Google AdWords Tests Phone Numbers For More Engaging Ads Copy

Few weeks ago a fellow SEO blogger, Barry Schwartz of SearchEngineLand.com, wrote in his blog post about a phone number in AdWords Ads copy that not related to Google’s ClickToCall Feature. When he ask for confirmation, Google’s representative told him that: “We’re currently testing a feature with a small number of advertisers in which a phone number can be included within the ad to help them more effectively engage with customers who prefer to connect over the phone.“

This is the screen captured image of the Ads we are talking about:

You can see it clearly that the phone number was placed below Header and above Description. This is great, since the phone number do not take up the limited space of Description area.

The issue of phone number in AdWords Ads copy was once raised up few years ago, around late 2007, but the main issue was different. It was mainly about TOS then. At that time many advertiser began to ask whether they can put their phone number in Ads copy or not. And Google’s answer was: “Yes, you may use telephone numbers in AdWords text ads. It is not against AdWords policy.” Here is a sample of an AdWords ads that including a phone number in it’s ads copy:

In above ads, the phone number was placed in the Description area, thus taken up the Description text big time. Since Description is an important part of the whole ads, people continue to ask whether Google recommend it or not? is it better using phone number or not? At that time Google gave normative answer: “It depends, for some advertisers it works well, but for others it doesn’t work well – people still want to click and learn,” Google said.

It was recommended to create a split test to saw which ads serve better, one that use phone number or the other one that not use phone number. Things getting hotter when some folks gave testimonial that they experiencing better CTR using phone number. Other person said that his CTR little bit lower but his sales skyrocketing since using phone number!

Well, its been few years since late 2007 discussion, and now Google testing this phone number feature with better solution: the phone number location is outside the Description area! In my opinion, this testing is positive indicator that phone number inclusion in AdWords Ads copy is something worth to consider. What do you say?