Phone numbers within Google AdWords are getting an upgrade. Google will now automatically update all phone numbers within ad text to a Click-to-call number. This will have the largest impact on mobile phones.
While searching on your mobile device, if you come across an ad similar to the one shown, you will now be able to immediately dial the number by clicking on it. Google Voice users signed in on their desktop will also be able to call by clicking.
This feature is separate from Call Extensions which once applied to your AdWords campaign, creates a unique phone number that is trackable by Google. This is done by dynamically creating a phone number that once it is dialed, routs through Google’s system for tracking, and is then immediately forwarded to the company’s call center or office. Google uses a “pay-per-call” model (similar to pay-per-click) to charge for this feature.
Google does not charge for including phone numbers within the ad text. There are many benefits for both Call Extensions and Click-to-call numbers. It is best to use whichever one provides the largest return. Happy calling!
Google recently held their Inside Search event in San Francisco. They introduced new technologies and applications for voice search, image search, and Google Goggles. The other main focus of the event was explaining Google’s continued development of mobile search.
So why is Google focusing on mobile search? It has the potential to be another very profitable revenue stream. It can also offset slower periods of desktop search volume.
Below are some rough search volumes for Google by day of the week. Notice that search volume on desktops is highest on Monday. It then gradually trends downward until the weekend. Saturday has the lowest volume of desktop search.
Now compare it to the volume of mobile search. It stays much more consistent from Monday to Thursday. What’s important for Google is that it peaks on Saturday. Mobile search’s busiest time is desktop’s slowest.
Let’s compare search volume throughout the day. Here we see the volume of desktop searches by two hour increments. People obviously search less late at night on desktops. Search volume then grows rapidly until lunch time. People leave their desktop computers and go out into the world. When they return, they have more things they need to search for, hence the peak around 3pm. Volume then steadily declines until a sharp drop off around 11pm when people are heading to bed.
Just as with search volume throughout the week, mobile search volume compliments desktop search over the course of the day.
Notice the peaks at lunchtime and the steady increase. It even peaks at 11pm. People search on their mobile devices until about midnight. At which point volume declines quickly.
Its not just mobile search that people are using. Business Insider’s article on mobile apps vs. web consumption shows that more minutes per day are spent in mobile applications than the web.
businessinsider.com
Why is Google so interested in these mobile search trends? Google’s revenue from AdWords declines with drops in search volumes. Obviously mobile search is not on the same scale as desktop. If Google can make searching on mobile devices easy to use, more effective, and ultimately more widely used, they can offset some of the dip in their AdWords revenue.
So what does this mean for your business? Mobile devices have much smaller screens compared to the large monitors of desktops and laptops. When viewing mobile versions of the search engine results page, there is often only room for one or two sponsored ads.
If your business can achieve the top placement your ad will take up the majority of a users screen. If your campaign is well targeted the ad may have a higher chance of getting clicked. Less competition and a larger share of the visible screen could increase click through ratios.
Mobile may provide lower volumes of traffic but depending on what type of conversion you’re seeking, it may prove to be profitable. Users often search for something on their phone during the day, then visit the site directly when they get home to their desktop. Mobile search could be another effective branding or lead generating strategy.
It is now up to Google to continue to improve mobile search. Additional features like voice search can grow the use of mobile search. Google is focused on this to improve their business, you may be able to as well.
It’s generally safe to assume by now that in a small group of people, someone has a smart phone.
My personal favorite use of these is by the Detroit Red Wings. I’m bias, yes, but you find me a better use. On the big screen, the Wings gave instructions on which free apps to have downloaded, and which page in the program to turn to. What the fans got is a hilarious YouTube video named ‘Kronwalled”, linked below. The best Kronwalling happens 22 seconds in. Anyone that makes that face is really asking for a good Kronwalling. According to the Red Wings, people watching the video through a mobile device watched the video from beginning to end 22% of the time, far exceeding their expectations. They also plan to experiment with and integrate more multimedia placements with their traditional ad mediums.
[ insert brochure image with QR code ]
[ insert KRONWALLED youtube video ]
Another experimental use of QR codes came from the Weather Channel, who surprisingly always seems to be at the forefront of new technology (widgets, phone apps, desktop alerts, and now QR codes). They took this a step further than the Red Wings, putting a large QR code on screen during a broadcast. Scan it with your phone, and it takes you to the Android marketplace, where you can download the weather channel app for your mobile phone. Genius!
