Ad Extensions Tutorial

What are Ad Extensions?

Ad extensions are the supplementary information that is appended at the end of the ad to influence users to choose your business. As they provide relevant useful information complementing the ad info, it dramatically boosts CTR of the ad. It may not show up all the time your ads show up. Google only shows ad extensions to users when it is relevant to the search query and the context.

Based on the user data and interactions with the ad, Google keeps adding new extensions. Here is the list of available ad extensions at the moment. We will cover each of them briefly in this post.

1. Sitelink Extensions
2. Callout Extensions
3. Structured Snippet
4. Call Extensions
5. Message Extensions
6. Location Extensions
7. Affiliate Extensions
8. Price Extensions
9. App Extensions
10. Promotion Extensions

Why Should You Use Ad Extensions

There are a lot of benefits of using Ad extensions for search ads. Here are some reasons why you need to consider this:

Improves CTR: As ad extensions provide pertinent information that the user is looking for, there is a high probability that the user will click the ad.

Lowers CPC: As the quality of the ad increases, Google incentivizes the advertisers by reducing the cost per click. This helps optimize your cost and thereby providing better performance.

Better Visibility: You have the opportunity to stand out in front of the users by using ad extensions. The more exhaustive relevant info you provide, the users will make a clear choice to read your ad copy.

Higher Ad Rank: With better visibility and high CTR, advertisers can achieve a higher ad rank which contributes to the campaign success.

Multiple Extensions for One Ad: As mentioned above, Google does not show the ad extensions all the time. The ad extensions appear only at the relevant instances. This means you can add multiple ad extensions that provide a chance to add additional information.

Reusability: As Ad extensions can be created at an account level, campaign level, and ad group level they can be reused with different campaigns.

It is recommended to use ad extensions for all your search ads. Now let us go through all the available ad extensions one by one.

Sitelink Extensions

Advertisers can add links to other relevant pages apart from the landing page using sitelink extensions. For an eCommerce business, it is good to add complementary products or product variants. Here is how a site link extension would look with the ad:

Sitelinks can be set at an ad group level, campaign level, or account level. You can set up multiple ad extensions. All you need to do is add 2 descriptions so that Google can test and add the relevant URLs. This is how the interface looks.

Let us consider that you have an ad created for shoes and you would like to add different kinds of shoes available in your store. This is what you would do and the ad with a sitelink extension would look like the one below:

Callout Extensions

These are the additional pieces of information that you add to complement your ad. It could be the USP of the product or a special message/services that you offer to your customers. For example, if you had 20 years of expertise in selling tables, you could use callout extensions to put it in front of the customers. Here is a callout extension created for gym offering and highlighting below points:

Call Extension

This extensively works well with mobile. The potential customers could directly call you to ask about your business services, make reservations, or ask about the rates. You could also track the call details like click on call, call connection, call duration, etc. In order to get this data, the call reporting must be on. Google forwards all the call to a Google assigned phone number and you pay for the call. This is very helpful for hotels or restaurants.

It is recommended to test mobile only first to see how it performs. You can also set up device preferences and business hours. This helps to ensure that there is always someone to answer the phone when the potential customer calls. Here is an example of a call extension for a restaurant.

Message Extension

Using message extensions, the potential customers can send a text message to the advertisers. This can either be forward to the phone as a text message or to an email.

For example, Brandon hotels have message extensions like below. You could schedule the ad extensions using advanced options just like call extensions to ensure the best response rate and services to your users.

Users also have a default response which they can edit before sending. The phone number/email address is visible on the interface.

Structured Snippet Extension

Specific information about the product or services offered can be mentioned using structured snippet extensions. For example, hotels can add amenities like free parking, 24×7 reception, free drinking water, etc using structured snippets. ECommerce brands can add their product types using structured snippet. The ads can be scheduled using advanced options. You could choose a category using “Select Header Options”. Here is the interface for men’s bags campaign:

App Extension

Advertisers can promote their app using app extension. This works well with mobile due to the connected user journey and one-click action. All you need to do is select your app on iOS or Android and also add app only promos like below: There is also an option to exclude tablet devices. It is pretty simple and straightforward to add app extensions.

Location Extension

Advertisers can use location extensions to display specific store location so that the nearby customers can find them easily. However, you need Google my Business account to use this extension. The address would show up as an ad extension.

Price Extensions

You can add price information about your product and services using price extensions. This works best if the prices are fixed as the user expects the price to match the landing page.

Multiple price extensions packs can be added like below. You can choose the units, insert cost, and a header. It is recommended to add a separate dedicated landing page URL for each price unit.

Affiliate Location Extensions

Advertisers can promote their affiliate products i.e, their products sold in different department stores using affiliate extensions. These are not available globally and does not cover the entire market. This would help the nearby users to discover and purchase your product. Here is an example of pharmacy:

Promotion Extension

This ad extension is aggressively used by retailers/e-commerce brands for their promotional purposes. Google Ad extensions provide multiple options to control the campaign. You can choose the event or a type of sale and currency. Following this, % or absolute numbers can be shown to the users. The advertisers can display promotional details like promo code or order cost limit. As promotions are limited time only, you can schedule the extensions using start and end dates.