PPCChat | Ad Extensions | 16th June 2020

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In this week’s PPCChat, host markkennedysem sought PPCers views on the go-to-ad extension, What extensions do they rarely use, What are the ways experts are utilizing ad extensions and more.

Q1) What is/are your go-to ad extensions? The ones you feel either perform the best or extensions you almost always utilize in your campaigns.

The usually – Sitelinks – Pricing – Callout – Snippet Pricing is the one I see used the least in accounts we take over. Huge missed op. @duanebrown

Sitelinks. Important when brand has multiple products when search queries can be looking for multiple things. Phone extension, of course. Important for sales teams on non-ecom clients. Call-outs, for sure. Anyone use lead form extensions? @timmhalloran

Sitelink, callout, and phone. @IamNextSTEPH

Phone, site links, callout, promo extensions when applicable. @jennifer_lash

Call, location and callout extensions are the ones I generally use. Do not like sitelinks as they take people to pages that are NOT my PPC landing pages… @NeptuneMoon

I have been able to use the same LP in all 4 sitelink extensions with different call to actions, but sometimes it gets flagged. But it can help if you are limited to one LP. @markkennedysem

For lead gen for a local business: #1 – Location #2 – Phone #3 – Sitelinks #4 – Callouts I should also do: #5 – structured snippet #6 – promotion for the “free consultation” or whatever your intake process is called. @ferkungamaboobo

Location extensions and promotion extensions are my winners. @JonKagan

I feel like sitelinks are the top most important for me, location is also a priority. Call extension if they take calls of course. Then I put callouts and snippets on as gravy. @jord_stark

Sitelinks to category pages and free resources. @robainbinder

Mainly sitelinks, call outs and structured snippets. @mindswanppc

Sitelinks, fallouts, snippets are my go-tos. @ECEitel

Definitely sitelink extensions to have more real estate on the SERP and add value to the users. And Call extensions when relevant for the business. @leo_pinon09

Q2) On the flipside, what extensions do you rarely use, either due ot lack of need, or lack of performance?

More people should use the pricing extensions… especially if you do competitor bidding. @duanebrown

Due to client, I don’t use location extensions. @ECEitel

Call extensions. They are so often irrelevant. Haven’t had a ton of success with lead form extensions. anyone using image extensions yet? @JuliaVyse

I rarely use call extensions because you cannot target them geographically. I can target when there’s a location keyword included, but not on the higher volume keywords such as ‘Toyota C-HR’ which when a retailer has multiple locations isn’t handy. @SarahPixelHappy

I really want to get the opportunity to use promotion extensions but haven’t had the chance yet. @mindswanppc

Promotion and location. Generally don’t apply to B2B. @Mel66

I have not been able to use the App extension as we don’t have clients who have a need, but maybe someone else has experience with it. @markkennedysem

Maybe it is premature, but we scrapped the lead form and it’s predecessor, the leads were almost always spam. @JonKagan

I have a mental block about structured snippets. I just don’t get what they do for ads? Totally get what they do for SEO, but for PPC, not so much… @NeptuneMoon

Lead form extensions because I haven’t had a client with a need, just starting to use dynamic image/image ext for an ecomm client though, I’m excited to see where that goes. @jennifer_lash

Except for maybe one or two campaigns, the App extension. I struggle to see the user flow there – search for a business, get their app? What businesses have apps that are worth spending money on in Google search? @ferkungamaboobo

I’d like to use more structured snippet extensions, but the headers are not always relevant for all businesses (they don’t have “Cities” for example). It would be great to have the option to personalize the header! @leo_pinon09

Q3) What extensions did you used to have in your accounts that you miss? The extensions that got away…

I think the newsletter sign up extensions should have gotten more time, same for message extensions. @SarahPixelHappy

Pour one out for the review extension. @ECEitel

Going to date myself, but does anyone else remember the Yahoo and Yahoo/Bing RAIS (Rich Ads In Search) extensions? Those were amazing. I blame Yahoo’s downfall solely on those being unsettled. @JonKagan

Drawing a blank on the name, but I liked the extension where you could link to a 3rd party validation site. @markkennedysem

Message extensions…I’ve never used them, but I’m curious about how they would have worked now that a client just started SMS subscription. @jennifer_lash

It’s not gone, but having location extensions tied to Google My Business listings is both better and worse simultaneously… Better in that it’s harder for fake locations to be used, worse because Google determines which location is shown to a searcher. @NeptuneMoon

Yes – message extensions too! @mindswanppc

Q4) Let’s talk strategy, what are some cool ways you are utilizing ad extensions?

