I’m not a big Internet Explorer user but today I’m using IE as my browser of choice. I noticed that when I launch Skype and IE, Skype highlights phone numbers on web sites in the browsers for calling via SkypeOut.
I’ve noticed this in Google AdWords ads but today what really stuck out is the description used by NextStudent.com and the way it looks on my browser. The Meta Description reads : Looking for federal or private student loans for School? Get up to 40k Fast: Call 877-680-9879. Student loan consolidation? Call 800-299-4639. NextStudent- College Funding Made Simple.
The description is very salesy and leads to a call to action : dialing the phone number. Usually this would not be a direct call to action, it would be more passive. However, since Skype is highlighting phone numbers in my browser, the description as shown in Google results now offers two direct call to action buttons via Skype for student loans and loan consolidation; changing the entire dynamics of the search result.
What’s more amazing is that in these search results (which are the page four results for the term ‘loans‘), no other pages are serving phone numbers in their description or title, further differentiating NextStudent.com from its competition while building a sense of brand loyalty with Skype users.
Good work by Hooley and the boys, I’m sure multiple college students use Skype and this is very intelligent search marketing.
