Everybody uses Google Ads. From solopreneurs, small businesses, start-ups, SMEs to MNCs, every business uses Google Ads to boost conversions. But how can they make their business stand apart from their competitors? While bids play a crucial role in the ad performance, they might not help deliver a long-term performance gain; ask any Google ads consultant! Google rewards ads that provide a good user experience and garner user attention. And you can modify your ad for that without increasing a single cent on your bid.

How?

With Google Ad Extensions.

What are Google Ad Extensions?

Google Ad extensions do exactly what they say. They simply extend your ad. They provide additional information to the main body of your ad’s text. Google Ad extensions enable you to add valuable data about your business below the ad. With the services of a Google ads specialist, you can add the right extensions to your ad that will increase the click-through rate (CTR), improve the user experience, and differentiate your ad from the competitors.

You can provide details about your business, products, or services like prices, locations, offers, etc., and enable your potential customers to take action from the search results directly! While there are several ad extensions to choose from, you must focus on the ones most useful for your business. Google serves the extensions with your ad automatically, according to the context of the user search query.

Then how does the Google Ad extension matter at all? The best Google ads specialists will vouch that the extra bits of information you provide add value for the user and match user signals like intent, location, or device. Still not convinced?

Have a look at the benefits of adding Google Ad Extensions.

What is the Benefits of using Google Ads Extensions

1. They provide more information at a glance

Which ad would you click on a search result page? The one that provides more information compared to others, right? As you know, main ads can display only limited information about your business.

But you can go a step ahead by adding all the relevant information into your google ad extensions. You can keep editing and monitoring them in the long run. You can use the information you had added for any ad group or campaign that could benefit from it. Other than helping you meet your marketing objectives, Google ad extensions are user-friendly as they provide extra information in addition to just the main ad.  

2. They provide improved visibility to your Ads

If you compare an ad with maximum ad extensions to the one without them or the one with fewer extensions, you will notice that the one with the most ad extensions takes up the maximum space on the search engine result page (SERP). Google uses up to 4 ad extensions at any given auction, and if you have manually updated all your extensions, the visibility of your ads is bound to increase.

3. They improve the Ad Quality

Google ads specialists will tell you that Google prefers ads with ad extensions. Ads with extensions enable Google to offer a variety of Ad Formats and more relevant information to the searcher. Therefore, ad extensions improve the quality of your ad and the rank (because of the extra visibility).

4. They enable you to reach qualified leads

There is no doubt that with Google Ad extensions, your ad becomes self-descriptive and explains your offerings in detail. This enables only the very interested, ‘best-fit for your business’ customers to reach out to you. People with different requirements or ‘poor-quality leads’ will likely self-disqualify, saving time on both ends. Your conversion rates will increase considerably with the qualified leads approaching you.

5. They help you save money

By now, you know that ad extensions improve the ad quality, rank, and visibility on the SERP. This improves your Click Through Rates (CTR) and lowers your Cost Per Click (CPC). The lower your CPC, the lower you pay per lead. The lower you spend for a lead, the more money you make for less! 

Now that you know the various benefits of Ad extensions let us look into the different types of Ad extensions you can optimize manually or with the help of a Google Ads specialist.

How many types of extensions are there in Google ads?

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

Out of the above, sitelink, structured snippets, and callout extensions are considered universal extensions because Google recommends every advertiser use these three extensions in their ads. But it is entirely up to you how many extensions you wish to add and which are the most suitable for your business.

Let us look at which ad extensions you must optimize according to your goals.  

Extensions according to Your Goals

Getting customers to visit your store or business location

This goal is most suitable for brick-and-mortar businesses like restaurants, stores, or showrooms. So, if your goal is to make people visit your business and make in-person purchases from you, then use the below-mentioned extensions.

Location Extension

Display your location, a link to your business page, which includes crucial information like your working hours, days, directions to the location, and images of your business. Ensure that your address and contact information is up-to-date. It might be possible that you want certain campaigns or ad groups to run in specific locations. For this, you can use filters when you create the location extensions.

Affiliate Location Extension

An affiliate is an individual or organization authorized to sell your product. With this extension, you can help potential customers find retail chain stores that sell your products. It is helpful because the affiliate location extension enables you to provide options to the customers to avail your services/products. This extension is best suited for manufacturers.

Callout Extension

You can utilize the callout extensions for this goal too. Adding additional text like ‘free delivery’ or ‘mega-sale’ will encourage users to visit your website.

Callout extensions help boost your click-through rate (CTR) because they allow you to add additional text that highlights your products’ most exciting or valuable qualities. A Google ads specialist will recommend adding text such as free shipping, 24-hour customer care, or any other promotional callout.

Here are some tips you can use to optimize callout extensions

• You have only 25 characters. Use them wisely. Avoid long sentences and spaces. Use numbers and specifics to make it compelling
• You can add between 2-6 callouts per ad group, two minimum. Try to use 6 per campaign or group for best results.
• Your callout extensions should offer a broad appeal to the consumers.

