Extension Overload: Finding the Balance When Using Ad Extensions

That’s all you have when coming up with a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad. And as many marketers know too well, the challenge here is not to come up with a copy without going beyond the limit—but rather to come up with a 130-character headline, a display URL, and description lines that will draw customers in.

Image Source: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1704373?hl=en

Google, fortunately, allows businesses to get an extra line of text to communicate their value—using what is called ad extensions. Ad extensions help visually improve the text ads in desktop and mobile searches, allowing marketers to communicate more information about the business than the ad would otherwise permit. In essence, extensions can differentiate the top performers from the mediocre.

But with Google adding more and more ad extensions in the toolbox—including dynamic structured snippets released earlier this year, and the structured snippet extensions released in August—how can everything fit together? How many ad extensions can appear at once in an ad? Can we use all of them?

How Ad Extensions Work

The good news: in theory, ad extensions can actually show all at once. And with multiple enabled extensions, you can boost your “real estate” on the page, as well as your ad rank, Quality score, and user engagement.

Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/SearchMarketingExpo/new-dynamics-of-mobile-ecommerce-by-eric-couch

It does make sense to actually add every extension there is, and watch your CTR and conversions soar, right?

Wrong.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things work with Google. It’s ultimately the search engine that decides which ad extension will show. And in their perspective, if one ad seems more relevant than another, that ad is likely to be displayed with more extensions.

Finding the Balance

The key here is to understand the purpose of each extension and know the recipe for your specific ad. Before you go too crazy about structured snippets, callouts, sitelinks, and other ad extensions, consider their use. Remember that not all of them are suitable for every business, and if they’re not used carefully, potential customers could end up in the wrong place.

Manual ad extensions:

• Apps – This makes apps more accessible to searchers who are using mobile devices.
• Calls – Allows you to include your phone number in the ad, making it easier for consumers to contact you directly.
• Locations – Allows you to include the business address and telephone number into the ad. It often includes a map reference.
• Reviews – Displays reviews from reputable third parties (either direct quote or summary of a review)
• Sitelinks – Allows you to promote additional landing pages below your standard ad.
• Callouts – Allows you to put additional descriptive text in the standard text ad.

Automated ad extensions:

• Consumer ratings – Provides detailed consumer opinion data. This highlights the strongly rated aspects of the business.
• Previous visits – Allows previous visitors to find their way back to the site.
• Seller ratings – Lets people know which advertisers are highly rated for quality service.
• Dynamic sitelink extensions – Show generated links that send customers to a page on the site that’s highly relevant based on recent search activities.
• Social extensions – This allows you to build social media following.
• Dynamic structured snippets – This displays industry-specific and structured information about your products and services.

Important Takeaways

The bottom-line here is that ad extensions are extremely beneficial. When multiple extensions are selected, they can be shown simultaneously, making top-ranked ads even more prominent than lower-ranked ones. Further, seeing the importance of search engine page real estate, having numerous extensions also significantly increase your chances of generating a click, and ultimately a conversion.

Consequently, you should make sure the extensions are relevant. Only use the extensions that make the most sense for your audience—those that align with the experience you’re trying to create.

Let RefractROI, the sought-after SEO company in Denver, help you with this task. We are the top experts in PPC advertising and we have been Google Adwords certified as far back as 2003. Call us today for a consultation.