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Whats everyones thoughts on call only vs call extensions? (16)

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Ive been noticing a lot lower traffic on call only and its a lot more expensive. Takes more time to get the ball rolling then it does with call extensions. What are your guys experience with it? and are you guys testing out both for each campaign?

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It does seem to be lower volume. But, I have a feeling that may be due to Google figuring out this new type of campaign and not allowing full volume.

Also, I think Google we'll be changing any Call Extension only campaigns to Call-only automatically in June, which may change some things.

-Mike

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I noticed I was a in a lower position than Google was reporting 90% of the time. I got 1K impressions during call hours and not a single click let alone a call even though my average was position 2. I had to up my big by a ton to start showing up for positions Google already said I was averaging. At that point it was not profitable.

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Sometimes with Google you need to go in with a higher bid than you can afford, just to get traffic and start getting data. Then you can optimize to improve your campaign performance and bring down your CPC with an improved quality score. It does take time.

If you're getting lots of impressions and no clicks, I would review the relevance of your keywords or try some different ad text.

-Mike

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At what point should we cut out the losing kw's and blacklist them?

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There's no set rule, but after about 1000 impressions you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not a keyword will work.

You'll want to check two things at that point, the CTR and the EPC (earnings per click).

If the CTR is below 1.5% you should consider cutting it. But, you need to check the EPC too. It could be earning more than you're paying for it.

You'll also want to review the QS, but CTR and EPC are what you really care about.

Keep in mind that even if a keyword doesn't meet certain metrics at that time, you can improve it. You can improve CTR with better ad text and it could be possible to lower the bid and still get traffic. Have a look at the search impression share to see if there's more traffic that you could get.

So, it's up to you to decide to cut a keyword, or if you feel there's an opportunity to improve it's performance. Sometimes it's NOT about finding the winning keywords, but creating winning keywords.

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Thanks!! ) A few other inputs that I found from searching the forums as well:

Cut all kw's / ad groups that have over 300+ impressions and zero clicks
Cut all kw's / ad groups that have 1000+ impressions and < 1% CTR
Cut all kw's / ad groups that have spent over 2x payout and 0 conversions
Cut all kw's / ad groups that have spent over 3x payout and -50% or less ROI

Pretty much matches up with what you said )

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The biggest issue I'm having with Call Only campaigns are clicks that don't end up calling. After the click, a message pops up asking the user if they want to call. If the user cancels at that point you still get charged for the click. I'm finding 30-40% of the clicks actually get through to me. This is a disaster for my ROI obviously and the clicks add up fast.

I think users are just trying to click on the landing page and then get asked to make the call. I used a Google forwarding number so they have the metrics that calls aren't getting through. They charge you anyway. I think I'm going to cut down on call only campaigns a lot.

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Yeah, can use search ads instead then with the 300% bid modifier. I'm curious to if call-only ads will be the only ones we can use after June 2nd..

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How long does it take for call extensions ads to really start working? So far the extension isnt being shown off to me when I view the ads on google search. Are they supposed to show the whole time? I have it checked to mobile on and I looked at my stats and its all mobile phones getting the traffic. Anyone have more experience with call extensions?

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I've seen it take up to a day for the call extensions to start working, but usually it's pretty quick.

They should show each time, but make sure you've selected to have the ad send to the phone call from the headline and the call extension.

-Mike

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I only get it shown like 30% of the time, everytime I search for my own ad it never shows up with the call extension. Guess its back to call only ads. Sick of getting 15 clicks on my ads but no calls . Anyone available to look over a campaign for me and point out what im doing wrong?

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Can you share some screen shots of the campaign?

It seems like something could be set up incorrectly and allowing for non-click to call traffic through.

I would like to see what you mean by "everytime I search for my own ad it never shows up with the call extension".

-Mike

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This is a new campaign that I have been working on,

heres the stats based on devices:
http://screencast.com/t/5DaKPHWPn

this is the ad extension tab:
http://screencast.com/t/aSJcQS6hPYte

This is how the call extension is set up:
http://screencast.com/t/AIAVDcbnc


but yet only one call shows up in ringpartner? any idea whats going on? is it to little of data to really make any use of it? and when I search for my ad I use the ad preview tab

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You're still getting a lot of clicks from computers. You could try using a "bad ad" just for desktop. Create mobile specific ads that are "good ads" and then create ads for all devices that are bad/irrelevant/low ctr. It's a bit of a challenge, since it will hurt QS, but it will give you more mobile traffic.

You have 7 clicks, which doesn't mean they become calls. So, only the actual calls will show up in Invoca's reporting. A low call through rate could be due to irrelevant ads/keywords or the user wasn't aware they were going to be making a call when they clicked. Make it really clear that it's a call in your ad.

Have you checked the "just the phone number" radio button on your call extension settings? Also, make sure you're NOT advertising on Google Search partners, many of them are unable to use call extensions.

It's still pretty early to make any conclusive decisions, but I would suggest focusing more on getting mobile clicks and making sure users are encouraged to click to call.

Your other option is to create Call-Only campaigns. You won't get any desktop clicks.

Also, be sure that you are using keywords that catch the user at the time in the buying cycle when they're ready to call.

Keywords like "find a chiropractor", "call chiropractor", "local chiropractor" indicate the user is looking for a chiropractor or ready to book an appointment. Keywords like "back pain", "sciatica symptoms", "chiropractor reviews", etc. are catching users in the review phase. You want to be sure you are getting users that are ready to call and book an appointment, NOT doing research or looking for reviews.

-Mike

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Can you show me the check phone number part on the call extensions. Im pretty sure im targeting people that are looking to book appointments. I think the problem was my adcopy it didn't have a call to action in it so maybe they werent informed to make a call. Just added one lets see how this goes! Thanks guys

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