Ad Extensions are part of Ad Copy, they expand your ad with additional information, making your ad more prominent which encourages users to click on your ad. The additional information can be location of your business, link to an internal page on the website, pricing information, deals page link, app download link etc. Below is a screenshot which has different ad extensions. 
Ad Extensions are divided into two categories:
Manual Ad Extensions – Manual Ad Extensions includes filling of your business information manually
Automatic Ad Extensions – Automatic Ad Extensions does not require to fill your business information, they are triggered automatically.
Always go with Manual Ad Extensions, as you have better control over what information to show and what extensions to show basis your business.
Advanced Google Adwords Course by Rahul Gadekar – Access Now
Different Types of Manual Ad Extensions in Google Search Ads
- Sitelink Extensions
- Callout Extensions
- Structured Snippet Extensions
- Call Extensions
- Message Extensions
- Location Extensions
- Affiliate Location Extensions
- Price Extensions
- App Extensions
- Promotion Extensions
- Lead Form Extension
So let’s understand in detail each Ad Extension:
Sitelink Extensions
Sitelink Extensions are additional links to your Ad Copy. Sitelinks can help you to take users to specific pages on your site which includes a product page, a service page, free trial page, contact us page, offers page etc.
When your ad is shown, at least 2 sitelinks will be shown minimum at a time. Maximum sitelinks you can ad is 6 sitelinks. Below is an example of a sitelink, when it is shown with your ad copy
Guidelines for writing effective Sitelink Extensions
- Add USP’s in your description
- Add Sales Pitch in your description
- Add keywords in your description
- Add Call To Action like Free Trial, Sign Up Now, Best Deals etc
- For mobile, sitelinks will appear side by side, in a single line (follow the above screenshot)
- Focus high on mobile sitelinks as most of the searches happen on mobile
- Add Sitelinks at the campaign level only
CallOut Extensions
CallOut Ad Extensions are non clickable, they allows you to add additional information about your business, products/services, features etc. They usually appear on the 4 line of the Ad Copy. Below is an example of CallOut Extension.
Guidelines for writing effective CallOut Extensions
- Add Unique Selling Proposition
- Add Features of the products/services
- You can add text including Free Shipping, 24 Hours Support, 1 Warranty etc to attract shoppers
- Always add CallOut extensions as they are non clickable
- Add CallOut extensions at campaign level only
Structured Snippets Extensions
Structured Snippets appear below Callout extensions. It can be used to highlight key aspects of your brand/product/services including:
- Amenities
- Brands
- Courses
- Degree Programs
- Destinations
- Featured Hotels
- Insurance Coverage
- Models
- Neighborhoods
- Service Catalog
- Shows
- Styles
Below is an example of Structured Snippets
Guidelines for writing effective Structured Snippets Extensions
- Add the right header basis your business/product/service
- Highlight the key features of the product/service
- Keep it concise and precise
- Don’t repeat the features from the one’s mentioned in the ad copy
- Always add Structured Snippets at campaign level only
Call Extensions
Call Extensions are extensions which allow you to add phone numbers to your ad copy. It’s an effective ad extension on mobile, as users can click on the ad and connect with the business directly over a call, which can eventually increase sales. Below is an example of call extensions with an ad copy
Guidelines for defining effective Call Extensions
- Make sure that you set a differential bidding for mobile device so that your ads rank higher in mobile search
- Make sure you have a team assigned to take the call or else the experience of the customer would be bad
- Make sure that you define Ad Scheduling, so that the phone no is triggered only during office hours
- Make sure that you setup call conversion tracking in Google Ads with your Google Forwarding Number
- You can also create a separate Click to call campaign which will allow you to define a click to call CTA for mobile devices and then you can schedule the campaign with respect to your office hours
- Click to call campaigns are effectively for business like restaurants, spas, saloons etc
- You can use call extensions on desktop as well, in this case if an user calls by looking at the search ad on desktop, you won’t be charged for click
Message Extensions
Message Extensions allows you to send message to your potential customers directly from your ad. This type of ad extension is only available on mobile devices. Users who are on mobile devices can directly send messages to advertisers once they click the ad. Below is an example of message extension
Guidelines of Defining Message Extensions
- Message Extensions are useful to book an appointment, get quote, request a call back, coupon code offers etc
- Message Extension should not be used for Ecommerce Businesses, E-Ticketing Business or any website which has a payment gateway
- Message Extensions can be used for Restaurant Business, Spa & Salon Business, Booking Doctor Appointments etc
- You can’t track conversions through message extensions, the best way is to setup a Google forwarding no to track conversions
- If you are in USA, Brazil, or Australia, you can also setup an auto reply message, which will be automatically sent to the customers who contacted you through message extension.
