For those with an active Google Ads account, being up to speed on the power of ad extensions could have a huge impact on your business. If you are not ready to absorb the knowledge associated with ad extensions quite yet, you may be interested in reading up on what exactly is Google Ads.
Back to the main topic about what ad extensions are. They are extra elements to basic Ads text that provides more information to a searcher. The purpose of ad extensions are to give the searchers more information with which to make a decision on whether or not to click on an ad. From an advertiser’s perspective, it means you provide information that will hopefully weed out more untargeted traffic and generate more engagement from the type of searcher you want. This all can lead to an improved ROI for the campaign.
What Does It Look Like?
In the past, many of the searches we perform in Google would probably bring up informative, but pretty basic looking ads, with the standard look: headline and then the URL all followed by 2 lines of ad text. Something like the below might be considered a good representation of what we would see:
But with ad extensions, these ads now come to life with additional information to entice searches to click on your ad and engage with your business on a deeper level:
In the above ads you’ll notice that there are additional features that are not normally present in a basic Google ad:
Beats ad contains:
- Aggregated star rating, which Google calls Seller Ratings
- An extra 4 blue links to the site, called Sitelinks
L.L. Bean ad contains:
- Aggregated star rating, which Google calls Seller Ratings
- Ratings on individual qualities, which Google calls Consumer Ratings
- An extra 4 blue links to the site, called Sitelinks
Each of the above 2 ads have features that:
- Provide more information to the searcher, making it more likely they will click on the ad if it is relevant to their search (more information upfront could save money by weeding out untargeted clicks)
- Increase the chance of the searcher actually seeing the ad (it becomes more eye catching)
What Types of Extensions Are Available in Ads?
By now you probably want to know what your options are in adding more information to your ads. Although they may change in the future, the current list of extensions available are:
- Sitelinks: where you can link to specific pages within your site, with specified anchor text
- Location: where you connect your Google My Business to your Ads account, and your address can show up within your ads
- Call: add a phone number to the ads, so people can click to call directly from your ad
- App: include a link to any app that you may have to offer
- Review: add 3rd party reviews to your ads
- Callout: add special callout text to an ad; as a bonus, you can set a schedule for this type of ad extension
- Price: adds pricing information into the ad itself.
- Structured Snippet: adds relevant data points into an add. Data point options include amenities, types, styles, degrees, services, brands, and more
- Promotion: highlights any sales, specials, or coupons you have that are relevant to the ad
- Affiliate location extensions: if you sell your goods through retail chains you can add affiliate location extensions to help consumers find nearby stores that sell your products
- Automated extensions: these are consumer and seller ratings that Google automatically populates some ads with; you can’t do anything to control these, but Google does offer a report
Where to Add Ad Extensions Within Your Ads Account
Now that you have learned how valuable ad extensions can be, the next is populating them with your Ads account. To do so is very simple. There is an ‘Ad extensions’ tab that you can choose for any campaign or ad group.
Just click on that tab and you will be ready to manage your extensions. To choose from the available extensions we referenced above, just click the blue addition button and select the appropriate extension. Depending on which extension you choose, the steps for adding an extension will be slightly different, but straightforward.
An important note to keep in mind when working with ad extensions. Just because you have populated 1 or more of the extension options does not mean that it will show with every ad impression. Google is the final decision maker on when and if any particular ad extension is shown for any given impression.
The Best Part About Ad Extensions
They are free to have included in your ads. You don’t pay anything extra to have ad extensions active with an ad group or campaign. Like a regular campaign, you only pay Google when someone clicks on your ad.
Need help enhancing your Ads campaign with ad extensions? Please contact us. We are a Google Partner, with 4 Ads Qualified Individuals. We’ll be happy to talk to you about any campaigns you are currently running, along with your goals and objectives for future ones.
