October 18, 2017 at 15:27Extensions to Google AdWords: Making Ads More Effective
Extensions in Google AdWords ads - a feature that allows you to display additional information, such as a company address, phone number or links to various sections of the site. There are many options, some are often used, few know about some.
Google AdWords offers over a dozen ad extensions available to absolutely all users. The main task of the extensions is to provide a maximum of relevant and useful information about the advertiser. In addition, this function allows you to increase the size of the advertisement and generally stand out significantly from the search results. If competitors do not use extensions in advertisements - your ad with the extension will always look advantageous against their background. On the search, there are still often “empty” ads in which there is nothing but text and a link.
The task of a specialist in contextual advertising is to maximize the use of this functionality. According to official research by Google, when you add an extension, the number of clicks rises to 50%, depending on the subject of the site. Do not forget that the client can also complete the order simply by calling the phone number specified in the extension of the advertisement, without clicking on it.
What types of ad extensions exist:
Keeping in mind the advantages of advertising with extensions, you should use all possible options to the maximum.
Additional links
When specifying additional links in an ad, the size of the ad volume itself increases and, as a result, it becomes more noticeable. If you add a description to the links, then the size of the advertisement will increase two times.
The advantage of sitelinks is that the user does not need to search the site for the information he needs, he can go directly from the ad to a specific section of the resource. And for you this is an opportunity to "save" signs in the text of the ad. Things to consider: sitelinks are not always shown and in random order. Nevertheless, place information of paramount importance in the main text.
As additional links, you can add company accounts on social networks.
Clarification
Clarification is a non-clickable line in the text of an advertisement that allows you to tell potential customers about the competitive advantages of the company or product that it offers, schedules or other working conditions of the organization - the advertiser.
Adds extra “space” to your ad.
Descriptions
The descriptions in their structure are very similar to the refinements, but unlike the latter, they are more “sharpened” under the description of the characteristics of the advertised product or service, and not the company as a whole. The information displayed in the descriptions is usually narrower and relates to a specific group of products or offers. You can focus on the product line or the range as a whole - as you see fit. 12 topics are automatically set in Google AdWords, within each of which you can add up to 10 values.
An ad may show 2 lines of description at a time. Why so many? For example, if the customer of the advertising campaign is a fitness center, in this type of extension you can register which group programs and under what conditions he offers. If the company specializes in selling clothes of several brands at the same time, you should register them, because the user can search for a thing not by style or seasonality, but by brand.
Prices
Prices are a relatively new extension format that shows the cost of several selected items. The undoubted advantage of this type of extension is that it is displayed on all types of devices from which the Internet is searched.
In the case of mobile issuance, an ad with prices occupies almost the entire screen.
Reviews
This type of expansion also appeared not so long ago. To display a review in an advertisement, it must be published in an independent source or rating.
Positive feedback can significantly strengthen the trust of the target audience in the company as a whole or in certain products. Click-through is carried out to a third-party site with reviews - make sure that the user, unexpectedly for you, doesn’t get to the page with a solid negative.
It is worth noting that this extension is available for display as a result of a search from the desktop.
Addresses
In order to use the “Address” extension, you need to create a company account in the My Business service, indicate the actual address of the organization on the map and import the address into Google AdWords. It may sound a little complicated, but it only seems so at first glance. As a bonus, you will receive an organization’s card on Google Maps and the ability to appear in a free SERP.
When a user clicks on the address of a company while viewing an ad, Google will automatically load Maps and will suggest building a route to the office.
Phone numbers
Use the extension "phone numbers", show all the phones relevant to the user. When searching from a mobile phone, this extension can turn into a handset icon for a call, by clicking on which you can immediately call the organization and quickly place an order or specify details.
Application Links
With this extension, you can invite a user to go to your company's mobile application. When you click on an ad, users go to your site, and when you click on the extension, they go to the application page in the GooglePlay or AppStore store.
Users themselves will be able to choose what is more convenient for them: a mobile site or application.
Messages
The extension allows the user to send an advertiser an SMS message from a mobile phone, relevant only for mobile devices. Designed for users who prefer a conversation over text messaging. When activating this type of extension, do not forget to make sure that the phone number indicated in the ad allows you to receive and send SMS messages.
You need to understand how displaying these Google AdWords extensions works.
In each case, showing to a specific user, the ad is composed, like a constructor, of text and extensions, trying to most fully respond to a specific user’s request. All extensions will not be displayed at the same time, but your task is to fill your “constructor” with elements as much as possible so that the ads develop most fully and look voluminous and attractive.