Location Extensions
Location Extension allows you to set up your business location on Google Search Ads, so that users can locate your business once clicking, on Google Maps. You need to connect your Google My Business account in order to get location extension activated for your ad copy. Below is an example of location extension on Google Search Ad
Guidelines for Defining Location Extensions
- Use Message Extensions for keywords on mobile which includes nearby For Eg: Restaurants Nearby, Saloons Near By, Coffee Shops Nearby etc
- Make sure you add all the information on your business page including working hours, phone nos, photos, reviews, directions etc
- Location Extensions can also appear on Google Maps search results
- Location Extensions may also appear on display network for sites and apps, when users are nearby
- Location Extensions may also appear on YouTube in-stream and bumper ads when users are nearby
Affiliate Location Extensions
Affiliate Location Extensions allows you to reach your customers when they are deciding about what product and where to buy the product. It helps them to find, nearby store or outlets who sell your products. Below is an example of how Affiliate Location Extension will look like on Google Search Ad
Guidelines for Affiliate Location Extensions:
- The user will see an address or a map location in the extension
- You don’t need Google My Business account for this as the location would already be marked by the store
- Around 14 Countries are included in Affiliate Location Extensions
- You can use this extension to locate Car Dealers, Laptop Dealers, Furniture Outlets etc
Price Extensions
Price Extensions allow you to add price to different products under your ad copy. Price Extension also help you to link different product pages of your business under your ad copy. Below is an example of price extension.
Guidelines for Defining Price Extensions:
- You should also have price extensions to your ad copy if you are promoting a product or a service, as it helps the user to understand the price immediately through the ad itself, so if the users budget is not matching with your product price, he might not click your ad. Thus it will save irrelevant clicks and drive relevant users to your website.
- Price Extensions are very prominent on an ad copy
- Use the product page url to drive users to the relevant product page with respect to the price mentioned in the extension
- Add at least 3 price extensions
- Price extensions only appear, if your ad rank at no 1 position
App Extensions
App Extensions allows you to link your mobile app (Android or iOS) on mobile and tablet. After clicking on app extension, users can download the app from play store or app store. Below is an example of App Extension
Guidelines for Defining App Extensions:
- App Extensions are available only on mobile and tablet searches.
- You can connect your website and mobile app through a single ad
- App extensions are useful to increase the downloads of your mobile app
- Make sure that you setup the conversion tracking for Android and iOS before starting of the campaign
- You can also create remarketing lists and remarket the users who have downloaded your mobile app
- Ideal for Ecommerce, E-Ticketing and App only Businesses
Promotion Extensions
Promotion Extensions allow you to highlight your offers, deals, discounts, coupons etc on Google Search Ads. Promotion Extension is a good way to increase sales for your business. Below is an example of Promotion Extension
Guidelines for Defining Promotion Extensions:
- A good way to increase direct sales by attracting users with discounts and deals.
- Always use promotion extensions during Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, Diwali etc. Basically during any festivals as the searches are high
- There are four options while selecting promotion extensions
- Monetary Discount
- Percent Discount
- Up To Monetary Discount
- Up To Percent Discount
- Select the one which is apt for your campaign
- When you are running campaigns during festive season or festive days, do make sure that you create an effective landing page including all the product information and offer details so that you improve your conversion rates
- You can also choose mobile as a preference if you wish to show your promotion extensions only on mobile
- You won’t lose any historical data if you keep adding new promotion extensions as per the festive seasons
Lead Form Extension
Lead form extension is an extension which allows you to capture leads on search ads itself. It allows advertisers to generate more leads for business.
To know more about Google lead form extension & how to create them, refer article – Generate More Leads With Google Lead Form Extension
Benefits of Google Search Ad Extensions:
Prominent
Ad Extensions makes your ad more prominent and stands out with your competitor’s ad. Prominent Ads means capturing maximum space on search ads, which gives your ad higher visibility.
Higher CTR
As the ads are very prominent on search results, it grabs the attention of consumers, thus leading to higher CTR.
Improve Quality Score
Ad Extensions helps you to make your ad more relevant to the user, adds more information about the product/service, allows to add offers/deals etc which improves the Click through rate on your ads, thus leading to improving Quality Score
High ROI
As we are able to achieve higher CTR on Google search ads with the help of ad extensions, we are actually driving more relevant visitors to our website. Thus more relevant visitors will increase our ROI from our search ads.
Measuring Google Search Ad Extensions Performance
Once you have added ad extensions, it’s important to measure which ad extensions are performing and which are not performing. You can view the report from the segment data by selecting click type option. Follow the below screenshot to view the option.
Conclusion
Ad Extensions offer great value to your ad copy. Using Ad Extensions can improve your search campaigns performance and drive sales. Important thing to note here is to understand which extension to use for what kind of business, adding each and every extension is not important. Experiment, Measure and Optimise your ad extensions for higher ROI
