Ad Extensions in Google AdWords - How to Optimize Your Ads Most Effectively

Using ad extensions, you can make your ads more attractive and interactive. They are an excellent way to provide users with more relevant information about your product, your company, or your service. Additionally, it has been consistently shown that ads with extensions increase visibility and can therefore be clicked on more often, resulting in a higher click-through rate.

These additional pieces of information are appended to text ads either manually or automatically. You have no influence over automatic extensions as they are directly integrated by Google. We would now like to introduce the most important manual extensions in more detail below.

Achieve greater visibility with site links

The most widespread ad extensions are likely the site links. They contain links to selected pages of the website below the ad text and provide the potential customer with more supportive information about your products or services. However, there is a limitation: the site links are only displayed in the top positions, i.e., when the ad appears above the organic search results in positions 1, 2, or 3. A minimum of two and a maximum of six site links are displayed.

AdWords ads with site links resemble the top organic search results in structure and should therefore not be confused with them.

In addition to the normal site links, there are also enhanced site links. With these, you have 25 characters for the title and 70 characters for the description, just like with a normal text ad.

Fig. 1: Site links in the Gymaesthetics ad

Provide more additional information with callouts

Stand out from the competition and present users with more helpful information through extensions with additional information, also known as callout extensions, and showcase the special benefits and USPs (Unique Selling Proposition) of your company, such as "Free Shipping," "PayPal," or "24-hour Consulting." You have 25 characters available for each additional piece of information. The details appear below the second text line of your ad, are only displayed in the top positions, and unlike site links, they cannot be clicked.

Fig. 2: Callouts in the Gymaesthetics ad

Snippet extensions – Small adjustment, big performance

At first glance, snippets and callouts are difficult to distinguish.

The actual difference is that through snippet extensions, you highlight certain features of your product or services and thus offer users additional information about your offering.

Snippet extensions consist of a title that you determine through a selection from various categories. After you have found the appropriate category for yourself, you must provide at least three values. You also have 25 characters available for each of these entries.

Since the beginning of the year, you can also use this function in German.

Fig. 3: Snippet Extension in the AdWords Account

Your ad will then be displayed as follows in the Google search results:

Fig. 4: Snippet Extension in the Swift Stream ad

Newly available: Location extensions in Google AdWords

With the location extension, important company information such as the phone number, business address, and a map marker on Google Maps appear in addition to the ad. They are extremely important for stationary retail, such as restaurants, hair salons, clubs, doctor's offices, etc. This way, users can identify which offers are nearby and, when using mobile devices, navigate directly to your business. To use location extensions, you need a connection to a free Google My Business account.

Fig. 5: Location extension in the AOK Nordost ad

Integrate call extensions into your ads

Through the call extension, you can integrate a phone number into your ad, which is displayed on all devices regardless of the ad position. This extension is particularly important for delivery on mobile devices. Users can call you with just one click without typing in much (Click-to-Call Function). What's practical is that you only need to display the phone number when you are actually reachable, e.g., if you are only in the office from Monday to Friday between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Specific functions are available to you within Google AdWords for this purpose.

Fig. 6: Call extension in an AdWords ad

Be better seen with review extensions

Through the review extension, you can integrate a quote from an independent source into your AdWords ad and thus make your offer appear more trustworthy to users. However, you must definitely observe the requirements, otherwise the quote will be quickly rejected and not integrated by Google into your ad.

The review must not be older than 12 months, the name of your company must not be repeated in the quoted passage, and it must remain unchanged from the original source.

App extensions are also possible with AdWords

Through the app extension, you can additionally promote your own app with AdWords and significantly increase download and click numbers. The price and logo of the app are automatically displayed below your ad, and the user can reach either the Google Play Store or the iTunes App Store by clicking on the extension.

What we can do for you

Using ad extensions, you can sustainably optimize the performance of your AdWords campaigns and reach your users even better. If you need support in the area of AdWords, contact internetwarriors GmbH. Our certified AdWords specialists are happy to help you further.