Use These 3 Free Google Ads Extensions To Get Better Performance

Google Ad Extensions (now called “Assets”) can be a great addition to any Google Ads campaign. They can help improve the performance of your ads, thus decreasing your CPCs (cost-per-click) and making your marketing budget go further. Today, we’ll look at our three favourite Google Ads extensions.

What are Google Ad Extensions?

Google Ad Extensions (aka Assets) are additional elements that advertisers can add to a Google text advertisement. These are the ads found at the top of Google search results.

These text ads are a huge source of income for Google because they’re incredibly effective. Users enter millions of search terms into the search engine daily. With the right keyword targeting, advertisers get to place ads at the top of these search results and grab the attention of a highly relevant audience.

These Google Ad Extensions add extra information (e.g. phone number) into your Google Ad. This extra info increases the visibility of the ad by making it physically bigger, but it also adds value to the user by including relevant info/links.

In the following example, you can see a Google Ad with the the sitelink extension applied, which shows users additional links. In this case, the shop is showing their product category pages.

google-ads-extensions-example-crofthouse

Source: The Crofthouse

Why are Google Ads Extensions so important for shop owners?

Setting up your ads extensions can bring a lot of benefits to your online shop.

Here are a few of the biggest benefits for e-commerce shops:

  1. Improved ad visibility: Ad Extensions provide additional information and links to your ad, making the ad bigger in search results. This increased visibility can lead to higher click-through rates (CTRs) and more traffic to your site.

  2. Cheaper costs-per-click (CPCs): With higher CTRs, Ad Extensions make your ads more relevant and appealing to users by offering extra information. With a good conversion rate, Google will lower the price of your ads.

  3. Enhanced user experience (trust): Ad Extensions offer users more information about your business, which helps them make more informed decisions. This transparency can help build trust for your shop and improve your ad’s performance.

  4. Increased Ad Rank and Quality Score: Google Ads considers the expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience when determining your ad rank and Quality Score. By using Ad Extensions effectively, you can improve these factors, leading to higher ad positions and, as we mentioned before, potentially lower costs-per-click (CPCs).

  5. Better Mobile Performance: Ad Extensions are particularly valuable for mobile users. Features like Call Extensions, Location Extensions, and Sitelink Extensions are highly effective in reaching users on mobile devices, where space is limited. With that in mind, mobile users often seek quick and relevant information.

Google Ads Extensions poster

What are the different types of Google Ad Extensions?

There are a lot of different extensions that can be used in a Google Ad. Some of these are added by Google automatically. Some others require manual setup. Depending on the types of products/services you sell, some of these extensions will become available to you while others won’t.

cw-ad-extensions-w738h415

Source: shutterstock/Graphic and Photo Stocker

Here are some of the most common ad extensions for e-commerce owners:

  1. Sitelink Extensions: This extension allows you to include additional links to specific pages on your website, letting users navigate to relevant content quickly.

  2. Callout Extensions: Callout extensions let you highlight key features, benefits, or offers without the need for a clickable link.

  3. Structured Snippet Extensions: This extension lets you showcase specific aspects of your products or services, such as product categories or brands.

  4. Location Extensions: They display your business address, phone number, and a link to Google Maps, helping users easily find your physical location.

  5. Call Extensions: Call extensions allow users to call your business directly from your ad by clicking a "Call" button, which can be particularly useful for mobile users.

  6. Message Extensions: These extensions enable users to send text messages to your business directly from the ad.

  7. App Extensions: App extensions let users download your mobile app by providing a link to the app store.

  8. Price Extensions: With these extensions, you can display a list of products or services with their respective prices, helping users compare offerings.

  9. Promotion Extensions: Showcase special offers, discounts, and promotions directly in your ads.

  10. Lead Form Extensions: Capture lead information with a form in your ad, making it easier for users to express interest in your products or services.

  11. Review Extensions: Include quotes or paraphrased content from reputable third-party sources in your ads to build trust with potential customers.

  12. Seller Ratings Extensions: Display a star-rating (between 1 and 5 stars) next to your ad if you collect service reviews (aka shop reviews) from a Google-certified reviews partner.

  13. Image Extensions: Image extensions enable you to add images to your text ads to make them more visually appealing.

Recommended reading:
5 Ways to Spend Your Free Google Ads Credits

Once again, please note that the availability of these extensions may vary by campaign type, location, and other factors.

