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The Complete Guide To Google Ads Extensions

Ads are an important part of marketing and ‘Google Ads’ is one of the top choices by all marketers. The Google Ads will help you communicate with potential customers and if written well it’s ad copies, it make you to choose by the prospects among the many competitors.

Sometimes, however, it is not enough. You need to give a lot of information to people interested in your products or services and they don’t fit in an ad, you have few characters available.

Google has thought to help you by giving you the option to use ad extensions. Unfortunately, I still see few advertisers using them – especially correctly – thus missing out on a great opportunity.

But let’s see what they are, why and how to use them. Check out the complete guide to Google Ads extensions

What are Google Ads Extensions?

Let’s start with the definition:

Google Ads extensions are information that provide more details to users by completing the communication message of advertisements.

Google Ads can publish up to a maximum of 4 types of ad extensions choosing, among those you have activated and the automatic ones, those that have the most possibility of improving the performance of the ad.

Tip: enter all the ad extensions useful for your business and let Google decide which is the best performing combination based on the search made by the user.

Ad extensions can be created at the account, campaign or ad group level – Google will use ad extensions by giving more importance to those that are deeper. For example, if you have entered an extension type at all 3 levels, Google will use those placed in ad groups.

Tip: Create ad extensions at the ad group level for better management.

For each ad extension, in addition to the specific details, you can set a daily and hourly schedule, and indicate the start and end dates for publication.

But specifically, why are ad extensions so important?

are a ranking factor: when Google Ads calculates Ad Rank, it takes into account the presence or absence of extensions? If you have added the extensions, you will have a higher score and consequently the possibility of being higher in the Google search results;
improve the quality of the ads : inserting the ad extensions improves the CTR by 10-15% (data from Google);
increase user engagement: ad extensions increase the information you provide and the likelihood of responding to users’ problems. You will then have a better chance of receiving a click;
take up more space: when your ad is displayed complete with extensions it takes up a lot of space on the desktop and even almost the entire screen on mobile, leaving very little space for your competitors. And if they don’t use it, well, you’re more likely to be chosen by the user.

Now let’s see what ad extensions you can use.

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Google Ads /AdWords Extensions: Discover all Ad Extensions

AdWords Extensions are a feature that allows you to include additional information to our ads, thus making them more visible and useful to users. At the same time, they affect ad rankings, making their implementation essential in any self-respecting AdWords campaign management. Let’s see in detail all the ad extensions currently available on Google AdWords.

Currently in AdWords, the extensions applicable at the account, campaign and ad group level are:

1. Sitelink Extension

They are additional links that can send the user to other pages of the site.
The sitelink consists of a title, clickable and with a maximum size of 25 characters, and two descriptions, optional and with a maximum size of 35 characters each.

Even if Google leaves the optional lines, I recommend that you always use them describing what users will find on the landing page.

Google shows sitelinks in pairs (2 or 4), so it is important that you create at least 3 but I recommend that you add as many as possible.

2. Callout Extension

They are short, non-clickable texts with a maximum length of 25 characters. Google can show 4 to 6 callouts, so enter as many callouts as possible.

Avoid long and complicated words, try to express yourself with simple and direct words, indicating the pluses of your business.

3. Structured Snippet Extension

Structured snippets are texts that describe the specific functions of your products or services.
There are 13 different types to use, although not all of them will be useful for your business. Look for snippets that can give the user more information and test more options.

Remember that Google will only show 1 structured snippet but, if you enter more, you will give it the opportunity to find the best performing one based on the search made by the user.
For each type of structured snippet that you decide to use you must indicate at least 2 descriptions, but I recommend that you write between 4 and 8.

4. Call Extension

If your business involves telephone contact with the customer you must absolutely use this extension.
It is especially useful for mobile searches because the phone number becomes clickable and allows the user to contact you with a single click.

Remember to track the phone calls you receive and, when creating the extension, tell Google when to publish the number. For example, if you have a physical store open Monday through Friday from 9am to 8pm, set this schedule so you can only receive calls when the store is open.

5. Lead Form Extension

Google Ads is a great tool to do Lead Generation, or collect data of people interested in your service.

The lead form extension facilitates data collection through a quick and easy process for the user. Clicking on the extension will open a form to fill out and that’s it, without going through the landing page.

You can download and manage the leads collected in a CSV file or connect the lead form to customer relationship management (CRM) via a webhook (IFTTT, Zapier, etc.…).

6. Extension of Locality

You have a physical store and are promoting yourself on Google Ads. Well, link the Google My Business listing to Google Ads and you can tell users where your store is.

This extension is useful for encouraging people to come to the store: in fact, on mobile devices, the address becomes clickable and provides directions for reaching you. If you make a bid adjustment for people in the vicinity of your store, you will have a better chance of physically connecting with your prospect.

