Adding extensions onto your ads within Google Ads is a great way to optimize your campaigns and boost the performance of your ads. However, knowing where to start and which extension to use can be confusing!
The Different Google Ad Extensions
- Location extensions
- Affiliate location extensions
- Callout extensions
- Call extensions
- Sitelink extensions
- Structured snippet extensions
- Price extensions
- App extensions
About Google Ad Extensions
Ad extensions expand your ad to show additional information and give prospective customers more of a reason to click on your ad. Ad extensions will typically increase your CTR (click through rate) by several percentage points. There are a wide variety of extensions to choose from to fit your various campaign goals and ad types. Ad extensions are free to use so it’s recommended to add as many ad extensions that are relevant to your campaign goal as possible.
How do Google Ad Extensions Work?
Google Ads selects which ad extensions to show based on each individual search on Google in order to maximize your conversions, which is why it is a good idea to include as many ad extensions that are relevant to your campaign goal as you can. Ad extensions make your ad larger, giving it more visibility and drawing more attention to it on the page. This means more people will look at your ad and ultimately click on your ad, giving your ad more value.
Extensions can also give prospective customers more information on your company, such as listing multiple location sites or multiple means of contact directly on the ad without them having to perform an additional search or look through your website for that information.
When do Google Ad Extensions Show?
Just because an ad has extensions on it doesn’t mean those extensions will show every time your ad is shown to a prospective customer. Google will show your ad when it is predicted to improve the performance of your ad and when your ad’s position and ad rank are high enough for extensions to show.
Screen size can also affect when extensions are shown. Extensions are much more likely to be shown on a computer screen where there is room for ad extensions to be read than on a cell phone where the ad space is more limited.
Location Extensions
Location extensions are a must for businesses with physical locations. A location extension will show your location, a call button, and a link to your business details page which usually includes hours of operation and additional contact info, as well as any other store locations you may have.
Location extensions are incredibly helpful for people trying to find your business and can show as either a map to your location, an address they can click on for more directions, or a distance showing how far away they are from the business. On mobile devices a distance and city will usually be shown, on a desktop an address and a map will most likely be shown. All location extensions will have a call button and a link to your website for additional information.
If you have multiple business locations but would like your customers to call a central line rather than the number for the individual location you can use a call extension in addition to your location extension to set that up.
Affiliate Location Extensions
Affiliate location extensions are extremely helpful if you have a product that is sold in stores, but not an actual storefront yourself. Affiliate location extensions helps people find retail chain stores that your product can be found in. For example, you may own a small business and not have your own storefront but instead sell your products online and in big box stores such as Walmart or Target. An affiliate location extension is perfect for that, helping your customers find more locations to purchase your products.
Affiliate location extensions can also help you attract new customers. If someone is searching for a product and your ad comes up, having an affiliate location extension showing the nearest retail location selling your product with a direct link for a map and directions to the store where they can buy your product is very likely to draw in more customers. Affiliate location extensions make it easy for your customers to find your products, allowing them to head straight to the nearest retail store and pick it off a shelf.
Callout Extensions
Callout extensions are little snippets of text that encourage prospective customers to make a purchase. Phrases like “24/7 Customer Support”, “Free Shipping”, or “30 Day Money Back Guarantee” can excite potential customers and convince them to click on your ad based on the incentive given in your callout extension. Perks like free shipping, a discount on your first order, easy customizations, or a 24/7 support team are huge selling points that can make the difference between a customer buying your product instead of someone else’s.
Callout extensions highlight your business offerings, promoting whatever makes your business popular or unique in comparison to the competition. Using just a few words or a short phrase you can tell your customers what you’re offering. Callout extensions are also very flexible and easy to use. They can be added at the account, campaign, or ad group level and you can specify days or times that you want your callout extensions to show.
Call Extensions
Call extensions let you add phone numbers to your ads and have been shown to significantly increase click through rates. Instead of going to your website, finding your contact page, and then typing out the phone number listed, call extensions give your prospective customers a direct call button. Let’s say you own a local pizza shop, when tourists search for pizza in Google your ad will pop up with a button to call your store directly as well as the website link for any additional information the tourists may want to look at. You can also set up business hours so people know between what times someone will be answering the phone.
