How to use Extensions to boost ROI from Google Ads

What is Google Ad Extension?

Google Ad extensions expand your ad with additional information—giving people more reasons to choose your business.

They typically increase an ad's click-through-rate (the percentage of people that saw your Ad and clicked on them) by several percentage points.

Extension formats include call buttons, location information, links to specific parts of your website, additional text, and more.

Below is an a screenshot of an Ad extension on a desktop device

How Ad Extension work and it's benefits

To maximize the performance of your local business text ads, Google Ads selects which extensions to show in response to each individual search on Google.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to use all the extensions relevant to your business goals.

By adding more content to your ad, extensions give your ad greater visibility and prominence on the search results page. 

That means you tend to get more value from your ad.

Extensions often increase your total number of clicks, and can give people additional, interactive ways of reaching you—as with maps or calls.

When do extensions show

Adding an extension won’t guarantee that it will show with your ad all the time.

Extensions show with your ad when:

1. The extension (or combination of extensions) is predicted to improve your performance.
2. Your ad’s position and Ad Rank is high enough for extensions to show. To show extensions, Google Ads requires a minimum Ad Rank. (Ad Rank calculations factor in your extensions).

Cost of placing Ad extensions

There's no cost to add extensions to your campaign. 

Clicks on your ad (including your extension) will be charged as usual. (The exception is clicks on seller ratings, which are not charged.)

So you’re charged for a click when someone calls your business from a call extension, click your sitelinks or when someone downloads your app from an app extension.

Google Ads charges no more than two clicks per impression for each ad and its extensions.

How to setup Google Ad extension for local service business

Note: you can step up Ad extension at the account level, campaign level or at the adgroup level.

You can also set it up from any existing extensions you have in your account.

To setup an extension click the level you want to set it up for.

For example, if you want to set it up at the campaign level, click on "campaign" in the menu by your left hand side, then click Ads & extension on the same menu list, and finally click on extension on the same menu list.

Once you do that a new page will open. Look for and then click  on the blue plus sign or create ad extension button.

But for this tutorial, we are going to set it up at the account level.

Login to your Google Ads account.

Click Ads & extension in the menu by the left hand side of your screen, a pop-up will open below the "Ads & extension" text.

After the popup appear, click on the "Extension" button like on the image below.

Next click either the "plus sign" or the "create ad extension" button on the new page that will appear just like in the image below.

Once you click on either the "plus" sign or the "create Ad extension" button, a popup menu or list will open showing all available extensions on Google Ads.

Once the popup appears showing all available extensions you can use for your campaign, the next thing to do is to choose the best extension for your campaign and start creating them.

Best Ad extension for local service business

There are 10 Ad extension for Google Ads advertiser to use but not all of them are good for local service businesses.

Below are the best Ad extensions local service businesses should use on their Ads.

• Call extension
• Sitelink extension
• Structured snippet extension
• Location extension

1. Call Extension

Call extensions let you add phone numbers to your ads, which can significantly increase click-through rates (percentage of people that saw your Ad and clicked on it).

It will also help you increase your conversion rate (percentage of people that clicked on your Ad and converted to a lead by calling your business)

When your call extensions show, people can tap or click a button to call your business directly.

That means more customer engagement with your ads, and more chances for you to get leads and track your conversions.

Below is a screenshot of a call extension on an Ad from a mobile device

How to create call extensions

Select Call extensions from the list of extension choices as shown in the image below.

By default, you will be required to create a new call extension but if you like to use existing call extension you have to select the "use existing" box.

If you choose to use an existing extension,  select the "use existing" box and select a phone number from the list of phone numbers that appears.

If you’re creating a new extension, enter your phone number and country associated with the phone number as shown below.

Next thing is to schedule when you'd like your call extensions to run.

Scheduling when your call extension should run will help prevent potential customers from calling your business when there is no sales representative to pick up the call.

As a rule of thumb, your call extension should not be scheduled to run when your business is closed or when there is no sales rep to answer a call.

To schedule when your call extension should run, scroll down and click the 'Advance" button like in the image below

Once you click the "Advanced options" button, scroll down to the "days and hours" section.

Select the days you want potential customers to call your business and also the time you want that to happen.

Once you are done, hit the "Save" button and your call extension will be sent for review by Google as shown in the image below:

Structured snippet extensions

Structured snippets are extensions that highlight specific aspects of your services.

They typically increase ad performance by giving people more reasons to click.

How structured snippet show

When your structured snippet extension appears with your ad on a computer, it can show up to 2 headers at a time, while ads that show on mobile and tablet devices will only show one header.

Google Ads algorithmically decides the best header or combination of headers to show, so it’s best to add as many headers as possible that are relevant to your local service business.

