dynamically attaching their business address and phone number to ads.
Additionally, marketers may link their Google Local Business Center (LBC) account under the locations section in the ad extensions portion within the settings of a campaign, or manually enter their business’ information within the campaign settings if the advertiser doesn’t have an LBC account.
In order for the ads to reach the mobile end user, s/he must be opted into Google’s “My Location” feature on Google maps allowing for Google to display the closest location’s phone number, which s/he is prompted to do the first time they use Google Maps on their device if they’d like to allow for their location to be detected. The individual must also have their mobile GPS connection turned on allowing Google to get the mobile users location. If s/he doesn’t have a phone that is GPS enables, “My Location” can use cell tower ID’s and WiFi location detection to determine the mobile user’s location.
For National C2C phone extensions, you would simply choose the country and enter the phone number in the given box for ads to begin displaying the phone number.
To implement Google’s C2C campaigns, marketers must opt into both mobile devices and display click to call numbers on iPhones and other smart phone devices.
Reporting is available within AdWords, and will track the number of calls received per keyword, ad group and/or campaign, along with number of clicks on the phone number, and number of clicks on the URL in order to compare CTR’s. However, you would need third party call tracking to determine quality of call metrics.
Marketers pay the same CPC as if someone clicked on the headline or the phone extension.
Advantages of C2C
C2C is beneficial for advertisers where mobile users can Click-to-Call to check inventory at a local store location, make a reservation, or schedule an appointment or consultation, etc. It also captures people who are on the move, close to the point of sale and most likely to convert.
Furthermore, if you’re still in the process of building out a mobile site, C2C encourages searchers to bypass the advertiser’s website to a phone call.
Disadvantages of C2C
The goal of most PPC campaigns is to drive traffic to the marketer’s website, but with Google’s click-to-call, you are offering a detour to the brand.com site. Furthermore, there is no way to determine quality of traffic to the phone call without third party call tracking.
Recommendation
Google’s Click-to-Call is a great addition to a mobile strategy especially if the advertiser has multiple locations across the USA. It allows them to hone in on the mobile users location to ensure they have no problem connecting with the store/location closest to them. Mobile users are on the go and are looking to take action as they are out and about. Allowing for a user to call a location directly, after already searching for the brand or something related, creates a tighter conversion funnel.