Google AdWords offers over a dozen ad extensions available to absolutely all users. The main task of the extensions is to provide a maximum of relevant and useful information about the advertiser. In addition, this function allows you to increase the size of the advertisement and generally stand out significantly from the search results. If competitors do not use extensions in advertisements - your ad with the extension will always look advantageous against their background. On the search, there are still often “empty” ads in which there is nothing but text and a link.
The task of a specialist in contextual advertising is to maximize the use of this functionality. According to official research by Google, when you add an extension, the number of clicks rises to 50%, depending on the subject of the site. Do not forget that the client can also complete the order simply by calling the phone number specified in the extension of the advertisement, without clicking on it.
What types of ad extensions exist:
- Auto extensions. The availability of this type of extension depends on the ability to transfer information from your site to the advertising system.
- Customizable auto extensions.
- Manual extensions.
Keeping in mind the advantages of advertising with extensions, you should use all possible options to the maximum.
Additional links
When specifying additional links in an ad, the size of the ad volume itself increases and, as a result, it becomes more noticeable. If you add a description to the links, then the size of the advertisement will increase two times.
The advantage of sitelinks is that the user does not need to search the site for the information he needs, he can go directly from the ad to a specific section of the resource. And for you this is an opportunity to "save" signs in the text of the ad. Things to consider: sitelinks are not always shown and in random order. Nevertheless, place information of paramount importance in the main text.
As additional links, you can add company accounts on social networks.
Clarification
Clarification is a non-clickable line in the text of an advertisement that allows you to tell potential customers about the competitive advantages of the company or product that it offers, schedules or other working conditions of the organization - the advertiser.
Adds extra “space” to your ad.
Descriptions
The descriptions in their structure are very similar to the refinements, but unlike the latter, they are more “sharpened” under the description of the characteristics of the advertised product or service, and not the company as a whole. The information displayed in the descriptions is usually narrower and relates to a specific group of products or offers. You can focus on the product line or the range as a whole - as you see fit. 12 topics are automatically set in Google AdWords, within each of which you can add up to 10 values.
An ad may show 2 lines of description at a time. Why so many? For example, if the customer of the advertising campaign is a fitness center, in this type of extension you can register which group programs and under what conditions he offers. If the company specializes in selling clothes of several brands at the same time, you should register them, because the user can search for a thing not by style or seasonality, but by brand.
Prices
Prices are a relatively new extension format that shows the cost of several selected items. The undoubted advantage of this type of extension is that it is displayed on all types of devices from which the Internet is searched.
In the case of mobile issuance, an ad with prices occupies almost the entire screen.
Reviews
This type of expansion also appeared not so long ago. To display a review in an advertisement, it must be published in an independent source or rating.
Positive feedback can significantly strengthen the trust of the target audience in the company as a whole or in certain products. Click-through is carried out to a third-party site with reviews - make sure that the user, unexpectedly for you, doesn’t get to the page with a solid negative.
It is worth noting that this extension is available for display as a result of a search from the desktop.
Addresses
In order to use the “Address” extension, you need to create a company account in the My Business service, indicate the actual address of the organization on the map and import the address into Google AdWords. It may sound a little complicated, but it only seems so at first glance. As a bonus, you will receive an organization’s card on Google Maps and the ability to appear in a free SERP.
When a user clicks on the address of a company while viewing an ad, Google will automatically load Maps and will suggest building a route to the office.
Phone numbers
Use the extension "phone numbers", show all the phones relevant to the user. When searching from a mobile phone, this extension can turn into a handset icon for a call, by clicking on which you can immediately call the organization and quickly place an order or specify details.
Application Links
With this extension, you can invite a user to go to your company's mobile application. When you click on an ad, users go to your site, and when you click on the extension, they go to the application page in the GooglePlay or AppStore store.
Users themselves will be able to choose what is more convenient for them: a mobile site or application.
Messages
The extension allows the user to send an advertiser an SMS message from a mobile phone, relevant only for mobile devices. Designed for users who prefer a conversation over text messaging. When activating this type of extension, do not forget to make sure that the phone number indicated in the ad allows you to receive and send SMS messages.
You need to understand how displaying these Google AdWords extensions works.
In each case, showing to a specific user, the ad is composed, like a constructor, of text and extensions, trying to most fully respond to a specific user’s request. All extensions will not be displayed at the same time, but your task is to fill your “constructor” with elements as much as possible so that the ads develop most fully and look voluminous and attractive.