Additional information and more ad space allows potential customers to get a better idea of your business and entice them to click.

For driving customers to your website and creating subsequent conversions, evidence shows that Sitelinks, Callouts, Structured Snippets, Promotion Extensions, and Price Extensions are the types of extensions that yield the best results.

• Sitelink Extensions show links to specific pages of your website

• Callout Extensions show descriptive text and highlight value propositions (e.g. "Free delivery")

• Structured Snippet Extensions highlight specific aspects of your products and/or services that will appeal to browsers (e.g. competitions and travel planner)

• Promotion Extensions show special sales and offers 

• Price Extensions show the prices of your products and/or services

While there is a clear and important distinction between Sitelink Extensions and Callout Extensions (explained in more detail below), there is some cross-over/room for cross-over between Callout Extensions and Structured Snippet Extensions. 

The primary methodology here is understanding and catering to user intent first. If the ad extensions you’re offering don’t assist the searcher to reach their desired outcome, then they should not be used in the first place – when you help your audience find what they’re looking for, while at the same time demonstrating the additional value that your brand can offer within the field in question, CTRs and conversions are likely to improve.

Ad Extensions Optimization Tips

Match Sitelinks to Search Intent

Irrelevant sitelinks can lead to a disjointed customer experience. If someone is searching for “computer desks,” for example, and see links for “lounge furniture,” it’s likely to cause confusion.

Instead, use sitelinks that assist users in getting to their end goal as quickly as possible. For example, including specific products/services for a broad term like “nike women's running shoes” can provide shortcuts within the buyer’s journey. This approach can work for any product category

When choosing which products to include, look at your top-performing products under that category. Include sitelinks to your top-performing content in order to increase the chances of engaging the user and eventually converting a user into an active customer.

When adding sitelinks to your campaigns, it is advisable to follow these guidelines:

• Use for broad-match keywords

• Aim for 25 characters or fewer for each title

• Avoid sitelinks when running highly targeted campaigns involving long-tail keywords

• Use a single selling-point for each description

Use Copywriting Principles on Callout Extensions

Sitelinks should not be used to show off a brand’s array of value propositions (e.g. fast delivery). This should be done via Callout Extensions, thus leaving the allotted Sitelink Extension space free for product/service-related links that continue the searcher’s journey. The inclusion of value proposition-based copy in PPC ads via Callout Extensions will, in theory, reduce user/consumer anxiety and boost trust in the brand.

When adding Callout Extensions to your campaign, it is advisable to follow these guidelines:

• Use for broad match search terms

• Include general offer details such as guarantees, fast shipping, seasonal offers and brand credentials)

• Stick to 25 characters to quickly capture attention

• Improve your CTR by creating a highly specific call-to-action

Make sure that all extension text is unique and that extensions don’t contain duplicate content, meaning that you can input as many extensions as possible without them becoming redundant and/or confusing for users.

For more guidance on copywriting for PPC ads, see our previous blog post.

Create Urgency with Promotion Extensions

Using the promotion extension, you can include percentage and monetary discounts that exist for specific products to tempt users to convert. 

This is how they appear within SERPs: 

When adding Promotion Extensions to your campaign, it is advisable to follow these guidelines:

• Plan promotions well in advance and schedule them in Google Ads

• You can choose monetary or percentage discounts, both specific and “up to”

• Accompany your promotions with a relevant landing page

• Historical data allows you to compare promotional performance across different periods

It is a good idea to add as many types of ad extensions as possible – there are plenty of Google Ad extension options available, and all PPC advertisers should make use of them all. 

In doing so, you are giving more opportunities for searchers to click without any additional costs. 

Even if no one is clicking an ad extension, that doesn’t mean it isn’t helping to improve the image of your business in the minds of consumers. 

Although extensions may drive fewer clicks than headlines, many browsers look at extensions before deciding which headlines to click on. Therefore, extensions can help an ad’s overall CTR and dwell time.

For example, If a person had little/no prior knowledge of the two brands, based on these PPC ad examples, which would be the more likely to make the company appear to them to be the more useful, well-organised and professionally-run organisation – one deserving of their time and their clicks?

No matter which ad extension practices businesses choose, the key to success with all of these Google Ad extensions lies in testing. Like with any ad element, it’s essential to measure the performance of your ad extensions and experiment with different combinations and wording.