Today, I will run through some newer and lesser-utilized ad extensions that have potential to add big value to your PPC campaigns in both Google AdWords and Bing Ads.
First, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Adding the extensions below almost always result in, at the very least, a small improvement in CTR:
- Sitelink extensions
- Callout extensions
- Call extensions
You’re likely familiar with these. If you don’t use them in every single account, get them in there now. They’re easy to produce using content from a client’s site and can be easily added at the account level (although you will likely want to go more granular at some point).
Extension: Structured Snippet
Engine: Google and Bing
Who Should Use It: Everyone
Description: Similar in theory to callout extensions, these offer another layer of content and information underneath the main lines of your text ads. When creating, you are asked to choose a category relevant to your business. For example, an HVAC company may choose the category “Service Catalog” and add “Heating”, “AC” and “Plumbing” as the snippets. Snippets are not clickable, and serve to give advertisers another level of differentiation from competitors.
If you do not select snippets yourself, AdWords can also create dynamic snippets based on landing page content.
Extension: Price
Engine: Google
Who Should Use It: E-Commerce
Description: Price extensions allow advertisers to display relevant information about specific products underneath text ads. This allows users to more easily compare pricing between advertisers. It can be helpful in weeding out potentially high-cost clicks from users with no interest in a given price range. Furthermore, it can improve CTR in the most relevant potential customers. Interested users can click on a price extension and be directed to that specific product.
Extension: Review
Engine: Google and Bing
Who Should Use It: Everyone with relevant third-party reviews
Description: Review extensions display positive accolades, testimonials and third-party rankings with users. This can be anything from a quote to an award acknowledgement. It’s simple and criminally underutilized. In my experience, these tend to improve both CTR and conversion rate more than any other extension, especially if your client has relevant awards to display.
In general, I recommend at least testing most, if not all, available ad extensions. As Google continues to add these (and Bing continues to mimic Google), advertisers can further differentiate themselves from the field, and become more relevant to the right users.
Some ad extensions may work better than others, so test them like you would ad copy — adding new ones and pausing “losers” to ensure the user’s overall ad experience is always improving. Don’t settle for just the classics (sitelinks, callouts, call). Mix it up and get better!