A few posts ago, I wrote about how Google+ Shows Up In Paid Search. Google+ is actually showing up in paid search two different ways. First, as you can see in my prior post (and by simply searching for “insurance” on Google), organic Google+ profiles are showing up in the right rail, displacing paid search ads. Second, Google+ is actually showing up right within paid search ads. You can see that in the screenshot below. When you search for “mortgage refinance”, Quicken Loans has a really sweet integration of their Google+ profile, via Google Social Extensions (also known as Social Annotations). I’ve been researching these opportunities over the last week and today I’m going to provide some quick tips on how you can take advantage of both of them!
First and foremost, a bi-directional link is required to take advantage of these Google+ advertising opportunities. It’s quite simple, and this allows you to verify to Google that you own your Google+ page. All you need to do is link to your Google+ profile from your homepage. Then, you need to also link to your homepage from your Google+ profile. Specific information on how to do this is located on Google’s Social Extensions Tutorial.
Once your bi-directional link is in place, you will want to get as many followers as possible and regularly update your Google+ page. The more relevant your Google+ page, the more likely it will show up within the organic search opportunity. On the paid side of things, not sure this affects things as much, but it’s still important because your ad is likely to have a higher CTR if you have more followers.
Once you’re ready to start leveraging Google+ in your paid ads via Google Social Extensions, it’s as simple as setting up a new ad extension in your AdWords account. Add that extension to the campaigns in which you’re interested in testing this exciting feature. I wanted to share two interesting benefits of Google Social Extensions.
- First, Social Extensions are complementary to your other extensions (such as Sitelinks). If you already have Sitelinks activated, you can also activate the Social Extensions in parallel. You can see this firsthand in the Quicken Loans copy below. Personally, I think the combination of both extensions is unbeatable.
- Second, Social Extensions will improve your CTR. Sources tell me that the CTR improvement can be as high as 5%. Just having that Social Extension there adds credibility to your ad.
So, there you have it! Are you using Google Social Extensions yet? If not, I highly recommend trying this great strategy. Personally, I still have a lot to learn about Google+ but I feel like I’m on the right track!
Image in this post © Google
Hey everyone, PPC Ian here. Today, I’m thrilled to share a fun guest post from my good friend Hillary Read, Marketing Manager at 
