If Google Ads is part of you marketing strategyyou may have been looking for ways to improve performance.
Not only do you want more clicks, but you want more high-quality clicks from the types of users who take action after visiting your landing page.
But this is easier said than done.You could spend countless hours tweaking each ad Small differences in A/B testing in copy and struct – or you can take advantage of Google Ads Extensions.
You may be familiar with the Google Ads extension; you may have get to know them Or you’re even already using them.
But you might not realize that Google adds more types almost every year.
This guide will help you understand each type of ad extension so you can optimize them for peak performance and get more for your PPC buck.
Google Ads extension basics
Let’s start from scratch.
What are Google Ads extensions?
You may have guessed the answer to this question: Google Ads extensions expand your ads, take up more space on the search engine results page (SERP) and help searchers make decisions.
Why use them?
There are two main benefits of ubiquitous ad extensions that almost every advertiser can benefit from:
1. They allow you to provide additional information: Larger ad text can give you a stronger reason for why your target should click on your ad.
2. They increase your visibility on the SERPs: The larger the size of the expanded ad, the greater the impact.
With these two factors alone, ad extensions can significantly improve your click-through rate (CTR)—perhaps by a few percentage points. That doesn’t even take into account their other benefits, which include:
- Improved lead quality: By providing more information, expanded ads allow low-quality leads to disqualify themselves, thereby reducing irrelevant clicks. People who click through to your landing page are more likely to take the desired action.
- Better Ad Ranking: Google uses multiple factors Determine your ad position, including expected CTR, relevance, and landing page experience.Just use ad extensions Automatically improve your rankingbecause it allows Google to offer a wider variety of ad formats.
- Make better use of your PPC budget: Because they increase click-through rates, ad extensions can help reduce your cost-per-click (CPC), which in turn means you get more out of your paid ad spend.
Manual and automatic scaling
There are two general extension categories: manual (requires some setup) and automatic extension.
Most of the extensions discussed here are manual, although some of them can also be applied dynamically by Google when they predict they will improve performance.
Note that in February 2022Google announced several changes to automatic extensions, including allowing them to appear alongside manually added extensions like sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets (more on that later).
This allows your ad to get more SERP areas and generate more clicks.
They can also be added at the ad group, campaign or account level and may be included in reports.
14 Google Ads Extensions
Now that we’ve covered the basic categories of extensions, let’s dive deeper into the different types.
1. Location extension
location extensions List your location individually to help people find your location, a map of your location, or distance to that location. These may also include the mobile user’s phone number or call button.
This extension can be applied automatically and is ideal for any business that relies on face-to-face transactions, including restaurants, retail stores, and service providers such as barber or beauty salons.
There are also benefits to major online companies, as a physical address increases your legitimacy in the eyes of your customers.
2. Product expansion
Product extensions allow you to enhance your product listings by linking your Google Merchant account with Google Ads.
This is a useful tool for any campaign in which you sell items related to your target keywords.
Screenshot by author, March 2022Since products are more specific than locations or phone numbers, you want your campaigns to be more granular, especially if you sell multiple products.
3. Sitelink extensions
help direct users to other pages on your site, sitelinks Instead of just visiting your landing page, allow targets to choose where they want to go.
Making it easier for users to find exactly what they’re looking for can significantly increase your CTR.
Screenshot by author, March 2022Common pages used with sitelinks include contact us pagepricing pages, sales pages, and testimonials pages.
E-commerce sites use them to a huge extent in directing customers to specific category pages.
These can be added manually or dynamically as automatic extensions.
4. Seller Ratings Extension
Showcase your business reputation and build trust Seller Ratings Extension.
Google collects ratings from well-known business review sites and aggregates them into a five-star rating.
This extension displays your overall rating along with the total number of reviews. They also sometimes include qualifiers that describe the rating (for example, same-day delivery).
Screenshot by author, March 2022These automatic extensions generally only appear if you have a minimum number of unique reviews and an average rating of 3.5 stars or higher.
5. Callout extension
Multifunctional expansion with various uses, callout extension is a 25-character snippet used to highlight an important selling point, sale, or any other key point about your business, product, or service.