Call extensions will not show on every impression. Google’s algorithm calculates when it is appropriate to show the call extension and when it is not. Preference is often given to mobile devices and is more likely to show during business hours. Every call you get from your call extension counts as a click on your ad. It is also important to note that call extensions can only run on search campaigns and on display campaigns with some restrictions.
Sitelink Extensions
Sitelink extensions allow you to add more links to your ad. This allows prospective clients to go to different landing pages on your site. For example, let’s say you own an online makeup business and your ads take prospective customers to your home page so that they can get a good view of all of the products you offer. With sitelink extensions you can add on landing pages for specific categories of makeup such as eye makeup or lipstick that you prospective customers can then click on for a more precise and personalized shopping experience. This not only saves the customer time by taking them directly to the page they want to look at, it also increased the likelihood of said customer staying on your page and purchasing an item because they were taken exactly where they wanted to go.
Sitelink extensions can show on search and video campaigns, the format of the way that they are shown depends on the number of sitelinks included and the device being searched on. Sitelink extensions will appear differently on a desktop ad than they will on a mobile ad. Regardless of where your ad is being shown, you have to add at least two sitelink extensions to an ad for them to show up.
Structured Snippet Extensions
Structured snippet extensions highlight specific aspects of your products or services to give people an additional reason to click on your ad. Structured snippets always show in the form of a header and a list of values. For example, your structured snippet ad could be a list of amenities you offer at your local bed and breakfast: “Amenities: Complementary breakfast, WiFi, Cable TV”. On a desktop device up to two headers can be shown but on mobile devices only one can show. Google will automatically select the best header(s) algorithmically for each individual search so it’s best to add as many headers as possible that are relevant to your business. An important thing to note with structured snippet extensions is that you must choose from a predefined list of headers. Here is a list of available headers that you can use in your ads:
- Amenities
- Brands
- Courses
- Degree programs
- Destinations
- Featured hotels
- Insurance coverage
- Models
- Neighborhoods
- Service catalog
- Shows
- Styles
- Types
It’s important to make sure your header and your descriptions match. If your extension isn’t performing well it is most likely due to mismatched categories. For example, Hawaii is a destination, WiFi is an amenity, and downtown is a neighborhood. Values under the style header should be fairly specific such as sneakers and high heels, whereas values under the types header can be much more broad like sneakers and cabinet fixtures. It’s recommended you add at least 4 values under each header.
Price Extensions
Price extensions can add more value to your ad by showing people a more extensive list of your products and services and the prices for those items. Prospective customers can then click directly on whichever product or service interests them the most and be taken directly to a specific page on your website. You can show up to eight cards for people to view your various options and prices. For example, if you own a hair salon you could create a price extension listing the prices for “Haircut”, “Hair Color”, “Cut and Color”, etc.
Price extensions are great to help surface your offerings, showing prospective customers exactly what you’re offering and for how much. You can also add in shortcuts to increase conversions, sending people directly to the product or service that they click on within your price extension.
App Extensions
App extensions allow you to link your mobile or tablet app from your text ad. People can then either click on your ad and go to your site or click on your extensions and go to the app store where they can download your app. You can also create extensions for both Google Play and the Apple App Store and Google Ads will then show the right extension to prospective customers based on whether they have an android or iOS device. Keep in mind that unlike other ad extensions only one app extension can be shown at a time on your ads.
How to Choose Your Ad Extensions Based on Your Goals
Goal: Get Customers to Buy From Your Business Location
- Location extensions
- Affiliate location extensions
- Callout extensions
Goal: Get Customers to Contact You
- Call extensions
Goal: Get Customers to Buy From Your Website
- Sitelink extensions
- Callout extensions
- Structured snippet extensions
- Price extensions
Goal: Get People to Download Your App
- App extensions
Commonly Asked Questions:
How many extensions should I set up?
Because ad extensions are free to use it is recommended to set up as many as possible, within reason. If your goal is to get customers to visit your physical store location adding an app extension makes no sense. However, adding location extensions, callout extensions, call extensions, affiliate location extensions, or even a sitelink extension would make sense and would help boost your business.
Can ad extensions hurt my ads?
Even when done poorly ad extensions are not likely to significantly harm your ad’s performance. If you don’t feel confident in your extension or don’t feel like it is benefitting your business, you can always remove it. However, because of Google’s algorithm to only show ad extensions when it is believed to be beneficial to your ads, it is unlikely that any extension would harm your ads or decrease traffic to your website.
