• by Lauren Kade , March 25, 2013

It amazes me how many people have never used (or even heard of!) AdWords ad extensions. Most of them are free (or cost the same as a click), and they add a certain "pop" to your ads, that not only improve click-through-rates, but also help push your competitors farther down the page. A win-win! Last year, I covered the basics of ad extensions – ad sitelinks, call extensions, location extensions, and social extensions. There are many more extensions available, however, and several new ones, so I thought I'd write a part 2.

Product Extensions

Does your nonprofit have a catalog site, or sell any products to benefit your mission? Google product extensions allow you to feature products directly in your PPC ads without taking up valuable character space in your ad copy. Product extensions can include pictures, product names, and prices, and have plus box extensions where users can expand to see even more information just below your ad. When a user clicks on one of your product extensions, you will be charged the same as if they clicked on the headline of your ad. To set up product extensions, you need to link your AdWords account with your Google Merchant Center account by entering your account info on the product extensions drop-down on the Extensions Tab in AdWords.  Linking your Google Merchant Center account will also make your listings available through Google Product Search, known to most of us as the Shopping tab option when you search in Google. One thing to note about product extensions is that once you have your accounts linked, Google chooses to show the product information of your closest matching products with your ad - so you don't exclusively have control over what products are showing.

App Extensions

Does your nonprofit have a mobile app? (If not, think outside the box! NWF currently has several apps that do well.) One of Google's latest offerings is app extensions, which let you highlight and link directly to either mobile or tablet apps. At the moment, app extensions are added at the campaign level, but once you upgrade (or are eventually updated) to AdWords enhanced campaigns, you can set app extensions at the ad group level, get more detailed reporting, and schedule your extensions to only show during certain times or days of the week.

Form Extensions: Rumor Has It!

Form extensions are an extension rumored to be in beta.  The idea is to add an extension where users can directly sign up to receive emails from you. This could be a great option for nonprofits looking to build their email lists, so hopefully it will come out of beta soon! 

Want even more ad extensions?  Learn more and stay up-to-date on new extensions at Google Ad Innovations. 

Never tried AdWords before? If you're a 501c3 nonprofit, you're eligible to get $10,000 of free advertising through Google a month! Learn more about the Google Grants program, or the overarching Google for Nonprofits program, which includes not only free AdWords money, but free Google Apps, Google Earth Outreach, and more.

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