Google AdWords Ad Extensions – Part 1 of 3 – Location Extensions

by Arnold Ma on 9th August 2011

There is a lot of confusion over the ad extensions feature on AdWords. Most accounts I come across do not make the most of them, and it’s still used infrequently compared to the rest of AdWords features. Over the next three weeks I will review and explain the three different ad extension features – location, product and site link, they are great if you can utilise just one and even better if you can use all three.

First up are location extensions, Google is constantly testing and changing this feature – not too different from rest of Google. At the time of writing, if your ad triggers from a local user’s search phrase, they will find your ad with full address and phone number in addition to the usual bells and whistles provided, plus a pin of your location on the map.

As seen above, you will take almost double the precious real estate compared to other ads, effectively giving you two extra lines for free! Making your business stand out and appear more authoritative. Not to mention the special blue pin you get rather than a red one for organic results.

Your ad may also appear on Google Maps (see above) as a text ad or enhanced ad with a marker that expands to show your business information. You will only be charged if user clicks through to your website.

How to add Location Extension to your AdWords Campaign

• Click on a campaign you wish to add location extension to.

• Click on the ad extension tab (see above), it is not on by default, so you will need to click on the drop down arrow and enable the tab yourself.

• Select “Addresses from Google Places” or “Manually Entered Addresses” and click on “New extension” once expanded (see above).
  Addresses from Google Places – This is to link your existing Google places account to your campaign (they must be verified addresses), you can add up to 100 addresses per account through manual verification, and up to 1,000,000 addresses for verified bulk uploads.
  Manually Entered Addresses – If you do not have a Google places account (highly recommended you create one), you can manually enter up to 100,000 addresses.

• Click Save once you are done.

Check back next week for the second part “Site Link Extensions”, and please feel free to leave any comments or questions below!

Check out other parts of this series below:

• Google AdWords Ad Extensions – Part 1 of 3 – Location Extensions
• Google AdWords Ad Extensions – Part 2 of 3 – Ad Sitelinks
• Google AdWords Ad Extensions – Part 3 of 3 – Product Extensions
• Google AdWords Ad Extensions – Part 4 of 3 – Call Extensions

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