How to Use Call Ads in Google to Send Profits Soaring

27 Nov How to Use Call Ads in Google to Send Profits Soaring

Have you considered utilising Call Ads in Google for your business?

Phone ringing off the hook? Sales coming in hot and heavy?

It probably is more like your inbox is overflowing and leads are coming through in a variety of ways.

If you have ever searched for a local business or service, you might have seen ads with the phone icon on them. Google call ads are click-to-call ads designed for mobile users in Google search results, with a call button that can drive phone calls directly to your business phone number.

Google call ads are a convenient way for customers to call your business, meaning more leads and more conversions. Any business that’s looking to grab more phone calls over website visits should use call ads, especially local businesses that rely on immediate customer calls. In fact, 70% of mobile searchers will call a business directly from search results, and calls from mobile ads convert at an average rate of 35%.

So, how useful are call ads and how can they send your profits soaring? This guide explains what Google call ads are, how to set them up, the tips that improve results, and why they can be so profitable for businesses focused on phone leads and sales.

What Are Google Call Ads?

Google Call ads are a call-only search ad format with a clickable phone number and call button, built to generate inbound calls instead of sending people to a web page. The more common Google Ads campaigns would take you to a landing page on a website, but call ads can only call a specific number.

The only time you’ll be charged for these ads is whenever someone makes a call. Google is also phasing out new call ads, with call-only ads sunsetted in 2025, so responsive search ads with call assets are now the replacement direction to watch.

How to Set Up a Call Ad

Call ads can be set up in minutes, making it easy to get this campaign up and running.

1. Start by opening your Google Ads account and creating a new Google Ads campaign focused on phone calls.
2. Set the goal to sales or leads.
3. Select search as the campaign type so the ads run within search campaigns rather than other ad formats like video ads or the Google Display Network.
4. Under ‘Select the ways you’d like to reach your goal’, tick the box next to ‘Phone Calls’ and enter your phone number.
5. Change your campaign settings – untick the Include Google search partners box, click Show more settings and use ad scheduling to match your business hours so you do not waste ad spend when no one can answer customer calls.
6. Set your campaign target locations.
7. Choose a budget.
8. Create ad groups for your ads, organising each ad group for tighter ad copy and targeting.
9. Create your ad (this is probably the bit that takes the longest; our team have put together a handy checklist for you to follow)

• Add your business phone number and the verification URL Google uses to confirm it.
• Include a landing page URL or final URL users can visit instead of calling.
• Add the final URL of a page on your site that includes your phone number. This allows Google to confirm the number for verification.
• Enter your business name.
• Add two descriptive lines.
• Define a phone call conversion action, set up your conversion action properly, and enable conversion tracking before you publish campaign settings.
• Count calls as conversions by setting a minimum call length or call duration of 30 seconds.
• Enable call reporting with a Google forwarding number so you can capture call details report data such as call duration and support call tracking back to the original ad click source and keywords.

That’s it, you should be ready to publish campaign settings and launch your ad.

Important tips to remember

• Create a powerful call to action in your ad copy to capture attention and encourage immediate answers during the phone conversation.
• Set a schedule so the ad only appears during your business hours when your sales team can answer inbound calls. This will avoid frustrating potential customers, missing customer calls, and wasting ad spend.
• Drop the headline – recent market research discovered that call ads without a headline converted at a higher rate. Triple-check that your contact information is right and your ad should tick all the boxes.
• Localise your ads – the majority of mobile searches for businesses are looking for something local or “(insert service) near me”. Make sure you use local phone numbers or local area code numbers and include your town or city, as local numbers can increase call likelihood by four times.
• Use call tracking and call reporting to see which keywords drive phone leads and to collect the call data you need for optimisation.
• Set a 30-second minimum call duration threshold to improve call quality and measure call conversion more accurately.

Benefits of Google Call Ads for your bottom line

Google Call Ads and call campaigns are one of the best ways to generate more calls for your business, and call-only ad campaigns are especially useful for local businesses, local services, local service providers, and home service providers that need high-quality leads and more inbound calls. With proper setup, call ads can increase conversions by 50%.

We hope this helps you create compelling call ads that help drive more customer calls, increase call volume, and send profits soaring.

More information regarding Google Call Ads can be found here, or contact us today to discuss integrating Google Call Ads into your ads.