Overview of Ad Extensions in AdWords

Ad extensions are bits of information and sometimes links that get displayed along with your ad. To succeed with AdWords advertising, it’s very important to use ad extensions. They can make your ads stand out from the competition, they can make it easier for users to contact you or learn about your offerings, and they are now part of the ad rank equation that determines the placement of your ads and the amount you pay per click. In short, if you want to compete in AdWords, get serious about ad extensions.

Three key things to know about extensions (in general)

• Google decides when, where, and how to show your ad extensions. The control you have is to create them, enable them, and perhaps schedule them if you like them to be active only at certain times.

• Some extensions are only available for certain campaign types that have the all features enabled setting turned on.

• There is no extra cost to set up extensions in AdWords. If someone clicks on one of the ad extensions, the advertiser will be charged for a normal click on the ad. There are, however, exceptions to this. With review extensions and seller ratings extensions, the advertiser is not charged at all if someone clicks on the extension.

The most commonly used extensions

Call extensions are important to use if you want your ads to drive phone calls. If you enable call extensions, and someone sees your ad on a mobile phone device, they will see a call button. Touching the call button will initiate the phone call, and is classified as a click in AdWords. Call extensions on a desktop or tablet computer simply display the phone number. If someone clicks on the number or anywhere on the ad, it counts as a regular click. However, if they see the number, and simply dial it on their phone without clicking the ad, there is no charge to the advertiser.

Location extensions are important for local businesses that want to drive traffic to their location. Location extensions can also include a phone number. To enable location extensions, your AdWords account must be linked to your Google My Business profile.

Sitelinks is a commonly used extension as well. Sitelinks extend your ad by showing several links to specific pages on your site. Sitelinks can really make your ad stand out and result in more clicks. However, you might not want to use them if your goal is to drive traffic to one landing page in particular.

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