These Pay Per Call Ad Guidelines will help you create an effective ad that drives calls to your business. By adhering to these guidelines, your ad should be accepted by the Ad Review Team. In cases where only minor changes are required for an ad to meet our guidelines, the Ad Review Team may edit your Ad for you, including correcting a spelling or grammatical error or removing the ad from a category.
Ad Style and Grammar
Ad Content and Category Relevance
Ad Call-through Rate
Business Profile
Business Name
Marketing Message
Selecting a Service Area
Selecting a Category
If you have any questions about these requirements, please review the
Terms of Use or contact our
Advertiser Assistance Team and select "Advertisement Acceptance Status" in the drop-down menu, or call 1-800-549-1744.
Ad Style and Grammar
Millions of actively searching people will see your ad online.
An ad with a professional tone will attract customers to call you. Here are some tips on creating an effective ad.
- Use correct spelling, proper grammar and punctuation.
- Your ad description line may not contain exclamation points or unnecessary punctuation or symbols.
- Your ad details may only contain one exclamation point.
- Use standard capitalization. Do not use excessive capitalization such as "FREE" or "TRY IT NOW."
- Avoid gimmicky repetition.
- Avoid using superlative phrases such as "The Best" or "Number 1 rated" unless you are able to provide the source of the claim in the body of the ad.
- Do not post additional contact information, such as email addresses, personal or business phone numbers in your ad.
- Do not use profane or vulgar language, adult content or material.
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Ad Content and Category Relevance
In order to serve the most appropriate Pay Per Call ads to qualified customers, it is critical to select the categories that best relate to your business and to accurately describe your products and services in your ad.
Business Name
Your Business Name on the ad should resemble your registered business name and match the ad category that you select. Your potential customer will either see you Business Name or Ad Headline as the title of your ad. The business name is meant to illustrate your business listing and not serve as a marketing message. Please use the following guidelines when defining your business name:
- If your company name has multiple divisions, specify this after the business name.
- Example: Jack Auto Repair - Tire Replacement
- If you are associated with a larger company, first list the affiliated company and then your own name.
- Example: National Realty - Sue Campton.
- If you a certification or title, such as DDS, MD, etc., feel free to include this in the business name.
| Correct Ad |
Correct because: |
Business Name: San Francisco Realty
Description Line 1: Buy, Sell and Finance
Categories Selected: Real Estate Agent, Mortgage Brokers
|
Ad description ("Buy, Sell and Finance") appropriately lets the customer know this business covers both real estate and mortgage brokering (the business categories the advertiser selected). |
| Incorrect Ad |
Incorrect because: |
Business Name: San Francisco Realty
Description Line 1: We can buy or sell your home.
Categories Selected: Real Estate Agent, Mortgage Brokers
|
Ad description ("We can buy or sell your home") does not mention mortgages, only relates to real estate.
Ways to correct:
1) Edit ad description to also describe mortgage brokering
2) Remove "Mortgage Brokers" as one of the categories
3) Create two separate, specific ads in "Real Estate Agent" and "Mortgage Brokers" categories
|
| Incorrect Ad |
Incorrect because: |
Business Name: Fabulous Flowers
Description Line 1: Beautiful flowers for every occasion
Categories Selected: Florist, Artificial Plants and Flowers
|
Ad is for a florist with fresh flowers and they do not mention selling artificial plants or flowers in the description.
Ways to correct:
1) Remove "Artificial Plants and Flowers" as one of the categories
2) Create two separate, specific ads in "Artificial Plants and Flowers" and "Florist" categories
|
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Ad Call-through Rate
Every time a consumer conducts a search for within the Ingenio Advertising Network, we serve up relevant ads with the highest price per call to appear in the search results. When the consumer calls the number within the ad, that ad is "converted." The Call-through rate, as defined below, is monitored for each Pay Per Call ad.
| Call-through rate = |
# of charged calls your ad generates |
|
| # of times your ad appears on a website in the Ingenio Advertising Network |
- High Call-through rate: The Ad attracted the consumer and matched his needs resulting in a great experience for both the prospect and your business.
- Low Call-through rate: Ad is not what consumers are searching for and can produce unqualified leads for you. Consumers may call and end the call quickly. If your ad has a low Call-through rate, the following will take place:
- Low Call-through rate warning: Ingenio monitors call-through rates and notifies you when your ad produces a low call-through rate. You will receive a warning email if your ad has a low call-through rate; these ads may stopped being displayed on some sites in the Ingenio Advertising Network. We recommend that when you receive this email, you should review the Pay Per Call Ad Guidelines and revise your ad.
- Paused ad: Ads which fall below our system requirements will be paused for low Call-through rate and not be displayed on any sites. You can reset your ad's Call-through rate by editing and resubmitting the ad. You are only allowed to resubmit your ad three times in 18 months.
- Permanently paused ad: After an ad is paused for the fourth time, it will be permanently paused in the system and you will not be able to resubmit the ad. If you believe that your ad was paused in error, please contact Advertiser Assistance or call 1-800-549-1744.
How can I improve my call-through rate?
Many times call-through rates can be improved by making small modifications to your ad. For example, you can:
- Edit your Business Name and Marketing Message to clarify your offering, and make sure they are relevant to the business categories you've selected. See our tips for success.
- Enhance your business profile by adding business details, your logo and a coupon or adjusting your callable hours to fit your schedule
- Select a different business category. If you don't see a category that accurately describes your business, you can suggest a new category.
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Business Profile Page
Your Pay Per Call business profile page should provide more information about your business to help potential customers further
understand what you are offering and determine if they should call you. Follow the
Ad Style and Grammar guidelines above to ensure
your ad is accepted by the
Ad Review Team.
Your business profile page includes business details and callable hours, and you can also choose to display a logo, payment
options and a coupon.
- Business details have a limit of 1000 characters.
 |
 |
Local Advertiser Sample Ad |
National Advertiser Sample Ad |
- Do not list website or email addresses, personal or business phone numbers in your
ad or profile page. In order for Ingenio to provide
call activity tracking and reporting for your Pay Per Call ads, you must use the toll-free number provided for you.
- Business details may only contain one exclamation point.
- Logo: Your logo is a great branding tool because it is unique to your business. Be sure that you choose a logo that does not include your contact information such as a URL or phone number.
- Coupon: If your ad includes a coupon, you must be
able to support advertised prices, discounts and free offers.
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Marketing Message
Your Pay Per Call
marketing message can be seen by millions of people searching online. This is your chance to get potential customers interested in calling and buying from you! To create a great ad, clearly state what you're selling and make sure it's relevant to the business category you selected.
- Use action based words such as "get, save, enjoy, fix and help". Talk about experience, quality, variety, service and convenience.
- Include a promotional offer. This has been shown to increase response rates. You could give a 10% discount or a 2 for 1 deal. If you do not want to directly offer a financial discount, you can offer a free service, such as a free consultation.
- Maintain a friendly and professional tone. People who read your ad should feel that you are both approachable and knowledgable.
- Keep each line of your Marketing Message to 35 characters each or less. Different sites will display your information in various ways. Some sites will only show Line 1 of your marketing message, so remember to make it compelling. Other sites might include both Line 1 and Line 2, so take advantage of the extra space to elaborate about your business or include an offer.
- Avoid excessive capitalization or punctuation and use acceptable grammar. Do not include a phone number or URL in your ad.
Here are some examples of good ads that get customers calling. Use these as models to create your own marketing message.
- This is a good ad since it uses descriptive, active words to clearly state what they're selling:

