Revel Interactive has worked with dozens of ecommerce businesses over our 11+ years of service. More often than not, Google Ads is an essential part of any paid media mix, especially when it comes to ecommerce businesses. Google Ads has the ability to reach users that are actively shopping for products like yours, and has advanced bidding strategies to help your ads show to users likely to purchase. While anyone can set up a Google Ads campaign, it takes years of experience to know which settings will make or break your business.
Google Ads has evolved over the years, and increased competition means doing the bare minimum in your ad accounts just isn’t enough anymore. Well-written ad copy can only get your campaigns so far, and relying on those areas alone leaves quite a bit on the table as far as performance. Enter: Google Ads Extensions.
What Are Google Ads Extensions?
Google Ads extensions are additional assets that you can add to your Google Ads campaigns to beef up your ads on the SERP. Think of them as the extra chocolate sauce on top of your campaign sundae; while not required, they can make your campaign sundae that much tastier.
Google has 19 different ad extensions available to advertisers. Eleven are manual, which require you to set them up for your campaigns, and the other eight are dynamic, which can reference your site and account for the information.
Note: Google Ads changed the name of extensions to “assets” in September 2022. The function is the same, but not Google Ads extension “assets” can show in reporting tables with other assets like headlines and descriptions.
How Do Google Ads Extensions Work?
Each time your ad appears in the auction, Google will use a different combination of Google Ads Extensions based on the potential to hit your campaign’s goal. Hundreds of factors are taken into account to decide which extensions will show, including position in the ad auction, the user’s purchase intent, the device where the search is happening, and more.
Google Ads extensions are great to use within search campaigns, but some can also be applicable to any other Google Ads campaign type. Performance Max campaigns can use most of the Google Ads Extensions available but will pick and choose which placements see the extensions. Even Google Ads Display and Video campaigns can leverage certain ad extensions like sitelinks, lead forms, and location extensions.
There’s no added cost to use Google Ads Extensions, and having a variety of thoughtfully crafted ad extensions can help reduce your CPCs and overall campaign costs by better aligning your ads with the end user. Google rewards relevance with cost efficiency.
Do I Need to Use Every Google Ads Extension in My Campaign?
Absolutely not, and we insist that you don’t! Every business is different, and the needs of each advertising campaign are too. When deciding which ad extensions to use in your campaign, start by thinking about which ad extensions apply to your campaign and business. If you only sell one product, using structured snippet extensions may not make sense. If you don’t have brick-and-mortar locations, location extensions are probably not a good fit for you. This approach can save valuable time while you focus on your top-priority extensions.
Types of Google Ads Extensions for Ecommerce
Below, we break down our favorite extensions to use when building Google Ads campaigns for our ecommerce clients. In general, most of these seven extensions apply to ecommerce businesses across the board. If any don’t apply to your business, we recommend removing them from your setup checklist.
Sitelink Extensions
Sitelink extensions direct users to other pages on your website through specific clickable links other than your landing page. Common sitelinks direct users to “About” pages, “Sale” pages, or pages categorized by a product type or style. The Sitelink text is limited to 25 characters, but you can also utilize two description lines with up to 35 characters each to add more context to your link. Sitelinks can help you drive more traffic to your site because users have multiple links to click on.
Callouts
Callout extensions highlight unique selling points about your products. They’re a good place to advertise valuable information, like a promotion or any specialty services that may entice customers. Callout extensions are non-clickable, and four to six will show in an ad, but you can have up to 20 in rotation with a character limit of 25. Callout extensions are helpful because they give you the opportunity to add more keywords to your ads.
Structured Snippets
Structured snippets are similar to callout extensions because they appear after your ad descriptions, but they’re different in that they use templated headers to promote specific products or services. . The types of headers include Brands, Styles, Courses, Amenities, and more. Structured snippets are a great way to show exactly what you offer.
Price Extensions
Price extensions allow you to show the price of certain products along with a description, so you can set cost expectations for consumers and provide transparency. This can also be useful for brands with service bundles and variable pricing.
Promotion Extensions
If you have a limited-time offer or discount, you may want to consider promotion extensions. They allow you to describe the type of promotion, include a code if you have one, and specify the duration of the promotion. They’re idealt for short-term deals and they automatically expire at the set end date.
Image Extensions
Image extensions allow you to provide relevant images alongside your ads. They’re a great way to show visually appealing images of certain products and can help drive performance. The images have to meet certain standards: they have to be clear, can’t have text overlay, and can’t be a logo.
Location Extensions
Location extensions allow advertisers to show brick-and-mortar locations alongside their paid advertising efforts. Location extensions are tied to Google My Business profiles, and only connected locations will qualify to show for ads. These extensions can be a fantastic addition to your strategy if foot traffic is as important as online sales.
Honorable Mentions
The following Google Ads Extensions are what we like to call “honorable mentions”. They might not make sense for most ecommerce businesses, but could be a perfect fit for yours. We recommend reviewing each extension and deciding if it might work for your business.
Call Extensions
Does your business want more phone calls? If so, call extensions can help. These extensions create a clickable link with your phone number for a mobile experience that drives more phone calls.
We do want to caution that this type of ad extension can be harmful if you don’t want to drive more calls to your business. Unanswered phone calls can leave a bad taste in the mouth of a potential customer. We recommend skippingthese extensions if you don’t have the ability to answer calls in a timely manner.
Lead Form Extensions
If your business wants to drive leads of any kind, lead form extensions are a must. These handy ad extensions allow users to submit their information in a form within your ad. This option cuts out the middleman of a website to fill out a contact form.
Revel has found that this ad extension can be an excellent way to drive increased email and SMS list signups at a low cost. They work well in tandem with YouTube and Display campaigns, as well as regular search and Performance Max efforts.
Note: Google does not have many integrations available for lead forms. Popular CRM systems like Hubspot or Klaviyo do not have native integrations. The options to retrieve the leads your campaigns generated are to download a CSV file regularly or to set up a webhook integration for the lead form.
Other Google Ads Extensions
App extensions are essential to add if your business has an app available. Learn more.
Affiliate Location extensions are helpful if your product is in third-party locations like retail chains. Learn more.
Seller Ratings extensions are only available as an account-level automated asset. This extension can showcase high ratings from customers found across the web. Learn more.
Final Thoughts
Google Ads extensions are a great way to increase click-through rates, drive more traffic to your website, and generate more conversions. While some extensions might not be the right fit for your brand, there are several to choose from. When used correctly, ad extensions can help you use the most of your PPC budget and, ultimately, drive more qualified leads and sales.
Photo: ©Jacob Lund