Google seems to be celebrating an unofficial “Christmas in July” this year. On Monday, the official AdWords blog announced another new addition to the mobile marketer’s tool chest: the long-awaited price extensions! As more and more users turn to mobile for research and purchase decision help, the need to qualify clicks grows ever more significant. Google’s new price extensions are designed to showcase products and services, with a short description and corresponding price, in order to capture only those searchers most likely to convert.
As you can see in this example from Google, price extensions can be used effectively with general keywords to highlight entries from a variety of categories. These groupings can relate to brands, events, locations, products, or services. Each category type has a set of specific criteria, but all price extensions must meet the following general requirements:
- Include a minimum of 3 and maximum of 8 elements in the list
- Headers and descriptions must be relevant to both the category type and each other
- No pricing or promotional language is permitted in the extension copy (except as directed by law)
- Extension URLs must link to the same domain as the accompanying text ad
- Links from extensions cannot utilize keyword insertion nor be used to initiate a download
Price extensions are accessible through the Ad Extensions tab in AdWords and can be set at the account, campaign, or ad group level, depending on your strategic granularity. Each grouping may also be assigned a custom schedule with start and end dates, to easily prepare for and reflect limited-time promotions or special events.
Given that price extensions are exclusive to mobile, it should be noted as well that they will function cooperatively with all other mobile extensions except Sitelinks. This means that advertisers may notice a fluctuation in other performance metrics, such as clicks for call extensions, as searchers respond to a new wave of information on the SERP. Post-update analyses should thus examine metrics that consider both the quantity (impressions, clicks, conversions) and quality of conversions (CPA, ROAS, and LTV).
Google will continue to roll out price extensions universally in AdWords this week, and we are eager to hear reactions, comments, and predicted impacts of this change. Tweet your insights to PPC Hero or myself to join the conversation.
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