What are Ad Extensions?
Ad Extensions are more space for text and other clickable links or buttons on your ad. These allow you to alter some of the formattings while increasing the size of your ad.
Google’s regular text ads include clickable headlines linked to your chosen landing page, description, and URL. But Google AdWords allows you to add additional features to regular text ads known as Ad extensions.
Ad extensions are very crucial to any paid digital advertising strategy. Utilizing ad extensions can improve the appearance of your ads, click-through-rate, and quality score.
Google Ad extensions are one of the best ways to enhance your AdWords performance and produce more qualified leads to your search ads.
Ad extensions extend the size of an ad with additional information like customer ratings, contact information, call-to-action and review/ratings.
Google Ad extensions are very useful tools to generate more traffic and increase your business’s revenue. Ad extensions feature usage will result in improved Ad Rank and visibility.
The ad extension will show up you above the search results as opposed to the sidebar if you’ve matching bid and quality as your competitor.
You can increase Ad Rank and beat out the competitor in a higher position with the same CPC bid and quality score. Ad extensions can increase your CTR because more clicks mean more traffic to your website.
Ad extensions don’t increase your cost because it costs nothing extra to set up. Google and other search engines will likely to rank ads with extensions higher than ads without extensions.
Google values the quality of an ad when calculating its rankings. Ad extensions provide more information to a customer and are viewed as superior ads.
Google AdWords is a great way to get more leads to your business by using these features known as ad extensions. Your business will earn more credible leads that you can nurture towards conversion.
There are basically two types of ad extensions known as Automated and Manual.
Automated Ad extensions are generated automatically by Google and don’t give much control over messaging. Automated extensions give AdWords control of your extensions.
AdWords uses algorithms to predict when a certain ad extension is going to improve performance based on the users’ search.
It’ll automatically create an ad extension and display it with your ad. But you’ve no control over what Google is going to show to the user on the SERPs.
Manual Ad extensions need to be set up individually and give more control over the message that shows. The advertiser chooses whether to set up and enable the extension with manual ad extensions.
How to Set up Google Ad Extensions –
First, you’ll need to set up your ad extensions and you should choose the type of ads to affect the extensions. You can select the account level, the campaign level or the Ad group level to get started.
Once you’ve chosen the level, you’ll select ‘ad extensions’ from the tabs at the top of the page. You could use the view link in the upper left of the navigation to select your extensions.
Once you select an extension, you can create a new extension from that area.
e.g. if you select Sitelink extension, you’ll be able to view any call extension that has been created prior and can create a new one.
The Commonly Used Manual Ad Extensions –
Here are few commonly used manual ad extensions as:-
# Sitelink Extensions – Sitelinks extensions are the most popular ad extension for good reason because it provides a link to different pages of your website.
Sitelink extensions allow searchers who are looking for specific sections within your website. Sitelink extension is another important feature that is capable of increasing your conversion rate.
These are additional text and links under your standard text ad in the search engine results page. These allow advertisers to link other relevant pages on their website and can be added at either the campaign or Ad group level.
It’s an easy way to create multiple ads from one ad. Sitelinks are very important for any paid search campaign.
Sitelinks extensions have the limitation of up to 25 characters. They can be updated be easily, and scheduled with start and end dated.
Sitelinks allow advertisers to place up to 6 additional hyperlinks below their regular ad which enable a user to take a more specific and deep dive into your website.
# Call Extensions – Call extensions to place a small button on the side of your ad that allows customers to directly call your business. Call extensions need to be created within the Google AdWords browser interface.
This extension shows a phone number to searchers which can be load into your Google AdWords account.
Google will generate a phone number that will redirect to your preferred line. This strategy works for both desktop and mobile search queries.
These extensions can be scheduled to go beyond with the business hours for phone support for your business or service.
It’s an incredibly powerful feature that can boost your click-through-rate, generate more leads, and yield more sales. Call extension is generally used by local businesses that have local offices.
A call extension would work great if your business requires customers to make phone calls to either purchase products or services.
# Structured Snippets – Structured snippet extensions are Google ad extensions that allow you to highlight your business.
The structured snippet is the extension to rule all extensions and used to display relevant details about your company. Structured snippets are non-clickable text snippets and they are organized around a category header.
