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Should I Use A Call Ad Extension In My Google Ads?

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Earlier this year, our Boston SEO Company wrote a number of blog posts to help our readers understand the paid-search side of search engine optimization (SEO). Two key organizations who offer opportunities to run ads that will appear at, or near the top of search results for the search terms (known as keywords) and geographies you provide them with when setting up your account, include Google Ads and Microsoft Bing Ads.

We highlighted Google Ads in our headline above because, despite the recent anti-trust lawsuit against Google, and more than 30 AI Search engines vying to be the top search-engine as use of AI search engines grows, Google’s search engine is still used by more than 90% of search-engine users. Regardless, the opinion we share below about whether or not to use a call ad extension (also known as a call ad asset) in your ads pertains to both Google and Bing Ads.

What Is A Call Extension Or Call Asset?

A call extension or call asset is a hyperlinked phone # (housed behind a phone icon labeled “call us” that the advertising platform serves up) that you can include along with your main ad body content when employing paid search advertising (also know as SEM, or search engine marketing). Any time someone clicks on this hyperlinked phone #/phone icon (see print screen below) the organization with whom you’ve placed your advertising will charge you for that click, the same way you pay a certain cost-per-click when someone clicks on the main body content of your ad or a different type of ad asset, such as a sitelink.

Reasons Not To Include Call Assets In Paid Search Advertising

Getting back to the answer to the question in the title of our blog post, the answer is “no, you shouldn’t include a call/phone extension/asset in your paid-search advertising.” We’ve run countless Google Ads campaigns for clients and our own business, and are now running Bing Ads for our own and client organizations. Based on our own experience and what we’ve heard/learned from other marketing professionals, our reasons for this are simple, and outlined below.

Call Assets/Call Extensions Waste Advertisers’ And Ad Clickers’ Time, Plus Advertisers’ Money Because:

  • Bots may click on call assets/extensions and each click on your hyperlinked phone #/phone icon that represents your call asset/extension will cost you money. As we explained above, the same way that search advertising platforms charge you each time someone clicks on the main ad body content of your ad or other ad extensions like site links, paid search advertising platforms will charge you for clicks on hyperlinked phone #’s.
  • In addition to the actual fee you pay to an advertising platform for clicks on phone # assets, you’ll also be paying for the time of your organization’s team member who answers the phone and interacts with someone who isn’t the right fit for what your organization offers, and of course, if they aren’t the right fit, the ad clicker will have also wasted their time. Even if your organization is a nonprofit one and not paying for your advertising clicks because of having a Google Nonprofit Ad Grant in place, you still don’t want to waste your team’s time or that of an ad clicker.
  • Searchers, i.e., individuals who have your ad served up to them, are usually in a big hurry. Search advertising platforms often serve up your ads to individuals who aren’t the right fit for your product, service, and solution, despite your ad body copy and keywords indicating who would be the right fit. Searchers often don’t take the time to read ad body content, and they may simply click on your call extension without visiting your website to see if your products, services, and solutions are the right for them. We’ve seen this happen over and over again.

Here’s an example that supports our above thinking. As you’ll see from the below print screen, we typed “designers near me” into Google. These ads (identified by the word “sponsored”) appeared. But, the search terms we entered into Google are very vague. Are we looking for a home designer, an interior designer, a graphic designer, etc.? If we clicked on the “Call Us” phone icon (call asset/extension which is hyperlinked to a phone #) without reading the ads and were looking for a graphic designer vs. a home designer or home renovator, we’d be wasting the advertisers’ money and time and our own time.

In sum, while it might seem ideal to make it easy for searchers to call you right away when they have an ad served up to them, you are better off from a financial standpoint, and good will standpoint (therefore, avoiding clickers getting frustrated with your organization) if you force them to 1) read the ad and 2) visit your website to learn more before they call you.

Check Out These Other Recent, Helpful Blog Posts For More Google Ads Wisdom From Our Boston SEO Company

Google Search Ads Not Converting? It May Not Be Your Ads Nor Landing Page That’s The Problem
Is Your Advertising Landing Page Too Self-Serving, And Ultimately, Hurting Your Organization?
How Much Should I Spend On Google Ads?
SEO VS. SEM

Need Help Optimizing Your Google Ads Or Bing Ads Or Getting Your Paid-Search Advertising Spend Down?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary paid search advertising discussion about how our team of SEO experts can help you with the above.

68 thoughts on “Should I Use A Call Ad Extension In My Google Ads?”

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  36. Diego Duarte

    The stripped-down presentation, with only a level-one heading and no visible body text, makes the article feel more like a placeholder than a finished piece. Adding a brief introduction would give readers useful context right away.

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  44. Elena Quiroga

    The article appears to contain only an empty level-one heading, so there isn’t enough substantive content to comment on yet. Adding the main text beneath the heading would make the post much easier to understand.

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  45. Nina Quiroga

    The level-1 heading appears to be missing its actual title, and the snippet contains only empty fields. Adding a clear heading and a brief summary would make the article much easier to understand.

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  46. Julia Carter

    The empty H1 and blank content fields make this look more like an unfinished draft than a published article. Filling in the heading and supporting text would make the page much easier to understand.

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  47. Amara Vasquez

    The article appears to contain only an empty level-one heading, so there isn’t enough substantive content to discuss yet. Adding a clear title and a short introductory paragraph would give readers useful context.

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  48. Adam Mendoza

    The empty level-1 heading and blank snippet make it difficult to understand the article’s topic or take away any meaningful insight. Adding a clear title and a short summary would make the content much easier to follow.

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