Other interesting uses I’ve seen or heard of lately include several restaurants with these codes in their windows. You scan the code, and it takes you to a Google Reviews page where you can read what other people thought, see the menu and hours of operation, and get the link to their website if you want more information. There was a billboard that was just a large QR code. This approach will work while the idea is new and still clever, but will probably fade as they become more common place.
[picture of QR billboard ]
Also, Campbell-Ewald, the winner of the Time Magazine ‘Selling Detroit’ contest, used a QR code in their ad, which will now appear for free in Time Magazine. Although I’m not sold on their ad being the best of the contestants, I really do appreciate their forward thinking, and it likely played a huge role in their winning of this contest.
The growing popularity of smart phones is leading to a very fundamental change in the way advertisers reach out to users. It’s generally safe to assume by now that in a small group of people, someone has a smart phone with them. The better question would be is it already in their hands, or still in their pocket or purse. The evolution of this mobile marketing landscape presents some new and interesting ways that advertising touches us on a daily basis, but it is also boosting the use of a much older technology; the QR (quick response) Code, AKA, the barcode. Apps on new cell phones are now able to read these codes, allowing virtually any traditional form of marketing to easily become a launch pad for a multimedia experience.
My personal favorite use of QR codes is by the Detroit Red Wings. I’m bias, yes, but you find me a better use. I bet you the Colorado Avalanche aren’t doing anything nearly as cool yet. On the big screen, the Wings gave instructions on which free apps to have downloaded, and which page in the program to turn to. What the fans got is a hilarious YouTube video named ‘Kronwalled”, linked below. The best Kronwalling happens 22 seconds in. Anyone that makes that face is really asking for a good Kronwalling. According to the Red Wings, people watching the video through a mobile device watched the video from beginning to end 22% of the time, far exceeding their expectations. They also plan to experiment with and integrate more multimedia placements with their traditional ad mediums.
Another experimental use of QR codes came from the Weather Channel, who surprisingly always seems to be at the forefront of new technology (widgets, phone apps, desktop alerts, and now QR codes). They took this a step further than the Red Wings, putting a large QR code on screen during a broadcast. Scan it with your phone, and it takes you to the Android marketplace, where you can download the weather channel app for your mobile phone. Genius!
Other interesting uses I’ve seen or heard of lately include several restaurants with these codes in their windows. You scan the code, and it takes you to a Google Reviews page where you can read what other people thought, see the menu and hours of operation, and get the link to their website if you want more information. There’s been a few instances of entire billboard displays being a QR code. This approach will work while the idea is new and still clever, but will probably fade as they become more common place.
Also, Campbell-Ewald, the winning agency of the Time Magazine ‘Selling Detroit’ contest, used a QR code in their ad, which will now appear for free in Time Magazine. Their forward thinking likely played a huge role in their winning of the contest and $1,000,000 in free advertising space.
Where else would I like to see this done? How about in news papers? AnnArbor.com is changing the way we see and react to the news, so where could they go next? How could a newspaper use QR codes?
Google is doing some cool things with how we view news. One of my favorite things they’re currently working on is called Living Stories (livingstories.googlelabs.com ). If AnnArbor.com had the QR code on the hard copy of all stories that are still in progress (Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, Local Elections,Healthcare Reform, Haiti Earthquake, Flu Season Information, Frequent Bloggers, etc..), it would allow you to read the article, and if you wanted, you could catch up on the entire backstory.
More than this, lets say you’re reading a hard copy of the newspaper and find an interesting article a friend of yours might enjoy. Scanning the article code could take you directly to the online copy of the article, which you could then forward to a friend. This would also make it much easier to share via Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. These are the kinds of things that will change the way people interact with newspapers, and what may actually save these dinosaurs from extinction.
Where else could these be used? How about in lines at amusement parks? Building a christmas list or wedding registry? Viewing movie previews after seeing a poster or article about it. There seems to be an endless list of how and where these can be used.
Have you seen a clever use of these lately? How do you think they will be leveraged in the near future?
Phone numbers within Google AdWords are getting an upgrade. Google will now automatically update all phone numbers within ad text to a Click-to-call number. This will have the largest impact on mobile phones.
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