• Search Engine Land, Tuesday, January 5, 2010 3:16 PM

This month, Google told its AdWords advertisers, "Your location-specific business phone number will display alongside your destination url in ads that appear on high-end mobile devices ... Users will be able to click-to-call your business just as easily as they click to visit your website ... You'll be charged for clicks to call, same as you are for clicks to visit your website."

As Search Engine Land explains, this is basically a version of "pay-per-phone call," although the cost per call is the same as a click -- a bargain (generally speaking) for the advertisers to receive a "warm lead." On most smartphones, phone numbers typically can be touched to initiate a telephone call. This "click to call" scenario already exists for Google organic local listings on smartphones. "What Google is saying, simply," according to Search Engine Land, "is that it will allow phone numbers to display in ads and will charge advertisers when calls are initiated accordingly."

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