AdWords ad extensions
01/12/2010
The Ad Extensions functionality of AdWords is a bringing together of some of the advertising ideas previously being used within Google Local Business or local Search or Google Maps searches.
Google Ad Extensions helps include other useful information into the Google AdWords ads which make them appear more useful and more relevant to people searching for a product or service.
There are several types of Ad Extension called, location extensions product extensions and ad sitelinks.
AdWords Location Extensions
Location Extensions give location information, and specifically addresses. This is all linked in with the Google maps database so when the data is entered it is checked for a valid address; it is not possible to add (for example) addresses with a nonexistent road and postcode in Spain. The clever part of the AdWords system is that these ads will only be shown to people searching for a location specific service or who are searching from the that geographical area, based on IP address or any other address information you have given Google. This might be on your personal Google settings, or it might be from your phone if you have geo location turned on. It is worth emphasising that the key factor here is any location specific keyword typed in. This makes sense if you are searching for a tourism type product at another destination.
The location extension is helpful in that you can add an image or logo of your business, which makes your ad more obvious. And it is very likely Google gives preference to listings with images included.
The location extension can be linked quickly to addresses listed in the Google Local Business Centre Account associated with the AdWords account. This is Google being efficient and making it easy for all data to be shared between types of Google advertising platform. It also very significantly increases the amount of information that Google knows about your or your business.
So location extensions are really helpful for businesses offering a service in an area, or maybe a shop in a specific area.
AdWords Product Extensions
Products extensions are really useful for ecommerce websites, and they take data from Google Merchant account to show underneath the main AdWords ad. This can include images of the products, the short product name and a price. This is a very effective marketing tool as it takes images of the products and places them in the search results. If your shop has competitively priced products then this can increase click onto the website significantly.
AdWords Sitelink Extensions
Another type of ad extension is particularly suited to the larger corporate website and that it sitelink extensions. These allow links direct through to different areas of the website, but they also allow extra space to be given to your ad, therefore increasing its dominance. Google will select the sitelinks to display, usually up to 4 of them from a selection of up to 10 that the PPC advertiser can specify. Sitelink extensions are only available to high quality advertising accounts and the top ranked ads within these accounts. Clever PPC optimisation and management will use sitelinks to promote special offers and direct visitors straight to the most relevant pages.
