How to Run Pay-Per-Call Google Campaigns Using Call-Only Ads

Oleksandr Rohovnin

14 minutes read

It’s no secret that more customers are converted through phone calls than any other form of interaction. Yet you might still be surprised at the power of good old sales calls. The numbers don’t lie—only about 2% of web leads actually convert, whereas phone calls can easily convert 10 times more.

But what if you go a step further, triggering inbound calls without even driving users to your website, which you may not have in the first place? Well, in that case, there’s a pretty cool tool up your sleeve for this type of conversion: call-only ads.

Google call-only ads prompt users to call directly from Google search. You still can show your business name, phone number, and website address, but the idea is the same: call right here and now.

Continue reading to learn how to grow your pay-per-call campaigns using Google call-only ads.

How Do Google Call-Only Ads Work Within Pay-Per-Call Campaigns?

Call-only ads will appear in Google when someone enters a query for which the ad is optimised. Assuming one has set up the ads to show to Londoners aged 18-25 who search for “health insurance London”, the ad displays among the search results when such a user enters the query, and they can make a call immediately by pressing the call button.

You can set up your Google call-only ads campaign in three strategic steps:

1. Research your target audience. It costs money to display ads, so you need to know who to target in the first place: demographics and psychographics. Remember, you pay for each call, so you want only calls that convert.
2. Create your call-only ads in Google Ads. When you know your audience, it is time to target them in Google Ads. (We will go into a step-by-step guide on exactly how to do this below.)
3. Optimise your pay-per-call campaigns: Integrate call tracking software such as Phonexa to track, distribute, and analyse your callers for on-the-fly and strategic improvements of your pay-per-call campaigns. You also can buy or sell qualified phone calls at the best price.

Long story short, with Google call-only ads, one is able to make online sales without a website. Besides, it is possible to target one’s most profitable clients since phone calls are likelier to convert.

Build your plan now, or take a product tour to learn more about Phonexa’s call tracking and distribution software.

Which Industries Benefit Most From Call-Only Ads?

There are two criteria that show if your industry is a good fit for pay-per-call marketing:

• The average check size in the industry: Pay-per-call lead generation tends to be more effective in high-ticket industries, or at least those with a high average check, such as finance, insurance, real estate, and home services.
• The immediacy of the industry: People tend to use calls when they seek a solution here and now and would not want to delay communication. In this regard, industries such as health, legal, travel, and emergency services are a perfect fit.

Meanwhile, there are industries in which pay-per-call lead generation does not often come into action: online retail, subscription-based services, high-end retail items, and any other area where a customer can actually buy the goods online or requires personal verification before the purchase.

How to Create Call-Only Ad Campaigns in Google Ads: Step-by-Step Instructions

You’ve landed on the right page if you have never created a call campaign on Google Ads. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to create your first call-only, pay-per-call campaign.

Sign in to your Google Ads account:

In your Google Ads account, select the tab Goals > Summary > New Conversion Action: 

Choose what conversions you want to track—in our case, phone calls—and the source of the phone calls you’d like to track—in our case, calls from ads using call extensions or Google call-only ads.

Here’s how different call sourcing options can impact pay-per-call campaigns:

Define the name of your conversion, for example, “call-only ads and call extensions,” and select “Use the same value for each conversion” in the Value tab:

In “Count,” select “One” if you want to count several calls from the same customer as one conversion. This model is the best for pay-per-call ads, but if you were to count sales, it would be reasonable to count each sale.

In “Call length,” indicate the duration of a call that will be counted as a conversion. For example, if you set a call length to 30 seconds, you will not pay for calls shorter than 30 seconds. The optimal “Call length” is within 30 to 120 seconds, depending on how much time you usually need to convert callers.

In the “Click-through conversion window,” set how long you want to count a call as a conversion after the user has clicked on your ads. Similarly to “Call Length”, only calls made within that deadline will count as a conversion, and you won’t have to pay for all the other calls.