- This is a good ad because while it does not provide a discount, it provides a free service to entice first-time customers to call:

- This is a good ad because it conveys trust with the amount of business experience:

- This is a good ad as it differentiates the business from other competitors. This ad will also qualify prospects who are mainly interested in a specialized product:
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Selecting a Service Area
Your service area should represent where you are able to provide your services.
- Your ad will appear to any consumer, regardless of where they are located, looking for your business in your service area.
- For example: A real estate agent with a service area in El Paso, Texas will be displayed to a consumer in San Francisco if they search for a "real estate agent in El Paso, Texas."
- You should only choose a "National (All U.S.)" service area if you are able to service anyone in all 50 states. If you are only able to service 3 states you will need to create 3 ads, one for each state. For more assistance with creating ads for multiple states, please contact our Advertiser Assistance Team or call 1-800-549-1744.
- Only choose a service area in which you are able to provide services or deliver products.
- For example: If you are a store located in San Francisco, California, your service area should be San Francisco. If you are able to go to people’s homes to provide your service, your service area should include how far you can travel.
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Selecting a Category
Ingenio takes the work out of other advertising programs' "keyword" buying by conducting independent research and categorizing terms and phrases consumers use when searching for your business.
- Carefully select categories that accurately describe your business, not the customers you are targeting.
- Create a different ad per category for each line of business your company performs.
- Ensures you set an appropriate Max Price Per Call for that line of business.
- Ensures your ad is highly-targeted.
- Suggest a category if you cannot find a category that accurately describes your business.
| Correct Category Selection |
Correct because: |
Business: Appliance Store
Search for a category using: vacuum
Categories Presented: Appliance Dealers, Appliance Rental, Appliance Repair
Category Selected: Appliance Dealer
|
The Appliance Store only sells appliances and does not rent or repair them and the advertiser correctly selected only the Appliance Dealer category.
This should result in better-qualified phone call leads than if it were placed in the other categories.
|
| Incorrect Category Selection |
Incorrect because: |
Business: Vacuum Store
Search for a category using: vacuum
Categories Presented: Appliance Dealers, Appliance Rental, Appliance Repair
Category Selected: Appliance Dealer
|
The store only sells vacuums and cannot be accepted into the broader "Appliance Dealer" category. For example, the vacuum store could receive and pay for unqualified calls coming from people searching for "refrigerators."
Ways to correct: Suggest a category, Vacuum Store, which accurately describes your business.
|
| Incorrect Category Selection |
Incorrect because: |
Business: Appliance Store targeting Senior Citizens
Search for a category using: seniors
Categories Presented: Nursing Homes and Elder Care, Retirement Communities, Senior Services
Category Selected: Senior Services
|
Senior Services does not accurately describe the Appliance Store business - it is merely the consumer the ad is targeting.
Ways to correct: Select a better category such as "Appliance Dealer."
|
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