If you’re not 100 percent sure of what ad extensions are, the clue is in the title. They’re clickable links within ads that provide quick and easy access to information, and help your ad to stand out in search results.
Ad extensions have a huge positive impact on click-through rates (CTR). In fact, in Google’s own testing, it found on average there is a 10-15 percent CTR uplift from implementing a new ad extension.
It’s not only the improvements in CTR that you can look forward to. By adding ad extensions you take over more online ad space and are, in effect, telling Google that you are more relevant and have higher quality ads. Together, this is a powerful message for Google and customers alike, all of which helps to boost your ad’s rank on the search engine results page.
What are extensions and how do they work?
Different extensions do different things. The key is to add as many ad extensions as are relevant to your business. At a minimum, you should ensure that you include sitelinks, callout and call extensions, location extensions and structured snippets.
Where possible, you can also use price extensions, app extensions and offer/promotion extensions if you’re running time-limited promotional offers.
For dental campaigns, you need extensions that raise your click-through rate, lower your cost-per-click (CPC), and increase your overall return on investment. We’ve selected the six ad extensions we think will most benefit your business.
1. Sitelink extensions
These are additional links from your advertisement to popular, related pages on your website. This could be specific treatments, Contact Us pages, Meet The Team, reviews or pricing pages. On mobile devices these will typically be displayed as a linked title and on desktop as a linked title with a short description.
Because you often don’t immediately know what someone wants to do next on your website, providing shortcuts to popular parts of it improves the overall user experience. It also increases conversions and gets the customer quickly to wherever they want to go on your site.
2. Call extensions
The call extension puts your phone number front and centre on your website. By adding a call button, you increase the likelihood of gaining a phone call enquiry, which converts higher than any other lead type. You’re also making your prospective patient’s first encounter with your business easier and more enjoyable.
On a mobile, the only action your potential new patient needs to perform is click to call. This makes the call extension one of the most important extensions of all.
3. Location extensions
For businesses, location extensions are essential. In almost all instances your campaigns will be geographically targeted, so telling a potential patient where you are in relation to them can only be a good thing.
Location extensions show your business address, phone number and map marker. The map marker takes users directly the maps page for a more detailed view of your location.
All you need do to activate this extension is to link your account to your Google My Business page.
4. Callout extensions
Callout extensions (not to be confused with call extensions) are like brash calls to action that very often ‘call out’ to a specific audience, telling them ‘we are exactly what you are looking for’.
The ‘callout’ can be used to describe different treatments, promotions, USPs of your practice – anything you think is going to entice the user into clicking on your ad rather than your competitor’s.
5. Structured snippets extensions
Not dissimilar to callout extensions, structured snippets are a good way of zoning in on those treatments or products you want to be known for. With snippets you can showcase your expertise and the breadth of what you offer without having to advertise your practice or create landing pages that are linked to your ads.
6. Promotion extensions
Promotion extensions are a handy way to highlight any sales or promotional offers you may be running. Visually identifiable by a price tag icon, you can add specific details about the promotion, such as discounts, duration, minimum spend, promo codes, and so on.
Like sitelinks, promotion extensions are clickable and can send traffic to a specific product or offer page. They can be applied at the account, campaign or ad group level.
Promotions are a staple of marketing, so it’s not surprising that adding promotion extensions to your campaigns can dramatically increase an ad’s CTR, which means higher converting campaigns and a greater return on investment.
