The “How-To” Guide to Review Extensions
Last month, Google announced a revision to the quality score algorithm that will have a direct impact to ad rank and average position. Now, the numberS of extensions you have enabled for your campaigns, in addition to the previously incorporated search bid and ad/ landing page relevance, all contribute to the overall score.
Excited for the new opportunity to improve your quality score without having to break the bank? Us too! Let’s get started by adding review extensions to your account. This new feature allows advertisers to showcase 3rd party reviews, rankings, and awards from specific, reputable sources right into their AdWords ad. See below for the step-by-step guide and start the implementation process today!
- Gather 3-4 Reviews Per Campaign
- Submit Your Reviews Through The Ad Extensions Tab In AdWords
- Apply Specific Review Extensions To Specific Campaigns
- Play The Waiting Game
Google accepts reviews from any reputable 3rd party site. Blogs and online newspapers typically work well. Review sites such as Yelp are accepted. If you or your client keeps any kind of press kit, start searching there. You’re looking for snippets of positive feedback that pertain to your specific campaigns. For example, for a shoe campaign, you would want to have a review like “the most comfortable fit” or “so sturdy, they lasted for 5 years!” Are any of your products industry-leaders? Have they won any awards or accolades? If so, there must be a publication somewhere. Find it and showcase it!
Paraphrasing is ok. Google understands you don’t have a ton of real estate to work with, but keep in mind that these reviews are approved through an automated and human-based process. If you change the message completely or don’t adhere to AdWords policy, you’ll get dinged. So don’t do that!
Note: review extensions are currently available globally and in English only. Be on the lookout for updates as they expand to other languages.
Enter all the reviews you’ve collected in the ad extensions tab
To begin, you can add all new extensions at the account level. You’ll apply to specific campaigns later on.
Enter your direct or paraphrased review as well as the name of the source (publication name) you obtained it from. You only have 67 characters to get it done, so make every letter count! The source URL must also be included, but there’s no character limit for this.
Schedule your extensions. This feature works great for advertisers who want to promote a certain sale or event that they’ve gotten great feedback about. If you want to leave your extensions running indefinitely, you can leave this section blank.
Click save. AdWords will tell you right away if they don’t deem your 3rd party site a reputable source by not allowing you to save successfully. Sometimes it’s a guess and check type of process, so it’s best practice to have 1 or 2 backup reviews just in case.
As noted in Step 1, you want to apply relevant reviews to each campaign. You also have the ability to apply ad the ad group level, but for most cases, campaign-level should work fine. To do so, click into a specific campaigns. You’ll see the screen below, and click on the arrow to select the review(s) you’d like to run.
As noted earlier, the review process is semi-manual and can take a couple days to get approved. To be safe, I’d say allow for up to 5 business days for review. If you don’t start seeing your approved reviews appear by then, reach out to Google to see if there are some other issues.
When they do appear, they allow for an extra line of real estate, and further distinguish your ad from other competitors appearing in the space. Incorporate multiple extensions to take advantage of all the space Google allows for. Note that review extensions can appear with ALL extensions except offer extensions.
See the screenshot below for an example of a company bidding on a non-branded term. They’re appearing in position 1, have sitelinks enabled, and have ad language that is highly detailed to coincide with the keyword. Adding the review makes Amazon and other big players in the space seem like an afterthought.
Google has offered a number of extensions in the past that have enabled advertisers to convey validation to consumers searching for their brand or related products. Seller ratings and social extensions, for example, show that your brand has a loyal customer base and that your products have gotten positive reviews, but neither of these have been able to tell the consumer exactly why they like you. Review extensions now give you the ability to share your success stories (in 67 characters or less) and relay specific reasons why your brand or product is better than the ad they’re seeing right beneath it.
You’ve done a great job growing your business and acquiring a loyal customer base. They have great feedback. Add these extensions to your campaigns and let your customers do the talking!
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