Extensions add lines, links, and details to an advertisement without extra cost. They make it physically larger in the results, give the visitor more reasons to click, and improve the click rate, which feeds back into what you pay. Most small advertisers configure two and leave the rest empty.
What they do
An advertisement without extensions is a headline, a line of text, and an address. With them it can carry additional links, a phone number, a location, prices, and specific details.
Three effects follow. The advertisement occupies more of the screen, which pushes competitors down. It gives more than one reason to click, since a visitor who was not interested in the headline may be interested in a link beneath it. And a higher click rate improves the relevance assessment, which affects position and cost.
They cost nothing to add. The platform decides when to show them, which means filling them in is an opportunity rather than a guarantee.
The ones worth the effort
Additional links
Extra links under the advertisement pointing at specific pages. The most useful extension for a service business, because it lets one advertisement offer four routes.
Point them at genuinely different pages rather than variations of the same one. Emergency work, the main service, pricing information, and the area you cover is a sensible set.
The call extension
Adds a tappable phone number. For any trade where people call rather than fill in forms, this is the one that produces enquiries directly.
Schedule it to the hours somebody answers, since a tap that reaches voicemail is a wasted click you paid for.
Location
Shows your address and distance, drawn from your business listing. For a local business this is a genuine advantage over a national competitor, who cannot show a local address.
It requires the listing to be linked to the advertising account, which is a five-minute setup that many accounts have never done.
Short descriptive snippets
Brief additions covering things like service area, response time, or what is included. Small, and they add specificity that generic advertisement copy cannot.
Structured lists
A labelled list such as services offered or brands serviced. Useful where the list itself is the qualifying information, particularly for anyone searching by brand.
The ones with conditions attached
Price extensions show specific services with figures. Effective where you have genuinely fixed prices and a liability where the figure changes, since a stale price in an advertisement produces an awkward call.
Promotion extensions highlight a specific offer with dates. Fine for a real seasonal offer and worth removing when it ends, which is the step that gets forgotten.
Lead forms capture details within the advertisement itself. They convert well and produce lower-quality enquiries in many trades, since the person never saw your site. Worth testing rather than assuming either way.
What to check
- That they are actually filled in. The most common state is two configured and five empty.
- That the links go somewhere relevant, not all to the homepage.
- That the call extension is scheduled to your answering hours.
- That the location is connected to your business listing.
- That nothing has expired, particularly promotions and prices.
That review takes fifteen minutes and is worth doing when an account is inherited, since extensions are the part most likely to have been set once and never revisited.
Where the real gain is
Not any single extension. The combination.
An advertisement with four links, a phone number, a location, and two descriptive snippets occupies substantially more of a phone screen than one with none, and on a small screen that can mean the difference between one visible result and three.
For a small advertiser competing against a larger budget, this is one of the few levers that does not cost money, which is why it belongs alongside the relevance argument in competing against a larger advertising budget.
Measuring them
Platforms report performance per extension, which tells you which links are being clicked and whether the call extension is producing calls.
Read it occasionally rather than obsessively. The useful actions are removing links nobody clicks, replacing them with pages that might be more relevant, and confirming the call extension is producing calls of reasonable length rather than immediate hang-ups.
Beyond that, the correct approach is to fill them all in and leave the platform to choose, since it has more information than you do about which combination works for a given search.
Frequently asked questions
What are ad extensions?
Extra information attached to an advertisement, such as additional links, a phone number, a location, or short descriptive lines. They cost nothing and make the advertisement larger.
Which extensions matter most for a service business?
Additional links pointing at genuinely different pages, the call extension for trades where people phone, and the location extension, which shows an address a national competitor cannot.
Do extensions cost extra?
No. They are free to add, and the platform decides when to show them. Filling them in is an opportunity rather than a guarantee that they will appear.
Why do extensions improve results?
The advertisement occupies more of the screen, it offers more than one reason to click, and the higher click rate improves the relevance assessment, which affects position and cost.
What should I be careful with?
Price and promotion extensions, which become stale. A figure that has changed produces an awkward call, and an expired promotion is the thing most often left running.
How do I know if they are working?
Platforms report performance per extension. Remove links nobody clicks, and check that the call extension produces calls of reasonable length rather than immediate hang-ups.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
Ads running with half the fields empty?
We fill in the extensions properly and schedule the call one to your answering hours, which usually costs nothing and buys a larger advertisement.
Start a Conversation