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What are the different types of ad extensions, and why are they essential in your paid search ads?

Ad extensions can be the difference between a new customer or a missed opportunity. We think it’s really important to understand more about how they work to ensure you’re gaining maximum clicks and conversions through your paid search ads. 

What are ad extensions?

They are used to include additional information right below your ad copy. The extensions you add might be a contact number or a link to a specific page on your site. There’s no additional cost, so you’ll just pay on a cost-per-click basis which is the same price as you’d pay for clicks on your main ad copy.

Ad extensions can help you stand out amongst the competition, improve your ad performance and increase clicks. They’re an essential part of PPC as they can improve the overall quality of your ads and create a smoother customer journey. When you use extensions in the right way, Google can reward you with an improved quality score which can reduce your click cost.

There are some different types of ad extensions; they can be manual, automatic or both. We’ve explained the different options you can use to provide potential customers with helpful information:

Sitelinks

Sitelinks are used to lead people to a page on your site and are useful for most types of businesses. They will be presented differently depending on the position of your ad and the device the ad is appearing on. You can add both a hyperlink and text to describe the page.

A few things to remember about sitelinks:

  • You can also add sitelinks with a destination that leads to your company’s social media accounts; i.e. LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. But otherwise, they need to land on your site.
  • The more relevant your sitelink, the more engagement it will receive.
    You can make your sitelinks specific to mobile.
    Your ad extensions will only appear alongside your ad if Google predicts it will improve the overall performance.
  • You’ll need a good ad rank to show your ad extensions.

Callouts

Callout ad extensions are an opportunity to add additional text highlighting relevant information about your brand, service or products. Your callout text should be short and to the point. For them to appear, you’ll need to create at least two callouts.

A great way to make the most out of callouts is by promoting any special offers you might have – for example, “free shipping”. What better way to engage more customers than with a good deal?

Structured Snippets

Although they appear to be quite similar, structured snippet ad extensions do have a different purpose to callouts. They’re a chance to draw attention to specific aspects of what you’re trying to sell or advertise. You can provide a preview of the type of service you offer before a user clicks – meaning more of your clicks are likely to be valuable.

The main difference is the snippets need to fall under a specific category such as service catalogue, brands, featured hotel etc – so, the links you add need to follow that theme.

Call Extensions

You can add phone numbers directly to your ads through call extensions, which can then drive calls directly from the ad. Potential customers can click and call you quickly and directly – saving them the time and effort of searching for contact details. We’ve listed a few more aspects of call extensions:

  • You can set these up to only show during opening hours to ensure any calls are answered
  • A click on the number will cost the same as the ad – the CPC doesn’t change. 
  • You can enable ‘call reporting’ which is a way of tracking your conversions and providing detailed information. 
  • It’s essential to have a reliable person or team of people to handle calls. 

Message Extensions

A message extension provides customers with a similar time-effective way of contacting your business. You can create a message within the ad, which will automatically appear in a user’s messaging app once they click.  

You have the freedom to schedule messages to appear only during your chosen hours – so there is no need to worry about receiving too many messages throughout the day. 

Location Extensions

If you want your customers to be able to find your store, office or place of work – then you can utilise a location extension ad. They display your address alongside an optional phone number. Google Ads can provide a clear route to your location by displaying an address, plus directions and an ETA for users.

It’s not just Google who realise how useful this ad extension can be for various companies. When using Bing on an iPhone – you can enable the Get a Ride feature. When a user clicks on a ‘ride’ icon, the Uber app will automatically launch if they already have it downloaded on their device. The price of the journey to your location will be pre-populated on the app.  

 Promotion Extensions

Promotion ad extensions are used to highlight your current sales or exclusive deals. Your promotion will appear following a bold label. For example; this could say “deal”, or it could link to a specific event such as “Black Friday” or “Back to School”. 

Automated Extensions

As opposed to manually creating your ad extensions – you can use Google Ads automated feature. Google Ads uses data from other ads and your landing pages to develop relevant extensions for your ad. To access this, click on the Ad Extensions tab in Google Ads – click “View”, and then click “Automated Extensions Report”. You’ll be able to see your metrics for automated ad extensions.

Seller Ratings

If your company has a good reputation and high customer ratings, then this could benefit your clickthrough rate even more and improve brand perception. Seller ratings extensions are used to highlight your customer reviews. You don’t have to pay for clicks on these extensions. They can be a great way of encouraging more people to use your product or service. It’s worth noting that your ratings are more likely to appear on SERP if you have over 150 reviews and an average rating of at least 3.5.

Seller ratings on PPC ad

 

Get in Touch 

Hopefully, this has given you a good idea of how different ad extensions work. We are happy to answer any questions you have about the extensions that could improve your PPC campaigns – so feel free to get in touch.