Video Guide to Utilizing Google Ads Location Extensions

Updated December 9, 2022

Why Google Ads Location Extensions Matter

Generating foot traffic online can be tough. So the quicker your customers know your location the better. One of the quickest ways we’ve found to do that is using PPC ads and location extensions, or as it’s sometimes known Geo-PPC. A lead can be looking at Google’s search engine results page one minute and checking out your location the next. No steps in between to get lost (figuratively or literally). If you want more store visits from your ads, it’s time to learn about location extensions.

What’s A Google Ad Location Extension?

When you’re running Google Ads for your store, you’re paying for each click that goes to your website. So whatever your budget is, it’s important to make sure you’re getting the most out of your clicks. One way to ensure you’re getting enough bang for your buck is by giving your customers as much information as you can on the search engine results page. Ad extensions are one way to maximize sharing this essential information.

Ad extensions are added extras that give your ads more context. They help users better understand what your ad is offering and therefore make more informed clicks. There are many different types of ad extensions. Callouts will just add more text to your ad, helping to contextualize the rest of your ad. Others will show information like the phone number of your store or prices of products.

Extensions are used by Google to enhance the information in your PPC ads. Google Ads’ software will pick the extension it thinks best fits the search, displaying it below your advert. For example, if someone looks in Google for “Where is Company X” and that causes one of your ads to show your location extension will display along with your ad. But if someone searches “Company X phone number,” it will trigger a call extension.

What Are Google Ads Location Extensions

Location extensions help people find your locations by showing your ads with your address, a map of your location, or the distance to your business from where they are. In some cases the extension may also include a phone number, or call button, so that users can easily give you a call. This extension type can run on both Search and Display Network ads, and is specifically used to draw customers to your brick-and-mortar location.

Location extensions are different from the affiliate location extensions, which help people find nearby stores of a retail chain that sell your products. In an upcoming episode of our Ad Bytes series, we will talk about affiliate location extensions in more detail, so stay tuned to our YouTube channel for more information.

Let’s say you own a cupcake shop in Palo Alto, California. You’re looking for more customers so you want to draw foot traffic to your storefront. This is the perfect time to add location extensions to your campaign. Once added, when people nearby search on mobile for one of your keywords, such as “best cupcakes nearby” or “cupcakes near me”, your extension will be eligible to show and should give cupcake-lovers one of the following results:

• The address of your shop.
• Their distance to you.
• A clickable “Call” button.
• Clickable access to a details/ contact us page for your shop—with information such as hours, phone number, photos, and directions.

Don’t Tell Me, Show Me

If you’re interested in learning how to set Locations Extensions up for your Google Ads account, you can follow along with our step-by-step video below:

How Do You Turn Google Ads Location Extensions On?

If you’re short on time and want to skip to step-by-step walkthrough? Here they all are:

To add Location Extensions to your Google Ads:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. Click “Ads & extensions” in the page menu on the left, then click “Extensions” at the top of the page. 
3. Click the plus button to create a new extension, then select “Location extension.”
4. If you are setting up Location extensions for the first time, chances are that you’ve never linked your Google My Business account to your Google Ads account yet. In that case, you’ll see a popup window for linking your accounts. From here, you can either link to an account you know, or find an account and send a linking request
5. To link to an account you know, select a Google My Business account that you manage, or request access to another Google My Business account by typing in the email address that’s associated with the account.
6. To find an account, click “Find an account.” Your domain should show up automatically. If it doesn’t, enter a domain to discover potential GMB accounts.
   1. Select Countries by clicking the pencil icon, and click “Save”.
   2. In the list below, find the GMB account that best matches your business. Click “Select”.
   3. Confirm that the correct GMB account is showing in the preview, click “Continue”.
7. Either way, your request will be sent to the email address for the GMB account you selected. So you’ll need to be able to log into that GMB account, or to reach out to the person who is managing it. When your request is approved, locations for that account will be eligible to show as location extensions with your ads.
8. If you’ve connected to your Google My Business account before, then you should see a dialog box that asks you to choose if you’d like to add the extension to the campaign level or ad group level.
9. Then, you can choose to show your ads with “All synced locations”, or “Synced locations with a specific label or business name”, or “Specific locations you pick”, or “No location extension.”
10. Now, click “Save” to save your changes.

Once you’ve added the extensions to your ads, you can view their performance at the “Ads & extensions” tab from the page menu.

To remove an existing extension, check the box next to the extension listed at the “Ads & extensions” tab, and on the blue bar that appears at the top of the list, click “Remove”.

Location, Location, Location

If your location is important to your business, then you need to be running location extensions. 40% of searches on mobile devices are looking for local information. So when your ads are showing, you want it to be clear to a local searcher just how close you are! 

If you’re interested in setting up PPC ads for your business then feel free to reach out to us below. And if you’ve noticed anything we’ve missed about location extensions then drop us a comment at the bottom of the post.

Photo credit – Top: Pexels