Google Announced a Change in How Call Extensions Show in 2 Weeks

Google announced yesterday that starting on January 19, AdWords would begin to show local searchers the local phone number of that advertiser’s address as it’s listed in their Google My Business account, regardless of how they’ve set up their call extensions. That means that if you’re using call tracking or another phone number in your call extensions, that call extension number will no longer appear alongside your ads on the local SERP with your location extension. It may also be possible that ads could potentially show with no number in the location extension. Advertisers who have location extensions are advised to ensure their Google My Business listings have the accurate phone numbers for each location. 

Below is the email Google sent Thursday.

This change only affects how ads appear when a location extension is being shown and local extensions only appear when a user is relatively close to that location. Call extensions will still appear unchanged when location extensions do not show. The local advertisers will lose the ability to track and report these calls from ads as conversions after the change, which is, of course, the whole point of call tracking. Google has a solution for their concern. There is a form that advertisers can submit before the change to opt out of having local numbers show in location extensions, but Google warns it could negatively impact ad impressions (and in turn, calls).