Getting customers to contact you

Suppose your goal is to help interested customers reach you instantly by calling or sending a query via message. In that case, you must display your contact number using the below-mentioned extension.

Call Extension

When users click on the ‘call’ button within the call extension, they directly connect with the contact number you provide. If they click on the ad, they will reach your website.

Use these tips to make the best of this extension.

• Get instant inquiries and leads using the extension. You can set specific times and availability to avoid calls during non-business hours. The extensions won’t show up during this time.
• A Google ads specialist will also suggest that you use different contact numbers for different product offerings if they differ hugely in their value.
• To make the best of this feature, it is vital to provide a decent and friendly front desk experience to your customers. The success of your calls will largely depend on that.

Getting customers to convert to your website

To direct people to your website upon seeing your ads, you can utilize the below-mentioned extensions.

Sitelink extension

This extension adds additional links under the main text of your ad. It links other pages of your website so that users can access them easily from the ad itself.

Here are some tips you can use to make the most of the sitelink extension

Google recommends adding at least six sitelink extensions for every ad group or campaign. Providing ten extensions will enhance your ad further as the system will rotate the extensions during each auction.

It is also an excellent strategy to add description lines with the sitelinks.

Add links to pages that perform well and have a great conversion ratio.

Use links only from your website. It would not be wise to add another domain link to the extensions.

Sitelink titles should be clear, relevant, and descriptive of the page’s content. Avoid using ambiguous titles.

Some of the most popular choices for sitelink extensions are the testimonial page, contact us page, pricing/plans page. eCommerce websites can link category pages too.

Structured Snippet Extension

Structured snippets are apt to highlight specific aspects of your product or service. Google ads specialists suggest improving ad performance and fetching more qualified leads using this extension.

Listed below are some tips to optimize this extension

• Highlight the most striking features of your business. It is best used to communicate amenities, types of categories, locations, etc. However, only add information that could be useful to potential customers
•  It would be good to use short snippet lengths (characters less than or equal to 12) for mobile ads.
• Utilize a minimum of 2 and, ideally, 4 snippets per headline.

Price Extensions

Price extensions serve as a showcase of your services and products, as interested users can click the product or service they are interested in and reach your website directly. They help set the users’ expectations and create pricing transparency by mentioning the price upfront.

Price extensions appear as a set of up to 8 cards giving users options to choose from. It would be best to link each product’s landing page individually to each product in the price extension so that users can buy from you easily.

Price extensions are best for businesses that have

• Several SKUs
• Multiple service packages or tiered services
• Variable pricing

Promotion Extension

Use this extension to stand out in the SERP. Mention the best deals, offers, and discounts that your business offers to catch the eye of your potential customers. This extension is perfect for occasion-based ads like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day and relevant product promotions. The text is visible below your ad and will surely catch the users’ attention. You can easily toggle them on and off as per your requirement.

Getting customers to download your application

You can encourage people to download your app from the App Stores using the below-mentioned extension.

App Extensions

It is a long and tiring process to open the play store, search for the relevant app and download it. With the app extension, you can link the app in your text ads itself, enabling users to download it directly.

 However, you need to ensure that your app meets the following requirements

• The app is live in the Google Play Store or the Apple Store
• You have a package name or App ID for your app
• URL of the page in the app store from where users can learn more about your app and install it.

Getting customers to submit their information

Using the lead form extension, you can encourage people to submit their contact information for you to get back to them. 

Lead Form Extension

Still, in the beta phase, this extension allows potential customers to sign up through your ad itself without even visiting your website. It enables you to generate leads via user input, which can help you further qualify potential leads and contact them back. Currently, lead form extensions can be used in Search, Discovery, Display, and Video campaigns.

Here’s a list of details you can receive through the lead form extension

• Name
• Email address
• Contact number
• City, State/Province, Country
• Postal/Zip Code
• Work email and contact number
• Company Name
• Job Title

This information serves as a building block for your business’s marketing efforts.

Automated Ad Extensions

Besides the above extensions that you can enable manually, Google runs automated extensions when it thinks it can help your ad do better. It includes dynamic sitelinks, dynamic callout extensions, dynamic structured snippets, and seller ratings. Automated extensions don’t cost anything extra and are handpicked by Google for your business, so you lose out if you turn them off.

Conclusion

Remember that you will not get impressions ‘just’ by setting up extensions. That is only the first step towards effective Ad Extension practices. It is crucial to keep monitoring the coverage of your ad extensions for best results. You can review the performance of the ad extensions. Get insight into what works for your customers by observing what boosts the CTR or improves your conversion. But if all this sounds too overwhelming for you to manage alone, you can always depend on a Google Ads specialist for it.

In conclusion, if you are an advertiser and are not utilizing the immense benefits of the Google Ads Extensions, you are missing out. Google uses up to 4 ad extensions for any given auction, so enable at least the three universal extensions and one other per campaign. These little bits of information are a fantastic and FREE way to improve your ad quality and boost your conversions!