Remember to always keep your information on Google My Business up to date.

7. Location Extension of the Consolidated Company

It works like the location extension but is dedicated to manufacturers who have a network of resellers. The consolidated company’s location extension is only applicable in certain countries and only for large franchise chains.

If you are a retailer of one of these chains, verify that the brand has been placed on the Google Ads platform and use the extension to bring people to your store.

8. Price Extension

The price extension is useful for instantly showing the user the price of your service, product or range of products.

If you use this extension well you can save the cost of clicks that users would make to see the price on your site.
This way you will only pay for interested and price aware people.

9. Extension for App

Do you have an app to promote? Use this extension and you will be able to insert the download link directly into your advertisement.

This way you can drive traffic to the site via the ad link and have your app downloaded via the extension link.

10.Promotion Extension

In the past, advertisers have often used ads or parts of them to insert promotions: Google has therefore decided to dedicate an extension to your promotions.

You can easily add them and they are clearly visible under your ad: choose from many predefined occasions or insert a personalized one, planning dates and times.

11. Automatic Extensions

Extensions can affect ad performance. For this Google can create, through machine learning, extensions in total autonomy and publish them if they could have a positive impact.

Google can add 4 types of extensions:

dynamic sitelinks;
dynamic structured snippets;
dynamic callouts;
dynamic call.

They are similar to what you can create.

Google can also add the seller ratings extension, to let users know if your business has positive reviews: it takes data from some sources and uses it to generate a seller rating score (users see the classic stars).

In the area set up for extensions you can check if Google has created automatic extensions for you and their performance. If you do not want to use automatic extensions you can disable them.

12. Message Extensions

Message extensions allow us to show ads with an SMS icon that users can click to contact the company directly via SMS bypassing the phone call or site visit .

When a user taps the message icon on the ad from their mobile device, the messaging application opens a customizable pre-filled message from the AdWords dashboard.

Clicking on the massage icon is counted and charged as a normal ad click.

13. Review Extensions

Positive reviews are increasingly the best advertising tool.

That’s why AdWords also allows you to publish, along with the advertisement, a line of text containing a positive comment from a third party.

In fact, in the Ad Extensions tab of the AdWords panel, review extensions are available to advertisers.

These are extensions that allow you to publish positive comments from the advertised company, testimonials, perhaps awards received, etc. under the AdWords ad.

The reviews will of course have to come from third party reviews and can be either exact quotes or paraphrases.

Review extensions are only displayed on the Google Search Network and appear as an additional row in the ad, and advertisers are not charged for these clicks.

Reviews must meet certain criteria to be approved by Google:

whether they are an exact quote or paraphrase, they must have a reliable third-party origin. They cannot, for example, be requested for remuneration or taken from user-based review aggregator sites;
they must refer to the company that publishes the announcement and not to specific shops or chains;
they must express a specific recognition and not perhaps be general descriptions of products or services;
they must point to a landing page on the client company’s website that has exactly the same published quote as the ad. On the contrary, they cannot link to the advertiser’s website.

Adding the citation of a positive review carried out by an authoritative external source is certainly useful to offer potential customers one more reason to trust the advertising proposal and click on the ad.

Automatic Extensions Report

They are a new way to check the performance data of ads that contain an auto extension type in AdWords:

Seller Ratings;
Consumer Ratings;
Social Extensions;
Previous Visits.

AdWords generates automatic extensions in ads when it believes that placing them can improve ad performance.

In fact, they do not require any configuration since AdWords will independently determine whether or not to generate them for our ads.

If they perform poorly, we can disable the use of automatic extensions by clicking on Automatic extension options (advanced) and selecting the option: Do not use automatic extensions specific to this account.

How to insert extensions on Google Ads / AdWords

Now that we know all the Google AdWords ad extensions, we just have to insert the extensions into our campaigns.

To insert, simply go to the Ad Extensions tab and select the extension we want to insert from the drop-down menu and then click on the + Extension button.

At this point we will have to configure the parameters related to the specific extension, save and wait for the approval by the system.

Finally, I advise you to insert at least three different types of ad extensions in each campaign and for any information on this, do not hesitate to use the comments!

When should you use Ad Extensions on Google Ads?

After we’ve put so much meat on the fire, the answer should be clear: add extensions anytime, anywhere. There is only one magic word in Google Ads, test. Feed our ads as many ad extensions as possible and try to check, from time to time, the impact on the CTR.

The more useful and precise information we are able to give to the user, the more attractive our ad becomes: with extensions, the number of clicks will only increase. In conclusion, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the AdWords value chain:

The increase of the CTR directly impacts on the Quality Score, improving it.
Increasing the Quality Score decreases the Cost Per Click
Lower Costs Per Click mean lower conversion costs

The ROI of our campaigns is inevitably destined to rise. The ads open the door to our landing page for users which, in turn, must be thought out in the smallest detail to achieve the final goal of each PPC campaign: conversion.