For Price extension, where we don’t see a product, we are testing $0. Example for a Home Services Client – Estimates are free $0, design consults are free $0, Interest payments are $0 (no interest 6 months) @markkennedysem

Using sitelinks to help map customer journey expectations for a b2b software client where the content funnel can get messy. @ECEitel

I don’t know if it’s that cool, but dealerships (before recent events) we’re loving seeing how many physical dealerships visits they were getting from their paid activity. Definitely as salespeople always say visitors were ‘walk ins’ @SarahPixelHappy

Due to COVID my search dollars are slashed. So I turned off most extensions for my fast-food client and added app extensions. Then we flipped the ad copy to talk about paying-in-app and drive-throughs. we’re blowing through our app benchmarks! @JuliaVyse

Continuation of deal messaging I couldn’t fit, and to be as fat an obnoxious as possible (very similar to my personal lifestyle) @JonKagan

Another automotive example, we used Price Extensions to highlight their trim variation prices. So they’d have a headline offer and then highlight offers on all other trims in a single advert so that the advert was relevant to all levels of budget. @SarahPixelHappy

I’ve loaded in Image extensions into some accounts, and I do see impressions and clicks (nothing big), but I have yet to see any of them in the wild @markkennedysem

Q5) What’s your biggest constrain, pet peeve, etc, regarding ad extensions?

Going to go out on a limb and say “control” @markkennedysem

The stats never look correct so i don’t trust them mostly and then depending on the client – different ones are used. @mindswanppc

The requirement that location extensions live in GMB. The nonsense 100% score including extensions that are bad for business. to be a LITTLE bit positive, I really like that shared extensions can be managed int the editor now. @JuliaVyse

Location extensions, if you have more than one location, can be problematic. Which location you see is based on where Google locates you when you search and it can be way off relative to locations of local biz. Wish you could designate it. @NeptuneMoon

When you use a call tracking number for a call extension and it gets disapproved by Google because it’s not on the site. @jord_stark

I also get a lot of disapprovals on sitelinks for obscure reasons like “Russian” and other things. @markkennedysem

Yes, location extensions used to be a lot easier to manage. I feel like I always have issues now with clients that have multiple locations. @jord_stark

Also, automated conversions! zero people want to pay for and measure calls to a fast-food restaurant, those people are already overworked as it is. do not make that a conversion I have to then turn off. @JuliaVyse

No, in fact they rarely get disapproved, even when they blatantly violate a variety of policies, which concerns me even more. @JonKagan

Q6) When planning out your adcopy and extensions, do you tend to repeat some calls to action (eg – free shipping, free consults, etc) or do you have separate CTAs for all ads and extensions

If you have things in your third headline that you want to have a better chance of being seen, repeat it in a callout extension. @NeptuneMoon

I’m fine with repeating some CTAs, especially considering the uncertainty over whether and how extensions appear. Just would want to make sure it’s not all simply word for word duplication. @timothyjjensen

Blend of both. you can’t control how extensions are truncated, so worth repeating the key message imo. @JuliaVyse

I use the extra “real estate” to get more of the client’s usp in there. @mindswanppc

If I have a powerful CTA or value prop I will throw it out there as a sitelink as well. @jord_stark

Q7) Any Extensions on your PPC Wishlist?

I would just love it if image extensions would get rolled out more. I don’t have access to the beta and when I asked our rep he said it was full. @jord_stark

PPCChat Participants

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