If you have ever looked something up on Google—and seeing as how the search engine remains the leader in U.S. search queries, we suspect that you have—then you’ve likely encountered a text ad before. As the standard type of AdWords ad, they appear on search results pages and across the Google Network. While text ads are meant to promote your brand or product with a direct path to your website, many marketers have trouble getting their full message across within the limited text space. That’s where callout extensions become a useful tool.
What is a Callout Extension?
As the name suggests, callout extensions allow you to “call out” specific details about your product or business by including additional text in your ads. What’s more, you can add them at the account, campaign, or ad group level, which helps with ad customization. Here’s an example of a callout extension:
As you can see, the added text allows you to provide more information about the benefits your business offers, and without sacrificing precious character space in the previous line.
Best Practices for Callout Text:
Callouts that are short, specific, and unique are more likely to perform well with your ads. Google recommends keeping text between 12-15 characters. This increases the amount of callouts that can be displayed and gives AdWords more variety to choose from. It is helpful to think of a callout as a bullet point rather than a complete sentence. Google also recommends being as specific as possible, helping a potential customer decide whether or not your site contains the information they are looking for. Lastly, Google recommends using sentence case over Title Case.
Using Callout and Sitelink Extensions Together
Sitelinks and callout extensions can be used together to provide additional context. For example, a shoe retailer might use the following sitelinks:
-
Men’s Shoes
-
Women’s Shoes
-
Spring Sale
These links would take the customer to specific areas of the site. However, the same shoe retailer might also use the following callouts in conjunction with the sitelinks:
-
365-day returns
-
24/7 customer service
-
Free shipping over $25
These callouts won’t drive to predetermined areas on the site, but will give the customer more information on the benefits of choosing this particular retailer, and ultimately more incentive to click.
Because a lot of customers generating your search volume are in the research and discovery stage, providing additional information about your business can be just the push a user needs to click. By implementing best practices in your online ads, you can better inform potential customers of your brand, and lead them one step further down the purchasing funnel.