New Service Marries Search and Phone

For many small business owners, nothing beats getting a prospect on the phone. And luckily, a new service from Google will let you track how well your search advertising gets your phone ringing.

AdWords Call Metrics, being rolled out gradually, lets advertisers measure the number of phone calls generated by individual AdWords campaigns, as long as they use the AdWords phone extension.

The four AdWords extensions provide additional features within search ads and the phone extension generates a unique phone number for each campaign. That number is automatically inserted into your search ads that appear on Google and on smartphones. The other extensions show location, product images, and additional page links.

Janet Driscoll Miller, CEO of Search Mojo, a company that optimizes search engine marketing and pay-per-click advertising, points out that the phone extension itself is a boon to many marketers, because often, people searching for a local business don’t want to click around your website.

“If they want a pizza, really what they need is my phone number,” she says. Showing a phone number right in the text ad itself streamlines the process for potential customers.

Continues at: New Service Marries Search and Phone : Technology :: American Express OPEN Forum.