Is Google Adwords Testing Click to SMS, a New Ad Extension?
Search Engine Land, just recently, received an anonymous tip from one of their readers that Google Adwords may be testing a new ad extension called Click-to-SMS (CTS). Late last year, Google Adwords discontinued Social extensions. If you are not yet familiar with ad extensions, read about a previous article on ad extensions for text ads.
If this is true, then this click to SMS ad extension would go well with their existing call extensions. Call extensions allow advertisers to add a call button to their ads and target people with mobile devices that are capable of making calls. A sample Google Adwords text ad with a call extension can be seen below.
Now, if the new ad extension click to SMS is added, it would add a button that directs not to a call but to a messaging application in the mobile phone to send an SMS.
Benefits of a Call and Click to Text (SMS) Extension
Both ad extensions provide a connection between an online action, in this case, a click to the ad, and an offline action, which is a call or sending a text message. Usually, offline actions are not tracked and measuring how effective a text ad is, isn’t made possible. But, with both ad extensions enabled, the offline actions will also be recorded in Google Adwords reports.
