On Friday, Google announced a new development which is of massive importance to anyone that uses Adwords to promote their business and includes a phone number in their advert. In the coming weeks, Google is introducing ‘click to call’ functionality, so that phone numbers displayed in AdWords ad text will be automatically converted into a Click-to-call number.

This means your 08 number becomes even more powerful because as well as being incredibly memorable, it will be easily accessible at the touch of a smartphone’s screen. Which means that potential customers can be talking to you within seconds of seeing your advert.

Currently when advertisers enter a phone number directly into their ad text instead of using Call Extensions, the phone number is not clickable and will not generate a call. This can be a frustrating experience for mobile users who attempt to initiate a call to this phone number.

The new Click-to-call enhancement ensures that all phone numbers shown in AdWords ads are clickable and allows users to easily place calls from their mobile device. If your ad text includes a phone number, you will begin to receive clicks and calls on this number once the enhancement is enabled in your account.

Don’t think that this is free though. Just as you pay for clicks from the advert through to your webpages, clicks on the phone number will be chargeable too.

Measuring results

Google is claiming the measurability as a major benefit for this service, but as an 08 number user, you’ll already be used to seeing your call stats whenever you want them, via 08Direct’s customer portal.

Nonetheless, Google is offering some useful information. You’ll be able to review how many calls you receive on the clickable phone number listed in your ad text for each campaign, ad group, keyword, which will help you to monitor the effectiveness of each advert and campaign.

We’ll be monitoring this development with interest. Let us know how you get on with it and if you need extra 08 or 03 numbers for your adverts, do remember to give us a call on 0844 504 4000.