Google ads have a system called extensions that allow you to add extra information to your advertisements. There are a lot of different types and the distinctions between them are often confusing, but don’t worry, I’m here to help: today I’m going to be breaking down the different types of Google Ad Extension, so you can take your campaigns to the next level.
Just so you’ve got a ballpark of how many are included in a regular advertisement, Google themselves recommend four extensions per ad. That’s a lot of room to customize!
caption: a Google ad with phone number, location and sitelinks
Manual Extensions
These are extensions that you have to configure yourself. These are your biggest asset: you have a lot of fine-grained control over things and it can help you to emphasise your specific business goals or strengths.
Location
If you’ve got a brick-and-mortar store you want people to visit, this is your #1 extension. This will give users your location, their current distance from your location and how to get there, a button to open an information panel with more specific details, and a clickable ‘Call’ button. This extension will use Google Maps to help customers find their way more easily to your door.
caption: a location ad extension; clicking the link takes you to Google Maps
Affiliate Location
These are like location extensions, except designed for manufacturers—they’ll show users the closest place to buy your products. So, say somebody is trying to buy a Toyota Corolla, a Location Extension would take them to a Toyota Factory (or some sort of official Toyota Outlet), but an Affiliate Location Extension would take them to the nearest car dealership with any Toyotas on the lot.
Callout
A callout extension is a string of 2–6 special offers that appear beneath your ad. This includes things like free shipping, sales. While the previous extensions are things you want up permanently, a callout extension is something you should consider adding for specific events or times of year. Some callouts can be up year-round, but these should be considered very carefully.
Call
Your phone number, and a button that lets mobile users 1-click call. You can also configure this so users go to your website in a single click. You’ll need to verify your phone number with Google so they know it’s the actual number for your business.
Message
This is a contact button that lets potential customers on mobile send you a text message right from the ad. You’ll need to set a message for customers to send through: they don’t actually write, they just click and it’ll autosend a message to you like “I would like to request a quote”, with information about how to get back to the customer. You need to have an SMS-capable phone set up and you’ll auto-reply functionality is currently limited (available only in the US, Canada, Brazil and Australia) but this is great if you’re running a business where customers (for example) request a lot of quotes.
Sitelink
Sitelinks will take users to a specific internal location on your site. You can use this to direct users to specific product pages, to splash pages or critical CTAs. A sitelink extension has a minimum of two links. The page titles will display as an H1 with a small meta-description underneath each.
Structured Snippet
Structured snippets provide you with a series of pre-written headers and let you fill in up to three values underneath. So for example, one of the headers is SERVICES, then you could fill in three services your company provides so your ad will have a line saying something like Services: Web Design, eCommerce development, Creative Design. The current list of headers is: Amenities, Brands, Courses, Degree programs, Destinations, Featured hotels, Insurance coverage, Models, Neighborhoods, Service catalog, Shows, Styles and Types. When you go to set your values, Google will give you an example of what each of these means to help you figure out whether you’re using the right header.
Price
Does what it says on the tin: displays the price for a specific item you sell.
The cost per click is based on the cost listed in your extension, so be mindful of that: they’ll take a percentage of your takings, and you don’t have a lot of ability to lower that.
App
Add a link to your mobile app in an in-text link. The best part about this is the smart detection feature: if you configure it correctly, it’ll link to the Android version of an app on Android devices and so on.
Automated Extensions
You’ll notice some overlap between the manual and automated extensions: some extensions have the option for both, but some do not. Generally speaking, it’s fine to automate ads if you don’t want to have fine-grained control over your copy and details: there aren’t any particular technical advantages of automation, but it can save a huge amount of time and busywork.
Seller Rating
The only extension you can’t do manually—this selects customer reviews from around the internet to display. Don’t worry about it throwing up only the 1-star reviews, it tries to be fair and give customers an accurate representation of how users are responding to you. This rating is based off an aggregate of third-party sources that Google tracks, and does not tend to include reviews from your site or any sites you control. If you’ve got a solid star rating, this is an excellent social proof element that you want to lean into.
If you want to quickly find out your rating, go to the following URL: https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/lookup?q={yourwebsiteURLgoeshere}
Automated Call
If you’ve set up your merchant metadata correctly, Google should be able to figure out your details and create a call button for you. I’m a little skeptical about this one. By all means do it, but check that it’s got the details right.
Automated Messages
I am deeply skeptical about this one—the copy you use to get users to click is critically important for this sort of thing. You’re asking for a greater degree of commitment from the outset, which means you need to be a lot more precise in your language if you want to succeed, and the automation just isn’t there yet.
Dynamic Sitelinks
If your XML sitemap is properly configured and you’ve got your headings and metadata sorted out, this is viable. I’ve found it has a decent hit rate, though might take some tweaking if the spiders are having issues figuring your content out.
Dynamic Structured Snippets
These are essentially based on what Google thinks your content is about, which is important because what Google thinks your content is about is also what’s getting you put first in search results. That means there’s an overlap between what people are searching for and what they’re going to see in your structured snippets, which can give you a solid conversion boost. Unless Google has gotten something critically wrong, I tend to automate these by default.
Automated Location
This is based on the Google Maps data you set up in the merchant center. If you’ve set that up correctly, this one should be easy. Your merchant center data is also where Google gets information about whether to put you in the SEO 3-pack, so it’s doubly important you get it sorted out.
Dynamic Callout
Google will scan your site for key phrases it thinks are relevant to display. It can be a little finicky, and I’m not sure I fully trust it yet. Their ML keeps getting better and better at recognising this sort of thing, but as of 2020 I’m not confident enough in it to let the computer handle it on its own.
If you want more detail about any of these extensions, the official documentation is a great source. It can be a little confusing at first, but it’s written for marketers and business owners, not for techies, so if you give it the time you should be able to crack it. Of course, ad extensions aren’t the only ways to advertise on Google: you probably want to read up on topics like how to take advantage of Google Posts and Google Local SEO. Good luck on your marketing journey: may it be rich with conversions.
