Paid search advertisers received an interesting bit of news in mid-2010 when Google announced ad extensions - additions to paid search text ads allowing for added links/content within ads themselves. Since that time, I have made it a point to not only leverage ad extensions wherever it makes sense for my paid search clients, but also to measure the impact on key performance metrics.
First thing's first - without even really knowing the effects of ad extensions on results, why should you consider them to begin with?
1. Added real estate
A recurring theme for many clients is the ability to achieve #1 ranking for branded and high quality/priority keywords in search results. Ad extensions such as Sitelinks are a great way to mitigate some of these concerns, since they allow for multiple new lines of copy (links), contact info, product information, or maps in your paid search ads. If you have competitors or third-party ads nipping at your heels in sponsored results, especially for branded ads, ad extensions will portray your ads with the extra content, thus giving you a visual competitive advantage (assuming your brand terms achieve "high-quality" status; if they don't, well, that's another issue altogether).
Ad extensions provide additional real estate for sponsored ads
2. Site deep-linking
If you have multiple goals and/or calls to action for your paid search efforts, the ability to display a variety of links, again using the Sitelinks extension, provides a way to sort out users and send them directly into top conversion pages. For example, you have have two searchers using your general brand name in a search, but one is looking to purchase a product, while the other is looking for contact information. With Sitelinks you can present each user with their intended action, and link directly to the desired content from your paid search ad. It's like magic!
Hint: Ad Sitelinks do not need to drive to separate pages, i.e. they can all point to the same landing page, if desired. Nevertheless, the added links provide extra ad content, multiple calls to action and messaging, and may even drive higher quality scores.
3. Call tracking
The phone numbers extension allows advertisers to leverage a Google Phone number within paid search ads, which then automatically forwards to your designated number. Why do this? Well, first of all, if a users calls the number presented in your ad instead of clicking, there is no charge (not yet, at least). Second, calls can be tracked from within your Adwords reporting interface, providing a new level of insight not before seen from online to offline action (unless you are using a tool like Mongoose Metrics). If calls are a big piece of your paid search goal set, the phone numbers ad extension is a no-brainer.
4. Integration with other Google products
Sometimes the best fit for your searchers is not your website, but other Google entities that can promote your brand. Google product and location ad extensions are effective methods of giving searchers other avenues to explore and maybe even purchase your products online. All of these capabilities can ultimately "flesh out" your brand online, through Google Locations information and products, which both allow for added information such as photos, reviews, contact information, etc. If your paid search client has a physical location or products that can be bought online, these ad extensions give paid search advertisers more ways to market them.
Google location ad extensions promote physical location information
Based on pure conjecture, Google ad extensions are powerful new tools that should be leveraged wherever possible in your paid search ads. However, the question remains, is this hypothesis backed up by results? My next post will explore some specific examples of how ad extensions have lifted results.
Have you used ad extensions and seen results? Do you have any other reasons to use or not to use ad extensions? Share below!