Choose your attribution model between last-click and data-driven attribution:

• Last-click attribution credits the conversion to the ad that was clicked last
• Data-driven attribution models calculate the contribution of every ad based on your account data

Next, click “Create and continue->Done:”

Now you’re ready to set up a new Google call-only ads campaign.

To begin, select “Campaigns->New Campaign:”

Choose a goal for your campaign: Leads or Sales.

Make sure that “Phone call leads” is your conversion goal, then click Continue:

Choose “Search” as your campaign type:

Select “Phone calls” as your conversion of choice, and include your website phone number:

Name your campaign and click “Continue”.

Choose “Conversions” as the bidding type, and set a target cost per action to specify how much you want to pay for every conversion. It will be very reasonable to put your CTA value at a value that is way less than your profit per call.

After selecting “Conversions,” click “Next.”

Select “Include Google search partners” in case you want your ads appearing on Google partner websites.

Now targeting kicks in. Select the locations in which you want your ads to display.

• If you drive traffic globally, then select “All countries and territories.”
• If you generate phone calls nationwide, select “Great Britain.”

Similarly, you can use “Enter another location” to cherry-pick the locations and radiuses you want to target.

In “Languages,” indicate the target languages. The default one will be English:

In “Audience Segments,” you are able to view the statistics of your target audiences. In the search box, you can insert your target keyword and observe the engagement for this market:

Select if you wish to target broad keywords or matching keywords with your ads. Broad keywords drive traffic, whereas matching keywords create calls that have a high intent behind them.

In “More settings,” you can set brand restrictions and – what’s even more important – choose a convenient ads schedule so that your ads appear when you can actually process calls. For example, you can set up ad displays only on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Click “Next” once done.

Now, you can begin to create your ad groups.

Type your target keyword, for instance, “auto insurance,” and click “Get keyword suggestions” to get the popular keywords for which you will optimise your ads. From those keywords, select only the highly relevant ones.

If you want to show your ads to people searching using related keywords, you can upgrade your keyword to a broad match. However, this can be quite a risk depending on how much you pay for the call, in case it is an expensive one. You might want only high-intent and relevant callers.

You can also add more keywords from the suggestions that Google Ads provides through analysis of your current keywords, search trends, user behaviour, and more. However, when you increase the number of keywords for your ads, you really need to make sure these keywords are relevant.

In “Final URL” and “Verification URL,” enter the destination page or website where callers should be taken instead of being prompted to call. The phone number of this destination page or website should be the same as what’s shown in your ad.

Set the display path of your ad, the headlines, business name, and description lines—you can have two different keywords for Headline 1 and Headline 2, respectively.

In general, there are no strict rules concerning how the ad should appear—the key requirement is that the ad should clearly present your offer and motivate the viewer to call.

At the “Conversion Action” step, you can select a standard “Call from ads” or your own conversion action.

Click “Done” to complete creating the ad, and continue creating ads, if needed. If this is your first time launching a campaign, then it would be appropriate to build some small-budget ads and observe through which format more traffic can be received. You’ll likely want at least two or three ads to start for testing properly.

When you have created all your ads, click “Next.”

Set the average daily budget of your campaign and click “Next”

On the left column, you will get your campaign optimisation score, plus the weekly estimates of your ads: conversions, CPA, and campaign cost. Note that these are only estimates and not actual figures. Of course, if you don’t like what you are seeing, go back and reconfigure your ads.

Click “Publish campaign” once done.

Congratulations! Your campaign has just gone live.

If you need more ad groups for different keywords, go back to the menu “Ad groups”.

Last but not least, if you want full control over your budget, head to “Tools->Bid strategies” to check your minimum and maximum bid limits:

Benefits of Google Call-Only Ads for Pay-Per-Call Marketing

But again, you need to use Google call-only ads judiciously to make up for their lesser visibility and higher cost. For this reason, it may be best to get started with a minimal budget and a few ad formats through which you can track ad performance and select the most cost-effective ads.

