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Improve Conversions With These 5 Google Ads Extensions
This is a guest post from Dmytro Spilka at Solvid.
The web is full of companies vying for consumer attention—and the conversions that come with it.
In an industry that’s congested with PPC marketing, it’s important for you to use all the resources you can to stand out.
Google Ads extensions give your ads the best chance possible of getting noticed. They can bring an edge to your campaign, improve your quality score, and can ultimately make the difference between your ad and someone else’s.
But what exactly are Google Ads extensions and how can they help you improve PPC conversions? Read on to see the most effective extensions out there, along with how they can fit into your campaign.
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How ad extensions work
Ad extensions operate as additional snippets of data that expand your ad, making it more useful to readers. Ad extensions can include a range of valuable data, such as telephone numbers, further links to your web pages, and reviews from sellers, among other things.
Fundamentally, if you have a clear idea of the goals that are driving your ad campaign, it’s possible to utilize extensions that can drive the right conversions among your target audiences.
What’s more, it doesn’t cost more for businesses to tap into the potential of Google Ads extension options.
While it’s possible to manually input valuable data pertaining to your extensions, some are fully automated, meaning that Google Ads automatically adds extension information to your advertisement, including click-to-call and automated calling services, as well as sitelink extensions.
Source: VisualCapitalist
When it comes to PPC marketing, no other organization comes close to the power of Google (Facebook comes closest). The world’s favorite search engine has been used by businesses for decades and, although we can see that Facebook’s appetite for digital ads is growing exponentially, it has a sizable task in catching up with Google.
Plus, Google experiences around 3.5 billion searches each day, a figure that goes some way in illustrating the strength of the search engine’s dominance.
With such a vast market to tap into, it’s no surprise that marketers are desperate to gain PPC prominence while using Google Ads.
Considering the fact that there’s an ongoing battle for top positions, especially within high-competition niches like insurance, the advertisers are pushed to utilize every opportunity possible to stand out and attract the click.
But which extensions are the best performers? And how exactly can certain extensions help to skyrocket your conversion rates? Let’s take a deeper look at the power of extensions and the conversions they could bring your business:
1. Call extensions
Source: Search Engine Land
Call extensions provide interested parties with a direct link to a conversion. As you may be able to guess from the name, this function adds a telephone number to your Google Ads search ads.
If you work for a large, multinational corporation, there might not necessarily be a pressing need for callers to speak to your staff on the phone, but for more localized businesses, (e.g. restaurants, shops, etc.), the addition of a phone number can be the bridge necessary to build enough customer confidence to prompt a sale.
Learn to localize your emails.
Call extensions can be constructed at an account, campaign, or even an ad group level. If you create a call extension at group level, then your call exension will be on display then for that group’s ads.
This function is ideal if you’re a national or international business that still wants to offer options to local customers. By providing a local phone number, it’s possible to arrange appointments or special reservations for people living near your brick-and-mortar location.
If your business offers local services, be sure to combine call and location extensions in a way that allows searchers to see telephone numbers associated with their geographical location. This will work wonders in encouraging visitors to act on their interest sooner rather than later.
2. Sitelink extensions
Source: Clicteq
The sitelink extensions offered by Google Ads provide extra links to support your ad and your target audience to pages that may carry more relevance to them, depending on their query.
In the example above, we’re able to see that Nike has added sitelinks to focus on new products, women’s training ranges, football equipment and running goods.
How do sitelinks perform such a significant role in boosting your conversions? Well, this process offers unique levels of insight into your PPC performance.
Using this extension, users can see which specific links are performing better than others and optimize their strategies accordingly. If, for example, your shop is gaining more traffic for one product over another, it could be time to shift your links.
It’s key to monitor which ads and sitelinks are bringing the most traffic and which are the most valuable to the business in the long run (not just the first click).
To do that, you should be able to see the entire behavioral flow of the click. You’d need to connect Google Analytics to your Google Ads account. Another way of tracking conversions is through tools like Finteza that provide rich insights into the traffic coming from Google Ads.
(Image: Finteza)
In the meantime, tools like WordStream enable advertisers to optimize ads and apply recommendations with ease.
As with many things in the world of marketing, it’s worth running tests to see which links are bringing more conversions. Be sure to construct short-term campaigns to fine-tune the type of links you’re including in your ads to yield the best results.
3. Callout extensions
Source: WordStream
Callout extensions via Google Ads help marketers to include extra lines of text to accompany their ads. The application of these extra lines is relatively open-ended—meaning callout extensions can be used to tell prospective customers about your brand or notify them of certain promotions or signup offers. They can also be added to your Search Network Campaigns.
This particular extension gives businesses the chance to invest a little more time in promoting certain qualities of their brand or offer an additional flourish in the form of a CTA.
4. Click-to-text extensions
(Image: Blue Frontier)
If you’re looking to utilize the potential of a mobile audience, then click-to-text extensions can invite prospective customers to begin their journey through your sales funnel, all with a simple SMS text message.
The beauty of click-to-text Google Ads extensions is that they offer users a fresh avenue in which to get in touch with your business in a way that suits them.
This particular extension can be utilized in the form of a non-intrusive prompt at the foot of your ad, and really helps in making your company appear more accessible.
How to get engagement (despite the ad blockers).
What’s more, click-to-text functions double as a CTA, inviting users to choose. This opportunity for communication among users has shown strong signs of boosting conversions for businesses.
In fact, Hallam claims that click-to-text extensions can boost click-through rates by as much as 17.2% online—a massive increase on the 6% standard for the company’s headline-only ads.
5. Price extensions
Source: SEJ
It’s also possible to add more value to your search ads through the potential of Google Ads price extensions. This feature allows businesses to broadcast the price of their products or services (up to eight are possible) within their search ads results, so potential customers have a clear idea of what you’re selling and how much it’ll cost.
Price extensions can be implemented as links directly to your site, so it’s possible for users to bypass your landing pages and find themselves right in the midst of your checkout pages.
While this form of advert is great for offering users a direct insight towards your price ranges and your product offers, it’s also the type of extension where searchers could click multiple links within one ad, meaning that you’ll ultimately end up paying for two clicks in one go—a slight inconvenience that, in many cases, will be outweighed by a vast array of benefits.
Wrap up
As you compete with other companies in your industry for Google rank and number of clicks, remember to implement these Google Ads extensions for best results:
- Call extensions
- Sitelink extensions
- Callout extensions
- Click-to-text extensions
- Price extensions
By incorporating these methods, you’re improving your chances of being seen and your chances of converting even more prospects into customers.
Dmytro Spilka is the Founder and CEO at Solvid, a creative content agency based in London. Dmytro is a contributor for Entrepreneur, TechRadar, SEMRush, and more.
