The five W’s return… I’m sure some of you may remember these from grade school as who, what, when, where and why. Together, they create the basic formula for getting the complete story on a particular subject.
If you were following along earlier this month, we’ve already covered 4 of the different types of extensions that AdWords has to offer in Part I. For the purpose of Part II, we will focus on 4 additional types of ad extensions and apply the nifty 5 W’s formula to each in order to get a better feel for how they can enhance our ads.
Social Extensions
- Who Should Use Them? Ecommerce retailers, service providers, restaurants, stores or anyone with a Google+ page associated with their business/brand.
- What Do They Do? Similar to the infamous “Like” button on Facebook, social extensions allow current and future customers to publicly endorse your business online through a “+1” button. By default, ads that appear on the Search or Display Networks all have a +1 button. With social extensions, a +1 on your ad applies to your Google+ Page. All +1’s from your Google+ Page are also applied to your ads.
- When Should I Use Them? If you’re a business owner seeking to improve online engagement with your new and existing customers. For example, an ecommerce shoes and clothing retailer might use social extensions to promote their brand within a customer’s circle of friends. This would also create a network of customers that the business could engage with in the future.
- Where Can They Appear? Google search results, ads, websites or anywhere there is a +1 button present, which helps increase the relevancy of the content users are looking at.
- Why Are They Beneficial? Social extensions are great for gaining and showcasing online “stamps of approval” from your customers. Maybe it was stellar customer service or maybe the consumer was extremely satisfied with your product/service, the quantity of +1’s a business receives can act as a symbol of trust and good business practices. These can also be advantageous since +1’s appear in users’ Google+ feeds, which can further enhance the relevancy and overall reach of your business.
Seller Ratings
- Who Should Use Them? Businesses that provide customers with paid goods/services.
- What Do They Do? Enables customers to submit ratings and commentary about companies they have done business with previously. Ratings are based on customer reviews collected by Google Shopping using the domain of the display URL for your ad, which aggregates reviews from a variety of sources including Google Wallet. These can be viewed publicly and primarily reflect an overall buying experience, rather than individual products. Though the reviews are aggregated on Google Shopping, seller ratings extensions also include reviews for non-product retailers.
- When Should I Use Them? If you’re a business owner who provides great customer service or a stellar shopping experience, and want to use that to your advantage to gain more qualified customers. Moreover, treat your customers well and they will likely treat you well in return, which will often yield your company higher seller ratings.
- Where Can They Appear? Seller ratings can appear on the Google Search and Search Partner pages via desktop/laptop computers, and high-end mobile devices. They will show automatically if your ad is eligible.
- Why Are They Beneficial? Similar to social extensions, seller ratings allow Google users to see which advertisers are rated well by their customers. In other words, a trust badge or “stamp of approval”. As a result, this can help customers make more informed searching and purchasing decisions, based on the experiences of those that have done business with your brand previously.
Communication Extensions (Beta)
- Who Should Use Them? Although this type of extension isn’t available to everyone, any business that is interested in establishing some sort of on-going communication with their customers would want to look into communication extensions.
- What Do They Do? Essentially, communication extensions allow businesses to provide a quick and easy way to collect information about their new or existing customers. These can appear in the form of newsletter subscriptions, email signups, receiving special offers and more.
- When Should I Use Them? As soon as they are released from beta testing!
- Where Can They Appear? Google SERPs via desktop/laptop computers and high-end mobile devices.
- Why Are They Beneficial? Communication extensions can work to your advantage if your email lists generate a lot of revenue for your business. Obviously, someone who signs up won’t receive anything right then and there. Rather, it establishes a line of communication (emails, promos, etc) that can create more lifetime value with your customers.
Live Chat Extensions (Beta)
- Who Should Use Them? Any business that offers a “Live Chat” customer service option with dedicated representatives.
- What Do They Do? Enables new and existing customers to reach out to your customer service department with the simple click of a button and receive real-time assistance. Whether they’re looking for more information about your product/service or attempting to troubleshoot an issue, live chat extensions could end up being a great way to make service representatives readily available to handle your customers’ needs.
- When Should I Use Them? As soon as they are released from beta testing!
- Where Can They Appear? Google SERPs via desktop/laptop computers, but subject to change since no official notes have been released.
- Why Are They Beneficial? These extensions can be beneficial because it reduces the time and hassle for users attempting to contact your company directly. Live Chat extensions could also help encourage customers to use this method, rather than calling in or submitting requests to your service departments.
Closing Thoughts
So we’ve covered 4 more different types of extensions offered through AdWords, but you can always go back and check out the other 4 we discussed earlier this month. As we have seen, ad extensions are essential for any PPC account and have the ability to greatly enhance your real estate on the SERPs. In closing, have you witnessed or used any of the 4 extensions mentioned above? How do you think the last two extensions will affect the PPC industry?
Feel free to leave any commentary, and as always, thanks for reading!