Screenshot by author, March 2022For example, if you want to promote a 25% discount, free shipping, or the 60th anniversary of your business, callout extensions are perfect.
Each campaign allows you to use six of these extensions, and they need to apply to the entire product you’re promoting.
The best callout extensions tend to use numbers and details (i.e. “5 in stock” works better than “limited”.)
These descriptions can also be added automatically as dynamic callouts if your website contains useful information like “book online”.
6. Structured Fragment Expansion
Identified with a colon, structured snippets Useful for highlighting specific products, services, and features that users may be looking for.
responsible for a huge 35.1% of all clicksthey tell searchers who you are and what you offer, improving click quality and helping you stretch your budget further.
Like sitelinks, you can select them manually, or Google can apply them dynamically.
7. Telephone extension
call extension Make it easy for searchers to make calls directly from your ad. They include click-to-call phone numbers in your mobile user ads.
Tracking these conversions allows you to measure the value of your ads by the number of calls they generate.
Screenshot by author, March 2022You can add call extensions manually, or Google can apply them automatically.
8. Affiliate Address Extension
Affiliate address extensions Useful for companies that sell products through third-party retailers.
They help users find nearby stores with your items, helping them decide where and what to buy.
These are often used by manufacturers who work with major retail chains because they don’t specify your own business location.
9. Price expansion
It’s no secret that price is a key factor in nearly every buying decision.
Additional price information Lets you pre-set cost expectations, build transparency and help build trust with searchers.
As a result, users will be more informed and more likely to buy when they visit your website.
Screenshot by author, March 2022These extensions are useful for businesses that have variable pricing, sell service packages, or offer many different products.
10. Application Extensions
From your local pizzeria to a real estate agent, it seems like everyone has a mobile app these days.
By providing a download link in your text ad, App extension Make it easy for interested users to get yours – while allowing you to track downloads based on keywords.
Screenshot by author, March 2022These are only shown to users on mobile devices and direct users to your app in the iTunes or Google Play Store.
11. Promotional Extensions
Get more clicks from people searching for the best deals by using Promotional Additional Information.
Used to highlight sales and promotions, they appear below your ads and use price tag icons or bold deals.
You can also display up to two lines of copy with them to give users more information.
Screenshot by author, March 2022The advantage of these (besides their effectiveness) is that Google is flexible in how you use them.
You can display additional promotions on specific days, days, or even hours, and allow you to use pre-populated event tags, such as Black Friday or late summer.
12. Lead Form Extension (New)
latest Google Ads extension, Lead Form Extension Eliminates the need for users to fill out forms on your login page by allowing them to submit their contact information directly on the SERPs.
Screenshot by author, March 2022If the searcher is using their Google account, they can pre-populate the relevant information and submit with a single click.
This helps drive qualified leads into your marketing funnel and shorten the sales cycle.
13. Video Extensions
Video extensions allow you to display driving action below your video ad on the YouTube mobile app, giving you the opportunity to expand your message beyond the main video and keep viewers engaged.
Screenshot by author, March 202214. Image Extensions
Image extension Help boost performance by letting you complement their text ads with relevant visuals.
Not every advertiser is eligible for these extensions and must meet certain requirements, including compliance history, a Google Ads account in an eligible industry, and a running campaign.
Screenshot by author, March 2022How to Set Up and Create a Google Ads Extension
Now that you’ve learned more about the different types of Google Ads extensions and how they work for you, let’s take a look at how to set them up.
The first thing you need to do is identify your goals and which extensions can make them a reality.
Do you want customers to contact you? Visit your website? Submit their contact information?
Figure out what you want the target to do, then Choose extensions that help with implementation.
From there, it’s a simple process:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Select your campaign or ad group.
- click “Advertising and Extensions” tab, then “Extended.”
- Select the desired extension.
- Customize each type of extension.
- click “save.”
final thoughts
Ad extensions are a great tool if you’re looking for an easy way to increase click-through rates, attract more web visitors, and convert more goals.
With so many types to choose from, there’s an extension for every organization, no matter what industry it’s in.
It’s up to you to decide which method best suits your needs, but one thing’s for sure: when applied correctly, they will help you get more quality leads and make the most of your PPC budget.
More resources:
Featured image: Song_about_summer/Shutterstock
