When you run ads on Google Search, you obviously want them to be seen. The more visibility, the better.
Since meaningful titles and texts alone are often not enough to make your ads more eye-catching and visible, you should add extensions to them.
Ad extensions affect the size of your ads, which has a positive impact on their visibility. In addition, they provide additional information to the users and enable them to take certain actions. Overall, they contribute to the quality of the ad, which has a positive effect on the ad rank. Therefore, if your goal is to place your ads above the organic search results, you should definitely use extensions.
Types of Google Ads Extensions
Since there are many different types of ad extensions, the following section will give you a brief overview of their function.
Manual extensions
In the following section we present the ad extensions that you can set up yourself.
Sitelink Extension
You can use this extension to supplement your ad with additional links that appear below the text of your ad. This allows you to link to different subpages of a website and to draw attention to different product categories or seasonal offers. An online shop for fashion can use sitelinks to link to women’s, men’s and children’s fashion or to draw attention to a sale.
You can add additional titles and descriptions to each sitelink. However, these are limited to less characters than in the actual display. Titles can be a maximum of 25 characters and descriptions a maximum of 35 characters.
Extensions with additional information
This extension allows you to add certain additional information to your ad. These can be up to 25 characters long and appear below your ad text.
Here, you can go into the specifics of your company, product or service. For example, you can use “Free Shipping” or “Sustainable Materials”.
Use this extension to increase the user’s interest with attractive benefits or offers.
Snippet Extension
This extension appears below your ad and consists of a header and a list of values. It gives you the opportunity to examine certain aspects of your product or service in more detail.
You can choose from the following headers:
- Amenities
- Brands
- Courses
- Degree programs
- Destinations
- Featured hotels
- Insurance coverage
- Models
- Neighborhoods
- Service catalog
- Shows
- Styles
- Types
Since these headers are provided by Google, they might not necessarily fit every business. However, the “Types” title is quite versatile and easy to use.
Location extension
If you want to help people find your business more easily, you can add the location extension to your ad. You can integrate your address, the exact location on a map or the distance from the user to the ad location. This is especially useful if you run a local business and want to show users your nearest branch. It is also possible to enter further information, such as opening hours or a telephone number.
When users click on the address, they are redirected to Google Maps, where they get the shortest route to your business.
If users are close to you, location extensions can also be shown in the display and the search network, which leads to a higher reach.
Affiliate location extension
With this extension, you can show users shops or branches near them that stock your products. If they search for one of your products, they will be shown the places in their area where they can find the product.
However, this type of extension is only available for car dealers and retailers.
Call extension
The call extension helps you generate more clicks if you want to get more interaction with your ad. You can add the call button to your display, which can be clicked on by users on their mobile phones and called directly.
In order for you not to be called outside of opening hours, you can set the phone number to only be displayed when your shop is open.
It is important that you can track calls as individual conversions and thus carry out evaluations. You should note that clicking on the call extension costs the same as clicking on the actual ad.
Price extension
Price extensions give you the option to display up to eight products below your text ad, including the current price.
In addition to the product price, you must enter the URL and a title, as well as a description of max. 25 characters each.
Please note that the display varies depending on the device.
The products are displayed on mobile devices as cards that can be swiped. On desktop devices, a product appears in text below the ad. For the other devices, you have to click on the tab “More”.
Offer extension
Offer extensions allow you to highlight current promotions and offers right below your existing ads. Simply select the appropriate occasion, such as “Christmas”, “Cyber Monday” or simply “Offer” from a given list. It will appear in bold. After that, you can describe your offer in a short text. This is where you specify the discount, either as an amount or a percentage.
You can also enter an offer URL that directs users to the offer page by clicking on the offer extension.
App extension
If you have an app that you want to draw attention to in your ads, then the app extension is right for you.
This extension displays a button with your app’s logo under the ad. Users who click on the app extension are redirected to the App Store or Google Play Store, where they land on the app’s page. You can download the app directly from there.
Lead Form extension
With the help of the lead form extension, you can place a form within your ad. This allows you to collect information about users directly from your ad and thus generate leads.
The form can be customized so that you receive only the information you want.
The leads from the last 30 days can either be downloaded as a CSV file or transferred directly to your CRM system.
Image extension
To make your ads even more attractive, you can add relevant images and product photos to them.
The images should have an aspect ratio of 1:1 or 1.91:1 and be high-resolution.
You can upload up to 20 images. These are displayed next to your ad in landscape or portrait format.
Small note: at the moment, the image extensions are mostly displayed on mobile devices.
Automated extension
These extensions are automatically created by Google in case they match your ad and are likely to increase CTR.
The automated extensions work exactly like the manual ones and can therefore be used for the same goals.
Google obtains the information for creating the automated extensions directly from the ad URL.
The following extensions are available to you as automated ad extensions:
- Dynamic sitelink extensions
- Dynamic extensions with additional information
- Dynamic snippet extensions
- Automated location extensions
- Affiliate location extensions
An exception is the seller ratings extension. This is only available as an automated seller rating.
Seller rating extension
If your company has many good ratings, you can display them in your ad and thus set yourself apart from the competition.
Google must have recorded at least 100 reviews with an average rating of 3.5 (out of 5). The reviews come from reputable sources from Google and its partners and are placed below your ad as an overall rating with number and stars between 1 and 5.
If the overall rating is below 3.5, Google will not provide this ad extension.
Setup: Ad Extensions
Before you start setting up the extensions, we would like to point out that your extensions are not necessarily played out. Google evaluates the combination of your ad and extensions chosen. If your ad performance and rank are good enough, it will play the most promising ad and extension combination.
You can add extensions in Google Ads Editor, or directly on Google Ads. Here you can either use extensions you already have for your ads, or you can create completely new ones.
In the following, we assume that the setup is carried out online, i.e., in the classic Google Ads interface. You can also use the editor, which significantly speeds up the processing of many ads.
If you now want to create a new extension, you must first click on “Ads and Extensions” and then on “Extensions”. Click the blue button with the plus symbol. You will now see a tab with all the extensions that can be added to your ad. Select the extension you want to create and choose whether to add it to the account, campaign, or ad group level.
Depending on the extension, you now have to enter a title and a short description. Remember to enter the URL relevant to the extension.
If you have saved your extensions at account level, you can use them in different campaigns by clicking on “Use existing”. This way you do not have to create them every time.
If you want to enable or disable automatic extensions, under “Extensions” instead of the button with the plus, go to “Automatic Extensions” at the bottom of the page. Now go to “More” (3 dots) in the top right corner and then to “Advanced settings”. There you have the possibility to manage the automatic extensions.
If you want to check how your extensions are performing, go to “Extensions” and then “Table” in the top right corner. Here you can see the clicks, impressions and costs of the respective extension. If you want to break this down even further, click “Segment” in the top right, then select “Click Type.”
Conclusion – Google Ads extensions
Ad extensions are a good way to make your ads more visible. They provide additional information to your ad ensuring that users perceive it as more attractive. They usually increase click rate and bring more users to your website.
If you need help setting up your Google Ads campaigns and extensions, you should contact us for a free initial consultation.