Google Ads Extensions are an easy and effective way to improve your CTR at no extra cost. They give your ads more real estate on the search results page and give searchers more of those all-important reasons to click.

There’s a huge number of Google Ads Extensions out there to choose from. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of our top 9, as well as how to use them.

What are Google Ads Extensions?

Ad Extensions are pieces of additional information that you can add to your ads in order to make your business, service or product more alluring. They can link users to pages on your website, provide useful information like your location or phone number, or just let searchers know how great you are through compelling callouts and reassuring user reviews.

With Google Ads having tight limits on character counts, Ad Extensions also help by providing more space to sell your business, ultimately giving users more reasons to click your ad. You’re not limited to only one. Add multiple extensions to your Ad groups, campaigns, or account, and let the Google Ads algorithm optimise to show the best performing combinations.

According to Google, the addition of Ad Extensions should provide an uplift in CTR of 10-15%. While you might assume this comes at a cost, the positive impact Ad Extensions have on ad rank means your cost per click could actually reduce.

With so many Ad Extensions available, it’s important to choose extensions based on your audience and business goals. To help make this process a little easier, we’ve included a list of the top 9 Google Ad Extensions you need for a successful PPC campaign.

9 Google Ads Extensions You Should be Using

1. Sitelink Extensions

Sitelinks are clickable Ad Extensions that link searchers to specific pages on your site. Like all of Google’s Ad Extensions, they don’t come at any extra cost meaning you pay the same regardless of where on your Ad a searcher clicks. They’re also effective, with Google claiming that the addition of sitelinks could provide your ads with an 8% uplift in CTR.

Before you create sitelinks for your entire navigation bar, think about the action you want users to take on your site. Then, add the sitelinks that will direct users further down that journey. If you want users to purchase a product on-site, take out that link to your careers section and add links to your product category pages.

As shown in the examples below, sitelinks are displayed differently on desktop and mobile. They’re also displayed differently based on ad position. If your ad sits in the top position, the sitelinks will show like the examples below. However, if your ad sits lower on the page, the sitelinks will all be shown next to each other in one row.

2. Callout Extensions

Callout extensions are small snippets of text that you can add to your ads to promote the unique selling points of your products or services. Unlike sitelinks, they’re not clickable but allow you to provide more detailed information about your business.

To follow best practice, keep your callouts as concise as possible, highlighting what makes you different from your competitors. You can include up to four callout extensions per ad group, each with a character limit of 25 characters. Google Ads will then only display your callouts when they’re predicted to improve performance.

To help lessen your workload, think about the level at which you add your callouts. If a USP is applicable to your entire business then add it at account level. If something’s only applicable to a particular product or service, then add more granular callouts at ad-group or campaign level.

3. Structured Snippets

Structured snippets work similarly to callouts, and are displayed under the ad copy but above the sitelinks. They display detailed information about your products or services by showing a ‘list’, preceded by a ‘header’.

‘Headers’ are category titles like ‘brands, ‘destinations’ and ‘styles’, and can be chosen from a list of 13 which can be found here. ‘Lists’ are values that belong to each ‘header’. Looking at the example below, the ‘header’ is ‘Models’ with the list being ‘T-Roc’, ‘Polo’, ‘Tiguan’, etc…

Like all aspects of Google Ads, relevance is key. Make sure that your ‘list’ matches closely with your ‘header’ or your snippets could be disapproved. To follow best practice, add multiple headers to your ad-groups, campaigns, or account and let Google Ads’ algorithm do the hard work and show the most relevant header for each search.

4. Location Extensions

Location Extensions help searchers find your business by displaying your address, a map to your business, or the distance to the location. They can also include a call button if your phone number is listed on your ‘Google My Business’ page.

Make sure your ‘Google My Business’ page is up to date as this is where searchers will be directed if they click on the extension. Here searchers will be able to see your opening hours, a phone number, photos and directions, as well Google reviews.

This is a great extension to use if you have a bricks and mortar location where your products or services are available. It’s also worth adding if you think your location will be an important factor in your customers’ decision to do business with you. You can display multiple locations if you have more than one store.

5. Call Extensions

Call extensions, unsurprisingly, let you include a phone number in your ads that searchers can click to call. On desktop, this will be displayed as your phone number, but on mobile it will be shown as a call icon.

Like sitelinks, you can track your call extension clicks in Google Ads. You can also include these calls in your conversion numbers if it’s one of your business goals. It goes without saying that you should only include a call extension if you can handle the call volume coming in. If you’d prefer users to fill out a form, then consider adding a lead form extension instead.

6. Price Extensions

Price extensions show underneath your ad copy on both desktop and mobile, and appear as a set up of up to 8 clickable cards displaying different options and prices. By clicking on the cards in the price menu, searchers can go directly to what interests them on your site.

Much like structured snippets, you’ll need to include a ‘header’. You’ll also need to include a ‘description’ (25-character limit), a ‘price’, and a ‘final URL’ (your product page). If your prices are flexible, you can also include a ‘qualifier’ to set a price range.

This is a great extension to add if you’re looking to shorten your conversion path. Another benefit is increasing the relevancy of your traffic, as a searcher can easily see if your prices are within their range. Although this might dissuade some searchers, it means that you can avoid paying for clicks that wouldn’t have converted.

7. Promotion Extensions

Promotion extensions help you to stand out from your competitors by offering sales and promotions. They’re marked by a price tag icon or the special occasion written in bold copy and, while there’s a set list of occasions to choose from – see the full list here – the inclusion of spring, summer, autumn, and winter sales means that you won’t find yourself short of a relevant occasion.

To set these up you’ll need to select; the occasion; currency; promotion type; promo requirements; sale item; final URL; and the promotion dates.

8. App Extensions

App extensions, as you might have guessed, encourage app downloads by linking searchers to your app’s description in the app store. These are only shown on mobile and tablet, and can be effective if one of your primary goals is to drive app downloads or boost your app’s visibility.

As with call extensions, you can track these clicks in Google Ads. You can also track these as a conversion if that’s one of your business goals.

9. Lead Form Extensions

Google’s latest extension, lead forms, have been designed to be ‘mobile first’, looking to improve mobile conversion rates. They appear beneath your search ads as a form icon and a call to action (CTA).

When searchers click the CTA a form opens, already pre-populated with their contact information. Users can then easily confirm their details without even leaving the SERP.

The fields you can add are ‘name’, ‘email’, ‘phone number’ and ‘postcode’. Remember to only include the fields you absolutely need as the longer the form, the lesser the chance of your users completing it.

A great feature of lead form extensions is personalisation. You can change the background image as well as creating your own thankyou message – including a headline (25-Character limit) and a description (200-character limit).

As with call and app extensions, you can track your lead form conversions in Google Ads. You can also download your customer data as a CSV or feed it straight into your CRM system.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are plenty of extensions to choose from, meaning there are lots of quick and easy opportunities to improve your CTR. Extensions not only take up more space on the SERP, but also add interaction to your ads, as well as providing conversion opportunities before searchers even reach your site.

When adding extensions to your account, first consider your audience and what action you want them to take. Next, elect the extensions that are the most relevant for your business goals and make them as high quality as possible by following best practice.

Finally, welcome automation. Your campaigns will need time to optimise, but will soon learn the best performing combinations to display. If you weren't already aware of the massive benefits of machine learning, you can find out more here >>>