Callouts for AdWords Offer More Space for Advertisers

Google has rolled out the callouts extension for AdWords, giving marketers more space in which to advertise their products. The new feature displays additional text that appears below search ads to highlight businesses’ special services and products, as seen below.

Google will also offer the option of creating customized callouts for mobile and will allow users to block callouts from specific devices.

The new callouts extension will add much more room to the limited space provided for search ads. AdWords campaigns are currently limited to 95 characters, but the callouts extension will add an additional 25 characters for advertisers to fill with promotional copy.

Additionally, Elizabeth Marsten, search marketing director at Portent, points out that “The nice thing about callouts is that you don’t have to have unique links for each one and can save ad copy space for more unique benefits.”

In a blog post announcing the new feature, Google says it intends for callouts to be paired with other AdWords extensions.

“Callouts work very well in conjunction with sitelinks because, unlike sitelinks, you don’t have to have a unique landing page to link to for your text,” says Jeremy Hull, director of paid search at iProspect. “Instead, you can use this extension to highlight overall differentiators for your brand.”

Marsten’s one concern is that failure to adopt callouts “may be detrimental” to advertisers’ Ad Rank. Ads that use extensions and add-ons to drive clicks are given priority over ads that don’t, so users who don’t immediately adopt callouts could face a disadvantage compared to those who do.

Currently, callouts are limited, but the feature will be available to all AdWords users in the next few weeks.