Google Ads Accounts
Since Google launched Google Ads in October of 2000, it accounts for 70.9% of their revenue, which now amounts to $160 billion U.S. dollars.
It was once a low-cost option for businesses to attract leads and grow revenue. It now has more than 1 million advertisers and has become highly-competitive. Google Ads has become the industry standard in advertising for many digitally-focused industries.
Google Ads algorithms have surpassed the inexperienced advertisers trying to skyrocket sales without proper knowledge of the right ad structures. It’s now a complex marketplace of bidding, extensions, creatives, and targeting, that only PPC experts can optimize for real ROI.
Location Extensions
A critical level of optimization for PPC experts is ad location extensions. A feature in Google Ads called location extension allows you to show your business’s location data – your address, open hours – with your ads to increase the chances of someone clicking on your ad.
They look like this:
Location extensions are especially crucial for local businesses looking to attract customers in their neighbourhood or city who are searching for a local solution to their problem.
Other than locally based campaigns, they also allow you to show other nearby branches of your business (i.e. Starbucks or Tim Hortons) and increase your ad Quality Score by making the most of the additional ad space. This provides value to your customers and increases your click-through-rates.
So how do you use location extensions in your Google Ads campaigns?
You will need to link your Google My Business account with your Google Ads account and activate location extensions.
The difference between Google My Business and Google Ads accounts
Google My Business enables businesses to list their key information on Google Search and Google Maps. Google Ads, on the other hand, is a paid advertising platform that businesses can use to attract more awareness for their business across Google’s search and display network.
These two Google accounts are completely separate in their setup and purpose. Google My Business is an essential tool for any business, whereas Google Ads is more of an add-on for growth-focused companies.
It’s quite easy to connect these two platforms together. We have listed the steps below for you to follow.
Why you need a Google My Business (GMB) account
If you haven’t set up your Google My Business account yet….why not? Every business should have one properly set up, whether you have a brick and mortar location or not.
It boosts your business’s visibility and increases your local SEO. It also provides access to analytics, allowing you to run better paid and organic advertising strategies.
A Google My Business page allows you to list your business location on Google Maps and local search results. It provides your location, hours, website link, reviews, photos and blogs in an easy to view listing in search results for someone to find you.
When someone does a “near me” search for a business or service, you want your business to show on page one of those search results.
Build Consumer Trust
A Google My Business profile lends credibility to your company. Need proof? Customers are 70% more likely to visit businesses with a Google My Business listing.
according to Hootsuite
“84% of searches are discovery, while 16% are direct.
34% of local businesses are seen in more than 1,000 discovery searches per month.”
according to BrightLocal
Trust is a key factor when it comes to making purchase decisions. The more confident a consumer feels, the more likely they are to buy. Credibility gained from Google is enough to sway people to be 38% more likely to visit your store, and 29% more likely to buy something.
How to set up a Google My Business account
- Go to https://www.google.com/business/. Click Manage Now.
Note: You will need to have an existing google account. If you don’t have one, create one. Otherwise skip to the step.
- Enter your business name as you want it to appear – If your company name didn’t auto-populate, click Add your business to Google.
- Select the appropriate category for your business.
- Enter your location. If you have a brick and mortar location (i.e.: store, plant or office), select Yes. If you don’t and only sell online, select No.
- If Yes, enter your physical site address. This will show up on Google Maps so make sure your address and the pin on the map is correct.
- If you also sell online or go to your customer’s locations (i.e.: eCommerce, Plumber, Electrician, Parts Store, etc), click Yes. Otherwise, click No.
- If you service customers outside your business location, you can list all the areas you service. This will show up on your GMB Page listing and help bring more customers to you from those service areas.
- Enter your contact details. This is what customers will use to contact your business through your GMB Page listing. If you don’t have a website, enter your Facebook Business page URL on the website URL line. You can also use Google’s free website but it’s not something I’d recommend to anyone.
- Google will ask you if you want updates and recommendations for your business. If you’re one that enjoys reading blogs, click Yes. Otherwise, click No.
- Finish and manage this listing, click Finish.
- You need to verify your business with Google. Google will send you a postcard in the mail with a verification code on it. It takes approximately 2 weeks.
- Once your postcard is received, follow the verification instructions. This will publish your Google My Business page.
- Make sure you now optimize your Google My Business page. Add the following to make it stand out and let your customers know more about your business:
- Sections of your Google My Business page to add:
- Photos and videos
- Business description
- Posts
- Service menus
- Product Collections
- Request and manage reviews
How to link your Google My Business account with your Google Ads Account
If you are using Google Ads ‘search ads’ to generate new business, it is important to link your Google Ads account with your Google My Business account so that your potential customers experience a consistent brand across all mediums.
The rest of this article will walk you through exactly how to link Google My Business and Google Ads using location extensions.
Step 1 – Make sure your Google My Business and Google Ads email addresses are the same.
To find out which email address is associated with the Google My Business account you are trying to connect, login to Google My Business here and navigate to the account “Settings”:
Once you are in the “Settings” area you will see the preferred email address in the second section from the top:
Is this email address the same as the one being used to log into you or your client’s Google Ads account? If it is, then move onto Step 2. If it’s not, then you’ll need to login to Google Ads and provide Admin access to the email address associated with the Google My Business account.
To do so, in Google Ads navigate to Tools > Setup > Account Access:
On the “Account Access” screen, click on the blue “+” icon. Add your email address as an “Admin” user:
Step 2 – Navigate to Ad Extensions in your Google Ads account
Once your Google My Business account has access to your Google Ads account, log into Google Ads and navigate to the “Ads and Extensions” section:
From here, click on the “Extensions” tab at the top of the screen:
Step 3 – Create a Location Extension
Click the blue “+” button to create a new extension, and choose the “Location” option:
From the popup screen, select the connected My Business account from the drop-down menu:
Note: If you don’t have access to the appropriate Google My Business Account with this Google Ads email address, you can request access at this step by entering the email associated with that account and following the prompts.
Click “Continue” and review the location information to ensure it is correct, then click “Finish”.
You’re all done!
Your Google My Business account is now connected with Google Ads and you can use the locations associated with that account as extensions in your ads.
Other Resources
Here are some other helpful resources for connecting your Google My Business account with Google Ads.
Google Support Documentation:
https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7189290?hl=en&co=ADWORDS.IsAWNCustomer=true
Google Video Resource:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=cO9OelOoWWA&feature=emb_logo“
Let us know if you run into any problems.
