The Basics of Biddable: Exploring the Ad Extensions Tab

I am sure most of you are aware of the ad extensions tab in Google AdWords, but how many of you have taken full advantage of those available?

Each ad extension provides a different benefit to an advertiser, which answers a different need; that need could be more detailed information, a location or a method of contact. There are currently seven different ad extensions available, including:

  • Sitelinks
  • Locations
  • Calls
  • Apps
  • Reviews
  • Callouts
  • Structured snippets

In this blog post we explore the different ad extensions available in the AdWords interface and the benefit of using each extension. 

Sitelink extensions

Sitelink ad extensions are deep links to specific pages of your website, and are displayed under your ad text within SERPs. There can be up to six sitelinks beneath your ad when displayed on desktop or tablet and four on mobile. For example:

Fat Face has four sitelinks. Each sitelink has a headline and two descriptive lines of text. Unlike standard ad text they don’t have a display URL. 

Benefits of sitelinks

  • Ease of use for the audieBenefits of sitelinksnce because the audience can easily click through to the page they want to view
  • Easy to change and amend
  • Can focus on the specific page that users require to find the product or service
  • You can link directly to high converting sections of the site

It’s important to note that your ad and your sitelinks must all have a different final URL; any duplication of final URLS will result in all of the associated sitelink being disapproved.

Sitelinks are easy to amend or change entirely; this makes it straightforward to keep up-to-date with any promotions or sales.

Sitelinks have detailed reports including a breakdown of statistics either by ad, ad group or campaign. The statistics can be segmented by the number of clicks that an individual sitelink received compared to another part of the ad.

Sitelinks can be scheduled so that they appear at specific times, days or dates, showing the most suitable sitelinks at the most appropriate times to reach your intended audience. The cost of a sitelink is no different to a standard click on your ad. Advertisers will only be charged when a user clicks on or within their ad.

Sitelinks are useful for clients who want to drive traffic to other important pages of their site. For example, if the ad applies to both men and women, it might be beneficial to the client to add sitelinks specifically to the men’s section and a separate link to the women’s section of the site. This allows the user to land on a page where they are more likely to find what they are looking for.

Location extensions

Location extensions display your business’ contact details and a map marking where the business is located. Location extensions allow you to specify a region around where your business is located to show your ads to people that are within the relevant catchment area.

Benefits of location extensions

  • Provide the user with the location of the business
  • Specifically serve ads to users within the area

A useful feature is bidding by location. You can set different bids for customers in different locations, based on what you know about their relative propensity to convert. This can help with the best and most effective allocation of budget.

Call extensions

Call extensions provide a phone number alongside standard text ads. In order to implement call extensions, certain requirements have to be met. The number must:

  • Be for the business being advertised and a local number for the country that you are targeting
  • Not be a premium number that people have to pay additional costs to call
  • Have a voicemail so that the user can always make contact with the business
  • Be an accurate phone number, ensuring the extension is correct, active and relevant

Benefits of call extensions

  • Improves user experience on mobile
  • Enables users to call directly from the ad in the search results
  • Prevents the user having to navigate the site for a contact number

Call extensions are useful for businesses that want to get the phones ringing. Ensuring that the phone is always available to your customers is important. It is beneficial to schedule your call extensions to show only when the business is within trading hours.

App extensions

App extensions allow advertisers to link to their app from their ad, providing access to both the website and app all in one ad. There is no additional cost for using app extensions – they cost the same as a standard click on your ad.

Benefits of app extensions

  • Download app directly
  • Drive more traffic to your app
  • Gives the user an option to where they want to view the content
  • Gain different or additional content through the app
  • Users can return to the app at a later date to further browse the products or services

Having an app extension is a great way to drive traffic to your apps and optimise for mobile. Only one app extension can be displayed per ad, so if you have multiple apps ensure that they are linked to separate ads. You are able to schedule app extensions to reflect the conversion pattern of your targeted audience. For example, during evening hours when users are at home connected to Wi-Fi they might be more likely to download your app.

Review extensions

Review extensions show the reviews of your business below your ad, which gives information on the value of your products and services online. These extensions let customers know what other people think of your business and whether you are reputable and respected.

Benefits of review extensions

  • Reinforce customer confidence in your business
  • Gain trust from prospects

Review extensions can be taken from exact quotes which require a link to the source that the review came from. Reviews won’t necessarily show every time the ad is served, due to factors such as:

  • Available space on the search results page
  • Other extensions or information
  • Ad relevance and your bid

To ensure relevancy to all of your ads, the review itself should be about the business as a whole and not about individual products or services that you provide. Review extensions are only eligible to appear on the search network and can be used across multiple campaigns and ad groups within the account.

In order to prevent your review extensions from being disapproved you should ensure that:

  • Is not over a year old as this would make it outdated
  • The review you submit should be from a publication or organisation and not an individual personal review
  • Each review must be taken from its original source and shouldn’t contain the business name if it is already repeated in the ad copy

Callout extensions

Callout extensions provide added detail about your business, giving you the opportunity to add more information about the products and services that you provide. When callouts have been added they can appear at the top or bottom of Google search results.

Benefits of callouts

  • Draw attention to key aspects of product or service you provide
  • Differentiates you from your competitors

In order for your ad to be eligible to show callout extensions, there needs to be a minimum of two callouts created per account, campaign or ad group. Google recommends four callouts are submitted per level (account, campaign or ad group) of your account to ensure that there are multiple callouts that could potentially show with your ad. The length and order of your callouts will impact how many of them will appear, if any.

Structured snippet extensions

Structured snippets are a more recent extension available in Google AdWords. These snippets allow advertisers to highlight styles, brands, types, destinations and more, as seen in the image below.

Benefits of structured snippets

  • Highlights the different options the business provides
  • Potentially shows something that your competitors aren’t showing and therefore the user finds what they require in your snippet which causes them to click through

Once a header has been selected, you are able to enter up to 10 values. The values you list could be different styles or types of the product/service that you have available, directly giving the user extra information. This could potentially prevent wasted clicks as the user will be aware of what you have available to them.

Structured snippets can be scheduled to start and end on specific dates and there is the option for it to be opted into the showing on a mobile device. Your structured snippets can be implemented at account, campaign or ad group level. Each snippet can be applied to more than one ad group or campaign within the account.

Why Fresh Egg uses ad extensions

Ad extensions play a valuable part in advertising and provide small but significant snippets of information that could be just what made that prospect click on your ad. Ensuring that you are using the relevant ad extensions to achieve your goals is essential and will help to differentiate you from your competitors.

Do you need more information about AdWords extensions or Paid Advertising? Contact us today.