Google has introduced a new AdWords feature, the very useful, very valuable, “product extensions.” It allows advertisers to show products and information from their site that are most relevant to a user’s current search directly within the ad. A plusbox appears underneath the ad, showcasing the image, title, and price of the advertiser’s relevant products.

Product extensions will only appear when an ad is triggered by one of the keywords in campaigns that have been enabled to take advantage of this new feature. Advertisers can control which products are displayed, meaning the feature can be used to highlight specific items. For example, a site selling cameras could use product extensions to display the latest models when a user searches for “digital camera” on Google.com. Or, product extensions could be set up to display the latest deals. It’s easy to control the products that display for certain searches manually. Or, advertisers can also opt to use automatic targeting, which lets AdWords determine the most relevant products in an advertisers account to a user’s search.

Why Use Product Extensions?

Why is product extensions such a valuable feature? Searchers can immediately see an advertiser’s product from the search engine page results (SERP), and quickly decide if the product is what they are looking for. This increases the likelihood that these searchers will convert to buyers, since they can immediately click on the displayed product to buy it.

Moreover, because product extensions increases advertisers’ exposure on Google sponsor links result pages, the new feature should lead to a boost in Paid Search campaign revenues. Google reports that advertisers who used product extensions during its beta phase have reported a boost in the performance of their search campaigns. SonyStyle.com, for example, saw a 10 percent increase in clickthrough rate (CTR) for their ads that included product extensions.

How Much Does It Cost?

Product extensions are charged on a cost-per-click basis (CPC). Moreover, advertisers are charged the same CPC whether a user clicks on the main text of the ad, or on any of the offers displayed in the product extensions plusbox. Advertisers are not charged if a user expands the plusbox without clicking through to the site.

Getting Started

To access product extensions, advertisers use their existing Google Merchant Center account. Advertisers need to add their AdWords customer ID to their account. After that, they can go directly to the campaign setting tab in their AdWords account, and find the ‘Ad extensions’ heading and select the option to “Use product images and information from my Google Merchant Center account.” There is no need for any additional work—no need to create new campaigns or ad groups, update keywords or change ad text. Thanks to our close relationship with Google, ISM is happy to set up everything for you and apply directly with Google.