Ad Extensions: What are they?

Ad extensions are the best way to enhance paid results on Google, and can be powerful tools for including increasing CTR and boosting conversion rates, if implemented correctly.

Essentially, they allow you to show addition information on your Google AdWords ads, and according to Google, using ad extensions can increase CTR by 30% on average (yet only a small minority use ad extensions to their full potential)! Google also include ad extensions into their quality score algorithm, so missing out on the quality score and CTR boosting benefits of ad extensions can put you at a disadvantage.

Ad extensions can be added by selecting the ‘Ad extensions’ tab (shown below) within your AdWords account, and from the dropdown you can select which ad extension you wish to add, which can either be added across the entire account, specific campaigns or specific ad groups.

As we’ve already mentioned, using ad extensions allows you to show various extra bits of information along with your ad, for example:

• Links to additional pages within your site
• Descriptive text to help people find out more about what you have to offer
• List a click-to-call phone number
• Display an address and map with your business location(s)

We’ll have a look at a few different types of ad extensions and discuss what they are and potential advantages:

#1 Sitelink Extensions:

Sitelink extensions are a feature in AdWords that offers you between 2 – 4 additional links to pages beyond the destination landing page in your ad (example shown below).

Aside from allowing you to take up more space on Google (and attract people to your ad), with sitelink extensions you can directly link people to a greater number of pages on your site from within the same ad – which can help increase your conversion rate and CTR, which in turn lead to a quality score increase!

Sitelinks work best when you consider other pages that are important to your customers, so think about what else may be helpful to a customer when making a certain search. E.g., if you wanted to have your ad link to your main landing page, a sitelink could link to your contact page so users wanting to contact you could get to that page quickly.

Note: AdWords sitelinks need to lead to a different page other than your destination URL. If you are sending visitors to your homepage, then your sitelinks cannot also lead to your homepage.

#2 Callout Extensions:

Callout extensions are relatively like sitelink extensions – sitelinks allow you to direct users to different landing pages to help them find what they are looking for faster.

Callout extensions, however let you ‘call out’ what matters most to your customers. For example, if you offer free delivery or 5 year warranty or have 25 year experience you would want to call out these propositions to communicate value without actually taking up any ad-copy space.

#3 Location Extensions:

Location ad extensions allow you to add location relation information to your paid ads to help people nearby find you. This type of ad extension is especially important for local businesses.

The location extension provides users with:

1) Your business phone number
2) Physical address
3) Directions.

It makes it easier for people to find where you’re located without needing to click through to your site, and there is no need to worry if your business has multiple locations, you can have all of them in your account! Google will see which location is closest to users when they see your ad and they’ll show that address.

Note: Taking the data from your Google My Business is the easiest way to set this up – you will be prompted to do this once you click ‘+ Extension’ when you’ve selected location extensions.

#4 Call Extensions:

Call extensions allow you to incorporate your phone number into your ads, without taking up any room in your ad copy. By using call extensions, you make it easier for someone to reach your business – leads and customers can instantly call you by clicking a phone number. And as it’s another way for users to engage in your ads, it can help increase your CTR.

Call extensions are extremely useful for any campaign, but are mostly valuable for local campaigns and campaigns where mobile impressions are expected, and you can count calls as conversions within AdWords.

 

If you haven’t implemented any ad extensions in any of your own campaigns, have a think about implementing some of the extensions mentioned above, and keep an eye out for our next blog posts where we’ll talk about other types of ad extensions!