Google AdWords Ad Extension Features Explained

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that Google AdWords makes so many changes to their interface and features, that it’s often difficult to keep up. Another drastic change  has occurred lately in AdWordsland and I’m here to give you the scoop.  Some of these features have been around for a while, but they’ve been somewhat hidden in the interface.

All of these features help Google AdWords practitioners extend the old run of the mill ad with additional info. Decide which ones are applicable for your ads and your business:

Google Product Extensions

This extension allows you to link your Google Merchant Center account to your AdWords ad(s). If the products you have listed in your Google Merchant Center match the searcher’s keyword query, then prices, images and titles will be linked to your Google AdWords ads. The searcher has to click on the “Plusbox” to see the products. This little box looks like a plus sign in a square and will usually have, “Show more results from ….” hyper linked next to it.

Google Location Extensions

The location extension feature allows you to connect another Google product, Google Places to your ad. The searcher’s location is taken into account as well as possible location keywords. Searchers will be able to see phone number, address and a “get directions” link.

Google Sitelink Extensions

This feature allows AdWords practitioners to add up to four additional links to other pages within a web site’s domain, underneath their normal text ad. More site links can bring searchers deeper into the content of your site offering special offers, more specific product categories or possible other call-to actions. Although AdWords lets you add up to ten sitelinks in the Adwords interface, Adwords will choose which four sitelinks are most relevant to the search query. Additionally, Google also just made it possible to copy sitelinks over between campaigns and adgroups.

Phone Extensions

Adding the phone extension feature measures how many users use the click-to-call on mobile devices. If the “call metrics” feature is selected, a custom phone number will be listed in the ad, which forwards directly to the advertiser’s  phone number. If you don’t select this feature, your existing business number will show.

Which ad extension have you tried? Have you noticed a marked increase in your traffic or conversions on these ads?