The added value of image extensions in Google Ads

In late May, Google announced at Google Marketing Live that image extensions have been rolled out globally. A great opportunity for advertisers to add a visual aspect to standard text ads. In this article, we cover what image extensions are, what first results show and how best to add them.

What are image extensions in Google Ads?

. An extension within Google Ads makes it possible to add additional information to text ads. Consider adding USPs via highlight extensions, or adding a phone number via a call extension. The uniqueness of an image extension is that, for the first time, it is possible to add a visual element to a text ad. From scientific research it is known that people can process images 60,000 times faster than text. With this, image extensions seem like a very interesting addition within Google Ads campaigns. But what do the initial results show? You’ll read about it in the remainder of this blog article.

First results

At 5 of PureDigital’s clients, we added image extensions. The purpose of extensions is to increase ad relevance with CTR being the key metric to assess this. With extensions, it is insightful what the CTR of an ad was at the time an extension was visible. The results at 5 clients show the following:

• The image extension has the highest CTR of all extensions.
• On average, the CTR when showing an image extension was 79% higher than the CTR of the previously best-performing extension (sitelink or highlight extension).

In short, an image extension has a clear amplifying effect for the CTR of ads. Based on the results with PureDigital’s clients, it is advisable to test image extensions as soon as possible.

Advice adding image extensions

For maximum results with image extensions, the advice is as follows:

• Comply with the guidelines from Google.
• Combine square images with landscape images.
• Use images by category or service.
• Add the image extensions at the ad group level.
• Combine image extensions with dynamic image extensions .

The above setup is also used with all of PureDigital’s customers. The end result was a 79% higher CTR than the best-scoring extension. Also higher relevance of ads and therefore more results? Then start adding Image extensions soon!