The format of structured snippets is [Header]:[Snippet 1],[Snippet 2],[Snippet 3], etc. This extension helps to showcase important features and details about your product or service.
Structured snippets can be a good way to organize information within your ad to help searchers easily understand your offer. The steps for a structured snippet are as follows:-
Header – The header is the reflection of a category, feature, product or service. The available headers include anything from service brands, destinations, neighborhoods, styles, catalogs, and more. Ads can show up to two headers at a time.
You can select any of the headers from the list such as Featured hotels, Insurance coverage, Models, Neighbourhoods, Amenities, Brands, Course, Degree programs, Destinations, Service catalog, Shows, Styles, and Types.
Values – Custom copy that allows to lists from 3 to 10 features, product or services related to your header with limitation of up to 25 characters. You can choose up to 10 values to include on one extension.
# Social Extensions – These extensions displays all the content from your website, ads, and search. The purpose of the social extension is to act as an endorsement or recommendation for your website and content.
# App Extensions – App extensions link directly to the app store where customers can download it. These extensions are used to promote an app to complete an action.
You should use app extensions to encourage visitors or customers to download your app into their mobile or tablet device.
This extension is basically targeted to smartphone users and it can direct users to either the Google Play or iTunes app stores.
Businesses have the option to direct customers to a specific area of the app depending on the search terms for existing users.
# Location Extensions – Location extensions show the address of your business and help nearby customers find you. These are useful for local businesses.
People looking for your address will get that information by looking at your location extensions rather than clicking on your ad.
Either you can target audience resides in a particular geographical location or you want to add location-related information to your ad. These extensions are essential to make use of the physical address for business or services.
Advertisers can include the address, and phone number of business. It saves the cost of an Ad click while giving the customer better user experience.
You can take advantage of the local extension to reach customers near the business’s location. You can set different bids for customers in different locations. You don’t have to pay additional money to add it to your ad.
You’ll have complete control on location targeting around specific business addresses. This extension works well if your business has multiple locations and you want your customers to know when they’re in close proximity.
# Review Extensions – Review extensions show your business’s positive reviews from third-party websites directly in the ads.
These extensions allow the advertiser to display a snippet of a review or endorsement from a reputable third-party website.
When people buy an online product and after that, they’ll turn to review websites. Review extensions give instant credibility to your ads. It’s important because you need credibility to establish trust with customers.
Review extension gives a big boost when your customers will read the reviews from your ad before going to your landing page.
Review extensions allow you to summarize or directly quote reviews and share awards and honor from 3rd party sources.
This extension would be useful for you if your business has great reviews or provides a product or service that many customers research before buying.
# Seller Rating Extensions – These extensions display star rating from review websites around the web directly into your text ad.
It provides credibility and peace of mind for users and it doesn’t require any setup for advertisers. You need to have 4 or more stars and at least 30 reviews in Google product search.
Benefits of Google Ad Extensions –
Ad extensions are begun to improve the output from the ad copies. Here are a few benefits of adding extensions to Google Ads:-
# Ad Rank Improvement – Google ad extensions have a direct impact on the rank of the ads. Ad Rank = Max CPC x Quality Score is considered along with the expected result of ad extensions and formats.
# More Visibility – Ad extension increases the physical size of your ads on the SERPs. Your ads are more visible with useful information. These enlarged ads look attractive and convince users to click on it.
# Higher Conversion Rate – Ad extensions increase the click count along with click quality. Ads with extensions allow users to make a well-informed click and get to the landing page to make a purchase.
# CTR Enhancement – CTR is crucial metrics for online ads. The better the CTR, the higher are the chances of conversions.
Ads with extensions are found to have a higher CTR than ads without extensions. The ads with multiple extensions perform better than single extension ads.
# Improve Quality Score – An increase in the click count and an enhanced CTR lead to a chance of better conversion rate. These facts improve Ad Rank by enhancing the quality score of keywords.
Conclusion – Google AdWords Ad extensions are all about helping the advertiser provide more information to people searching on the Internet. Ad extensions are flexible which offers several benefits to various devices and interfaces. The Ad extensions are designed to help you achieve more with ads, drive more clicks, acquire new customers, and grow your revenue. Ad extensions are free to use, easy to set up and give an ad more visibility. This visibility is important to improve click-through-rate and quality score of keywords.