Kyle Sulerud - October 24, 2019It takes quite a while to figure out what Ad Extensions are, what they do, and which ones you should be using. In this article, I will give you a run-down to help you better understand Ad Extensions to maximize your ads on Google.
An Ad Extension is an addition to the main part of your ad. The main parts of the ad are the headline, the description, and the website address. You add the Ad Extension in a separate spot.
There’s a tab called “Ad and Extensions”. On the “Ad” part is where you add the main part of your ad, and the extensions on the “Extensions” part.
There are many kinds of Ad Extensions. Google has added and taken away some over time. I’m sure that they will keep making some more changes, while some are probably here to stay. For the most part, the ones available now are most likely to stay– they’ve been around for a while and they serve a very good purpose.
Keep in mind that, when your ad shows up in Google, it’s likely not going to include every extension that you’ve added. There’s just not enough room to show all of the extensions. In this case, Google will pick or choose which extensions to show for certain people. Because of this fact, my strategy is to just use a few of the extension types rather than add all of the extensions and just let Google decide which ones to show. I’d rather add the best extensions for whatever I am advertising because I want to get the “messaging” across in the way that I want.
Types of Ad Extensions:
1) Call Extension
The Call Extension displays your phone number next to your ad. This is a very important and powerful extension to use if you’re trying to drive people to make phone calls to your business. You usually will not get a lot of phone calls directly for your ad compared to people calling from your website. Most people want to learn more from your website before actually calling. However, there are also potential customers who will want a solution ASAP and call right away, so having that call extension in the ad gives them that opportunity.
2) Location Extension.
This shows the address of the business in your ad. This comes from your Google My Business account which is linked to your Google Ads account.
Imagine there was someone who needs a dentist nearby. Your address will help them figure out if they can easily take advantage of your offer, if they are nearby or if the location is somewhere strategic for them.
3) Affiliate Location Extension
This is good for national brands that are selling products in local stores. This extension allows them to put addresses and market their availability in local stores through a broadly-targeted national type of campaign.
4) Site Link Extension
This is where you put an extra link in the ad. You can add Site Link Extensions if there are other sections of your website or a shortcut to a specific page people might be interested in (rather than the page that you’re sending them to on the main link). These are going to be shown at the bottom of the ad, and if people click on them, it will take them to specific pages. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the main landing page that you’re using in your headline.
Site link extensions are very powerful for several reasons:
- They are very prominent in the ad
- They stand out just like headlines
- You can fit a lot more information into site links
- You can say whatever you want, it doesn’t have to be a dry title of a page
- You can actually talk about the features and benefits of what you’re selling
- Most people are not going to click on a site link, but they can read it
Keep these things in mind when you’re writing titles for your site link extensions.
5) Callout Extension
This is similar to Site Link Extensions except that these don’t actually link anywhere. They are just an opportunity to have additional key points to your ad, and simply run from the descriptions. These are not bulleted points. They just show up listed after your ad description.
I like using Callout Extensions as I have had more success using this compared to other types of extension. It’s a very good way to get your message across in many ways.
6) Structured Snippet extensions
This extension gives you an opportunity to list some components of your product or service.
For example, you have a store that carries different brands of products, you can list those brands. Or if you have a construction company that offers different types of services, you can list those services.
I usually do not use Structured Snippet Extensions because Callout Extensions and Site Link Extensions are more effective. Just having a list is not as effective as mentioning features and benefits of products and services.
7) Price Extensions
This can be used if you want to highlight the price of a particular product or service. These are similar to Site Link Extensions because they will link to specific pages on your site. You can use Price Extensions if you are offering different types of products or services and you want to list each of them along with a brief description and price, and link them to a page on your website.
I haven’t seen both Price Extensions and Site Link extensions at the same time in Google Ads. Google will decide which extension to show between these two. This is why I make the decision early on and choose Site Link Extensions right from the start.
8) Promotion Extensions
This is a really cool extension and I like to use it whenever possible. This enables you to highlight a particular promotion (e.g. get 20% off, a freebie, or $100.00 off the price of something). This is very useful during the holidays such as Black Friday or Christmas.
When you set up these Promotion Extensions, you can actually select the particular event, which gives it a lot of relevance to the user. It does stand out because the holiday and the promotion is going to be BOLD in the ad. There’s also going to be a price tag icon that appears next to the promotion, so it really stands out.
9) App Extensions
If you have a downloadable app from iTunes or Google Play Store, then you can link that app to your ad, so people can download your app.
There you have it. Nine types of Ad Extensions, and which ones I prefer to use to boost business. Use your learnings today to see which type of extensions work best for you!