Google Ad Extensions. What are they, why use them and how can they help your account?
Google Ad Extensions are essentially snippets of additional information that you can bolt-on to your Ads to make them more effective. They make your Ads bigger and help them stand out against your competitors, so are a must-have within your account!
Firstly, let’s cover about Sitelink Extensions, these are additional links and descriptions, that show underneath your main Ad and allow prospects to click directly through to other pages on your website than that of the main Ad.
So, let’s say you’re a plumber and a generic search has been made such as ‘plumber in town’. Now, due to that search being very generic, we don’t know what plumbing services our prospect needs, so here we would could use Sitelinks to highlight core services such as Boiler Repairs, Boiler Servicing, Bathroom Refurbishments, Blocked Drains etc.
If your prospect was actually searching for a plumber to repair their boiler, now they can click directly through to the right page on your website. Your Ad has also looked more relevant to their needs, as you have specified the service that they actually want. This gives you a higher chance of getting the click… and the conversion!
Now, in no particular order, I will list other useful Ad Extensions, with a brief description of how these work, so you can decide how you can best use these in your account!
Location Extensions – These extensions are great for ‘local businesses’ as they showcase your address on a map, hours of operation and distance to your location.
If you are a national business and your customers are not necessarily local, I would avoid using location extensions because you don’t want prospects 400 miles away seeing your location and wrongly assuming you are too far away to service their requirements.
Call Extensions – This extension allows you to add phone numbers to your Ads, which enables your prospect to call your business directly from your Ad on their mobile phone.
Mobile traffic is increasing all the time and it pays handsomely when you give your prospect another easy way to contact your business. More often than not, the lead quality of a phone call is better than that of a contact form.
Structured Snippet Extensions – These highlight specific aspects of your products or services. They provide additional header lines of text that help educate the prospect on what you can offer.
So if you sell shoes, your structured snippets could be Oxford, Loafers, Brogues etc.
Callout Extensions – These are essentially non-clickable bullet points and allow you to provide additional detail and relevance to your ad, for example, you can promote offers, free next day delivery, 24-hour customer service, instant quotes etc.
This is a great extension for showcasing attributes that make you stand out from competitors.
Message Extensions – These will prompt potential customers to reach out to you via text message, rather than a phone call.
Believe it or not, phone anxiety is a real condition that many suffer from which can subsequently impacts call only methods of contact. Giving your prospect multiple ways of contacting you is very worthwhile thing to do.
Affiliate Location Extensions – Most useful for larger companies who sell products nationwide. This helps potential customers find the nearest location to buy their products from.
App Extensions – These allow you to add a mobile app download button next to your search ad. It attaches your icon and call to action button below your Ad text.
Price Extensions – I really like these price extensions, especially when you want to pre-qualify in your Ad copy.
If you sell at a higher price point than others in the market, you want to repel the price sensitive shoppers, therefore avoiding a wasted click. This can of course be used the other way around too i.e. highlighting a low price point.
Promotion Extensions – These advertise coupons, sale offerings and hot deals, they are usually used alongside a tag icon, which helps your ad take up more real estate and stand out against competitors.
Ad Extensions can be created at Campaign or Ad Group level. Don’t be lazy here, if the search intent is quite different between certain Ad Groups in a Campaign, set them at Ad Group level.
To create or edit your Ad Extensions, select the Campaign and Ad Group you wish to go into, then select ‘Ads & Extensions’ from the sub menu. Then the ‘Extensions’ tab at the very top of the page and voila!
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