The Tech Stack to Make Your Google Call-Only Ads Efficient

You cannot manually manage your pay-per-call advertising campaigns. Even though Google Ads offers basic tracking capabilities, one can only unleash the total potential of your pay-per-call business with an advanced affiliate tech stack in place—Phonexa.

Here are the products in call management that will enhance your pay-per-call marketing:

All of these products work together at Phonexa, but let’s consider them one by one in some detail.

Call Logic – The Core Product for Pay-Per-Call Management

Whether you’re purchasing or selling phone calls, you need to know who your clients are to always find the best partners and the best deals on the market. The Call Logic solution enables you to monitor your calls from A to Z and distribute them to the ideal internal or external buyer. Besides, you can also transfer call insights in real-time to the live operator handling your call.

Here are the major features you get with Call Logic:

• Custom call routing
• Accurate call attribution
• Predictive modelling
• Tracking of caller, call and agent performance insights

Call Logic enables you to set up the call routing tree of any complexity, taking into consideration parameters such as price per lead, language, age, purchase history, agent availability, performance, and location. You can route, for example, the most profitable callers to the best-performing sales representatives.

Finally, you won’t be obligated to test campaigns on the real market since all outcomes can be simulated in the predictive modelling and selection process. In this way, you will be able to safely expand into related niches without premature actions.

LMS Sync – The Core Product for Web Leads

LMS Sync processes web leads, but that does not make it less valuable for call-dependent businesses, which also convert their users on their websites. The reality is that many callers switch and convert on a website and vice versa; LMS Sync helps get the most out of these switches.

LMS Sync processes web leads the way Call Logic processes phone calls, opening up the customer journey from top to bottom while collecting marketable data and allowing affiliates and advertisers to secure the best deal currently on the market.

Lynx – Tracking Impressions, Click, and Conversion Rates

Every time your users click on an ad, you would love to understand who these users are, where they come from, and how their journey has evolved, before, while, or after the call has taken place. Lynx puts you in full control of the caller journey, giving you the ability to either generate the right calls for your advertisers or select the right affiliates to buy the traffic you need.

Cloud PBX – Dedicated Cloud-Based Phone System for Pay-Per-Call Campaigns

While Call Logic is the basic technology for pay-per-call campaigns, Cloud PBX goes the extra mile by allowing your business to have a fully dedicated cloud phone system so that you can feel safe and secure while ensuring 100% availability for your customers.

The best result usually comes when all eight products are working together for your pay-per-call success. That is why they are coming together as one bundle.

Here are the eight proprietary solutions you get all for one price, starting at £100 a month (online price calculator):

Build your plan now, or book a demo and learn more about Phonexa’s eight-in-one performance marketing suite.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I use a call-only ad campaign?

Google Ads call-only campaigns are a good fit for businesses that want to drive calls directly to their business without sending customers to their website: repair shops, local restaurants, emergency services, real estate agents, home service providers, and appointment-based businesses.

Where will my Google call-only ads appear?

Your Google call-only ads will appear mainly in Google Search results on mobile and desktop devices capable of making a call. Similarly, call-only ads can appear in Google Maps—on user searches for local services, for instance—the capability to make an instant call, the Google Display Network, Google My Business, YouTube—on video ad plays, and in-app campaigns.

How can I get more calls with Google call-only Ads?

Drive more calls with pay-per-call Google Ads by leveraging three features in Google Ads: “Broad match keywords,” “Upgrade your keywords to broad match,” and “Add more keywords.” All these features enable the display of ads for similar keywords that, however, do not exactly match your target keywords.

Are call-only ads and click-to-call ads the same thing?

Google call-only ads are not the same as Google click-to-call ads, although they work for similar purposes. The difference is that call-only ads have the main purpose of triggering a phone call, while click-to-call Google ads offer other ways of interaction, for example, navigating to a website.