Here's what an ad with structured snippets might look like on a computer below:

Benefits of structured snippet

• Help people instantly find out more about your services: Structured snippets give potential customers a preview of the nature and range of your services, before they click on your ad.
• Improve your return on investment: The additional information that appears with your ads can increase your ads' relevance and clickthrough rates. This may help you improve your return on investment by attracting clicks from visitors who are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
• Customizability: You can add structured snippets at the account, campaign, or ad group levels.

How structured snippets work

You can add structured snippets at the account, campaign, or ad group level.

You choose where to add them, decide what type of information potential customers will find most valuable, and schedule when you’d like them to appear.

Consider your services, select from a list of predefined headers (like "Neighborhood" or "Service category"), and then add specific, supporting details as values.

The predefined header that suites local service business are the "service category", "neighborhood" and "types" predefined header.

It's important to make sure your header and values match, as a mismatch is the most likely reason your snippets will be disapproved.

You might think of values as examples of their corresponding headers.

For example, “Costa Rica” is a destination, “Chapter 7” is a type of bankruptcy, and “remodeling contractor” is a Service.

There's no cost to add structured snippets extensions, but you'll be charged as usual for clicks on your ad.

Best structured snippet practices

Tips: Keep these best practices in mind when creating or optimizing structured snippets:

• Provide enough information. Aim to include at least 4 values per header.
• Optimize for mobile users. Create shorter snippets to appeal to customers on-the-go.
• Increase your options. Add more than one header-value set. Having multiple sets of structured snippets provides more options and increases the likelihood that a relevant extension will show with your ad.
• Pick the right format. Unlike callout extensions, which can highlight a single unique aspect of your business in a few words, structured snippets should provide a complete group of services that your business provides.

How to setup structured snippet for local service businesses

1. On the extension page, click the blue plus sign or create Ad extension button as shown on the image below.

A popup will appear, Look for and click on Structured snippet extension like the image below.

Choose a header from the drop-down menus. The header will be shown in front of the values (snippets).

For local service business, your header would be the "service catalog", neighborhood catalog or "types catalog".

Enter at least 3 values for each of the headers you choose

Once you enter the values, click Save.

3. Sitelink extensions

Site link extension helps you create additional clickable links on your Ads.

Sitelink extensions take people to specific pages on your site (for example, a specific testimonial page or about us page).

When someone clicks or taps on your links, they go directly to what they want to know or buy.

In this article, you’ll learn how sitelinks extensions work and appear in eligible campaigns.

How sitelink extensions appear

Sitelink extensions appear below your text Ads and other extensions on the search network. 

Below is an example of a sitelink extension.

How to Ad sitelink extensions

Click Ads & extensions in the page menu on the left hand side of your screen, then click Extensions on the popup that will show below the Ads & extension button on the menu.

Click the blue plus button  or the create ad extension button as shwon on the image below.

From the menu that will show next, choose sitelink extension as show on the image below.

By default, Google will prompt you to create a new sitelink from scratch.

But if you want to create a site link from existing one select "use existing" box as shown on the image below.

Fill out the sitelink text and URL.

Enter additional text about your link in the Description fields (optional, but highly recommended).

When you fill out both lines of description, your sitelink may be eligible to show with these details.

Click "Save" to save your sitelink once you are done.

Callout Extensions

With callout extensions, you can promote unique offers or benefits to customers, like free consultation or 24-hour customer service.

When customers see your ads, they get detailed information about your business offerings.

How callouts appear

Once you create a callout extension, it's eligible to appear with your ad on a computer or mobile device.

With callout extensions, you can show up to 10 callouts in addition to the text of your ad, depending on the character spacing, browser, and device you’re using.

Callouts also show in a variety of ways depending on the device and other factors.

While callout extensions on a computer are separated by dots and listed on a single line, callouts on mobile and tablet devices wrap in paragraph form.

Ads with callout extensions can show at the top and bottom of Google search results.

Here's what an ad with callouts might look like on a computer:

Callout Extension best practices

• Keep text short: Shorter text means more callouts can show in your ads. Think of a callout as a bullet point, rather than a complete sentence. Try "Free Quote" instead of "We offer free quote."
• Be specific: Give customers detailed information so they can decide if you have what they’re looking for. Try "34 MPG max mileage" instead of "Great fuel economy."
• Character limits: Callout text is limited to 25 characters in most languages, or 12 characters in double-width languages (like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).

How to create callout extension

Sign in to your Google Ads account.

Click Ads & extensions in the page menu on the left, then click Extensions below Ads & extension..

Click the plus button or create ad extension. A drop down will appear when you do so

Look for callout extension among the drop down list and click on callout as shown on the image below.

By default, you will be required to create a callout extension from scratch but if you want to create one from an already existing one select the "use existing" box and select the callouts you’d like to use from the list.

But if you want to create a callout extension from scratch write your callout text on the field provided as shown below:

After writing your callout text on the fields provided, click and save it.