Now it’s your turn: in your PPC experience, do you use ad extensions? Have you noticed any particularly performing types? How often does the system activate the automatic ones? Let’s face it, together we can understand how to optimize Google Ads campaigns and improve results.

Why should you use Google Ad Extensions?

Are Google ad extensions just to make search results more presentable? No. They have many other benefits to offer.

Using Google ad extensions, you get:

More ad spaces

Google ad space is limited, but with Google ad extensions, you can claim more real space by adding content and CTAs.

High quality leads

You now have more space for ads, which allows you to offer more information to potential customers. This is ideal for filtering leads.

When a user is offered the chance to explore more information, those who are most interested in what your company offers are likely to respond to the ad. 50% of people who visit a paid site are more likely to buy than those who come from an organic link.

So, because extension ads tell users what to expect once they land on your site, they’re more likely to convert on post-click landing pages. Poor quality leads will see that they don’t have what they need and move on.

How to set up Google Ad Extensions

Google ad extensions are easy to create. Follow the steps below:

Log into your Google Ads account
Click the Ads and extensions tab on the left side of the page
Click on Extensions
Select the + button in the upper left corner
Select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu

Benefits of using Extensions in Google Ads

1. Free quality score and ad rank improvements

In 2013, Google confirmed that it takes into account the relevant use of ad extensions in its Quality Score calculations. Enabling ad extensions = improved Quality Score. This is a real free way to improve your Quality Score.

2. Increase CTR by 10-15%

According to Google, on average, CTR increases by 10-15% after the introduction of any extension.

3. More visual space = More clicks

Google Ads with extensions use more space in search engine results page. Even if you don’t provide additional relevant information, your ad will have more visual space that will generate more clicks.

4. Increase ad click-through rate on mobile devices

The rise of mobile devices (Chrome mobile browser, for example, has 1 billion monthly active users), coupled with Google’s mobile optimization efforts, is leading to a natural interaction between the search engine and ad extensions. A mobile device user is more likely to click on an ad with an extension than without it.

6 tips for using Extensions in Google Ads

If you use extensions in Google Ads and follow our advice, then the success of your advertising is inevitable.

No more guessing what works best.
Install as many extensions as possible and Google will choose the most effective combination of extensions to show.
Control CPCs with bids without removing ad extensions
If your position increases as a result of adding an extension, you may see an increase in CPC. Adjust this with manual bid adjustments rather than removing the free Quality Score Improver.
Don’t use weak or inappropriate message
While we suggest including extensions 9 out of 10 times, they take effort. A weak message or inappropriate offer will simply weaken the relevance and effectiveness of the ad.
Keep your extensions as up-to-date as possible
Google optimizes search engine performance so it will show you the most relevant and useful content.
Forgetting what you optimized earlier?
Use the change history report to see what changes have been made in the past. Then optimize based on these results.
Don’t Look at Clicks When Comparing Extension Performance
Instead, segment your data by “click type” to see if your audience actually clicks on extensions.

Now you know everything about extensions in Google Ads. This is a free and simple tool that will help make your offer more attractive to the user. Feel free to connect them to your ads and watch how the result improves.

Google Ads Extensions FAQ

How many Google Ads extensions are there?

Currently, there are 10 main types of Google Ads extensions. They can be manual or automatic. A manual extension requires a little setup, while an automatic extension is automatically added when Google Ads expects it will improve the performance of your ads.

Are Google Ads extensions free?

Extensions cost nothing to add to your campaign. If someone calls you from your call extension or downloads your app from the app extension, you will be charged for one click.

Where do I find Google Ads extensions?

Google Ads extensions are available from your Google ads account. You can click the Ads & extensions tab on the left side of the page, then click Extensions. Select the + button in the upper left corner and select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

Are Google Ads Extensions Really Necessary?

Google Ad extensions are not required to run paid advertising campaigns, but they can significantly improve their appearance and performance. They offer more space for ads, allow you to view more information and add links, phone numbers and other relevant data to increase conversions.

Conclusion: Google Ads Extensions

Here in this article we have provide the complete guide to google Ads extensions. Google ad extensions can be a great way to maximize the efficiency of your advertising campaigns.

While having so many choices may seem overwhelming at first, try starting with one. Track the ads performance and then experiment with others.

Remember that Google Ads Extensions are tools meant to help you reach your customers more effectively, so be sure to explore ways to make the process work best for you.

If this sounds too complicated to you, consider working with dedicated ad experts to help you get started. Join NIDE for better knowledge and understanding.