The addition of ad extensions for traditional Search Campaigns in Google Ads is common practice these days, as they can be added for no additional cost and can have a positive impact on overall clickthrough rates (CTRs). However, few advertisers currently use them with Shopping Campaigns, so it’s still a good time to get a competitive advantage with the available extensions, the types of which we examine in this blog.
If you’re managing a Google Ads Shopping Campaign, you should therefore consider adding these following extensions to your ads:
Local Inventory Ads
These allow retailers to display real-time local inventory information, such as in-store availability and pricing alongside their Shopping Campaigns ads. They also include the distance to the retailer’s nearest storefront – read more here.
The downside to using these is that it’s critical that retailers diligently update their feed data to match store pricing and available inventory. If this isn’t done the ads could backfire, resulting in frustrated customers.
Product Ratings
This extension aggregates a business’s product reviews from across the web and presents their ratings (based on a 5-star scale) below the ads.
Adding this extension helps to differentiate from competitors’ products, highlight a happy client base and prove to searchers that the business is a legitimate retailer.
(More than 50 reviews are required for this to be enabled from a supported third-party aggregator source – read more here).
Seller ratings
These showcase advertisers with high ratings. They can appear below Shopping (and text) ads, to help people find businesses that offer quality services.
Seller ratings can help advertisers improve ad performance and earn more qualified leads by showing a rating out of 5 stars.
(The number of reviews needed can vary from business to business, but most merchants are able to obtain a rating after collecting 100 or more eligible reviews from a supported third-party aggregator source – read more here).
Merchant Promotions
These extensions help to distinguish products from other advertisers with similar goods and provide an added incentive for prospective clients to visit their sites, such as using a promo code for a discount. Currently in beta and available in the US, these should be rolled out to more countries soon.
Just like with standard search ads, Google reserves the right to pick and choose which extensions will be displayed alongside Shopping Campaigns’ ads and how frequently they will appear. It’s therefore not possible to set certain types of extension to always appear, but when these do they can certainly help to boost CTRs and increase footfall into local stores.
If you want to know how Shopping Ad Extensions could help your business, please get in touch. We have been leading Google Ads / AdWords consultants since 2002.