We won’t get into the nitty-gritty details for all of them today, but we will share our 3 favourite extensions for e-commerce shop owners. But first, let’s quickly look at how to add these extensions to your Google Ads.

google ads guide whitepaper

How to add Ad Extensions to your Google Ads campaigns

Adding Ad Extensions to your ad campaigns can be done fairly easily:

  • Go into your Google Ads dashboard
  • On the left-hand navigation menu, select “Assets”
  • From there, you’ll see a list of existing Ad Extensions (aka Assets) as well as the possibility to create new ones.
  • Click on the blue “+” sign to create a new Asset.

google ads dashboard

Source: Google Ads

  • You will have to choose which Asset you want to create (we’ll learn more about that below).
  • You’ll enter the relevant information for that particular Asset.
  • Add any of the Assets to your current ad campaigns (in the copy-text section).

adding assets to an existing ad

Tip: Google ultimately decides automatically which (if any) Ad Extensions will appear in your ads. Because of this, it is advisable to add as many relevant Ad Extensions to your campaign as possible.

3 Free Google Ads Extensions your online shop should be using

There are many to choose from and you should feel encouraged to dive a bit deeper into any of the Ad Extensions that we mentioned earlier if they seem interesting to you. With that said, here are three of our favourite Google Ads Extensions:

Price Extensions

Your prices will almost always be a factor for your shoppers. It will in many cases, get them to click on your ads and enter your shop and that’s often the first step, isn’t it?

Recommended reading:
12 Tips for Creating Perfect Google Shopping Ads

Stay transparent while giving your audience more information right on the spot.

This can work particularly well with product category searches. In the example below, a search for “self-watering pots” leads to this ad. Combined with the Structured Snippet Extension in the first row of links, the bottom row shows users the pricing for one of their products with the Price Extension. Clicking on “More” reveals other products that may fit the user’s search terms along with their prices.

google-ads-extensions-pricing

Seller Rating Extensions

Customer reviews are a really important part of the consumer journey. Sure, price is an important factor when buying online, but being able to trust a shop you’ve never heard of is also something users try to calculate.

With the Seller Rating Extension, you can display your seller rating directly in your ad. This can be a really effective way to make a good first impression with your audience. If they see a high rating along with a high number of reviews, they are much more likely to trust you.

google-ads-extensions-seller-ratings

Source: PuzzleYou

What’s important to note is that you should be using a Google-certified reviews partner (like Trusted Shops). With the Google Integration tool, sending your reviews to Google for your ads is done automatically.

Either way, remember that you only get one chance to make a first impression. And shining stars are a great way to inspire some first-time clicks.

Tip: Make sure you display your reviews throughout your website as well (both service reviews and product reviews).

Display star-ratings throughout Google Do you know the different requirements for showing your stars across Google's  platforms?

Sitelink Extensions

The Sitelink Ad Extension is the number one on many lists and for good reason. It’s essentially a juiced-up version of Structured Snippet Extensions, which only share a few links below the ad.

With Sitelink Extensions, not only do you share a few extra links, but they’re bigger and contain extra room for descriptions of each of those pages. This means you’re taking up a lot of “real estate” on the screen. This is particularly true for mobile devices, where screen space is even more limited.

google-ads-extensions-sitelinks

Source: Future Shop

If your website consists of more than just a homepage, it probably makes sense to implement this extension. For example, if you sell clothes, you might divide your product categories into many pages: Men, Women, Boys, Girls, etc.

If you sell electronics, it could look something like this: TVs, Smartphones, Computers, A/V

If you work in a specific niche, you might want to display your About Us page.

The point is that you’re being more transparent about your offer and you’re giving them more options to click. Users who see your ad will get a better feeling for whether or not your ad is relevant to them and click on the appropriate link.

Conclusion

Google Ad extensions can be a great addition to any campaign you are running. By increasing trust, being more transparent, and providing more information, you’ll not only take up more screen space, but you’ll give users more reasons to click on your ad.

Trusted Tips: Download our checklist to learn about making the perfect Google  Ad!

08/11/23

Alon Eisenberg

Alon Eisenberg

Alon Eisenberg has been the Content Manager UK at Trusted Shops since 2017. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor's degree in Communications in 2004.

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