14 DAY TRIAL // Google is expanding the importance of phone calls from ads. It is now debuting a new Bid for Calls option and will enable advertisers to pay for ads that lead to a phone call rather than clicks.
"Over the next few weeks in the US and UK, we'll be rolling out the ability for advertisers to bid for phone calls -- in addition to bidding for clicks -- when they show Google search ads on computers and tablets," Surojit Chatterjee, Product Manager at Google wrote.
In essence, Google is making it possible for advertisers to emphasize phone calls rather than clicks, if phone calls are more important to them.
If they're willing to pay more for calls than for ads, this figure is now taking into account in the automated bid system.
What it means is that ads willing to pay more for calls will get better ranking in some cases. What's more, ads that regularly get more calls will rank better for these auctions as well.
"Today, a combination of your ad's Quality Score and max cost-per-click (CPC) bid determine your Ad Rank, which influences your ad's position," Google explained.
"But with bid-per-call, your bid for phone calls and phone call Quality Score can directly factor into your Ad Rank, too. Higher ranked ads are more likely to be seen and can therefore generate more phone calls (and clicks, too)," it continued.
The move will be significant for quite a lot of advertisers. At one end of the spectrum, local businesses would much rather appreciate a customer getting in touch directly over phone than visiting their website which may or may not be up to date or complete.
At the same time, large companies with big call centers have a better way of directing customers to the call centers directly, again bypassing the website.