Google call-only ads getting ‘expanded’ with more characters

Google is enabling more text in call-only ads.

Google call-only ads are getting the expanded text ad treatment.

What’s changing. The big change is the addition of more text. Instead of a single 25-character headline, you’ll have two 30-character headlines. Plus, descriptions are increasing from 80 to 90 characters.

The other change is that name of the business will move to the description line. (See “House of Tango” in the example above.)

“We noticed it was tough to fit both your business name and a compelling call to action in the headline, so we moved business name to the beginning of the ad description,” Mike Russo, a Google Ads product manager, said in the announcement.

Why you should care. The shift of the business name to the description frees up headline space, but if you’ve got a recognizable brand name, you’ll need to closely consider the impact of this change.

As with the rollout of any ad change, testing will be critical. There’s an advantage to being a first-mover, particularly when more ad real estate is at stake, but be sure you’re thoughtful in using the additional text to convey benefits and why users should call your business. You may have learnings from your other enhanced text ads that will work in call-only ads, or you may find they need to be tweaked for this specific format.

This change is rolling out over the coming weeks.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.