social extensions

Back in April, I wrote how Google is Integrating Google+ Into Paid Search, big time. At that time, I was particularly impressed that Google was leveraging paid search real estate (the right rail) to highlight Google+ pages. Since then, I have seen Google run a number of such experiments. How do you show up in such experiments? You simply need a bi-directional link from your homepage to you Google+ page and one from your Google+ page to your homepage. One thing is for sure: Google+ is here to stay and Google is spending major resources promoting Google+.

In today’s post, I wanted to highlight something really cool: Google AdWords social extensions. Check out the screenshot below. Quicken Loans has an extra line of ad copy highlighting their Google+ page. How do you set this up? It’s super easy. Just go to your ad extensions in your Google AdWords account. Then, go to the social extensions. Create a new extension and input a link to your Google+ page. Last, you simply need to wait for verification before your ads start displaying the social extension (just like the Quicken Loans ad). How do you get approved? It’s as simple as creating a bi-directional link (the same as mentioned earlier in this post).

Here’s the cool part: You get an extra line of ad copy. You will note that Quicken Loans has four sitelinks displaying AND the social extension. Social extensions are incremental real estate and a great way to promote your Google+ page while also improving the CTR of your ad copy. In fact, I have heard that social extensions can increase your CTR by ~5% (that is, your CTR will increase by 1.05 * your current CTR). Have you tried social extensions yet?

Image © Google and Quicken Loans

A few posts ago, I wrote about how Google+ Shows Up In Paid Search. Google+ is actually showing up in paid search two different ways. First, as you can see in my prior post (and by simply searching for “insurance” on Google), organic Google+ profiles are showing up in the right rail, displacing paid search ads. Second, Google+ is actually showing up right within paid search ads. You can see that in the screenshot below. When you search for “mortgage refinance”, Quicken Loans has a really sweet integration of their Google+ profile, via Google Social Extensions (also known as Social Annotations). I’ve been researching these opportunities over the last week and today I’m going to provide some quick tips on how you can take advantage of both of them!

First and foremost, a bi-directional link is required to take advantage of these Google+ advertising opportunities. It’s quite simple, and this allows you to verify to Google that you own your Google+ page. All you need to do is link to your Google+ profile from your homepage. Then, you need to also link to your homepage from your Google+ profile. Specific information on how to do this is located on Google’s Social Extensions Tutorial.

Once your bi-directional link is in place, you will want to get as many followers as possible and regularly update your Google+ page. The more relevant your Google+ page, the more likely it will show up within the organic search opportunity. On the paid side of things, not sure this affects things as much, but it’s still important because your ad is likely to have a higher CTR if you have more followers.

Once you’re ready to start leveraging Google+ in your paid ads via Google Social Extensions, it’s as simple as setting up a new ad extension in your AdWords account. Add that extension to the campaigns in which you’re interested in testing this exciting feature. I wanted to share two interesting benefits of Google Social Extensions.

First, Social Extensions are complementary to your other extensions (such as Sitelinks). If you already have Sitelinks activated, you can also activate the Social Extensions in parallel. You can see this firsthand in the Quicken Loans copy below. Personally, I think the combination of both extensions is unbeatable.
Second, Social Extensions will improve your CTR. Sources tell me that the CTR improvement can be as high as 5%. Just having that Social Extension there adds credibility to your ad.

So, there you have it! Are you using Google Social Extensions yet? If not, I highly recommend trying this great strategy. Personally, I still have a lot to learn about Google+ but I feel like I’m on the right track!