Bing Ads also Bid Adieu to Phone Numbers in PPC Ad Copy

The free phone call wave is nearing extinction for PPC advertisers and from now on, they will have to bank upon call or location extensions to display phone numbers. A precedent to this was Google that stopped permitting advertisers long back in April 2013 to display their phone numbers in their AdWords ad copy. Now, we hear that Bing Ads have made a similar development in the case.

Not too long from now, Bing Ads advertisers will cease to be able to add a phone number in any section of their Ad copy as Sitelinks. To be able to use phone numbers in future, AdWords will now have to use location or call extensions to meet the purpose. Bing Ads has shared in its announcement that this development will initially only impact advertisers in the US, UK, Hong Kong as well as Taiwan; however, it will take complete control later when the change rolls out into other markets in some time.

The change, as informed by Bing Ads, will be implemented on new campaigns form the month of February 2015. However, the legacy ads will be accommodated with phone numbers and will be permitted for display until June 2015. But there is catch to it: any edits, even it means fixing a typo, or a change in the URL that will be made to those legacy ads during the month of February will in all likelihood be disallowed.

If you are one of those impacted by this change and are looking to keep those old phone number in the ads running until June, it will be in your best interests if you avoid fiddling with them. Even if the ads need any tweaks, keep them untouched for the coming few months. However, if you want to have it all, we suggest that you prepare yourself for using call extensions and location extensions ahead of the change by Bing Ads that will be implemented in February 2015.