{"id":128583,"date":"2019-05-23T14:05:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T14:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=128583"},"modified":"2020-01-07T17:27:12","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T17:27:12","slug":"remove-automated-ad-extensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/23\/remove-automated-ad-extensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t let unwanted automated ad extensions keep you up"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s three a.m. You\u2019re uneasy, but you don\u2019t really know why. You\u2019ve recently audited<\/a>\u00a0your accounts, you\u2019re on top of your routine maintenance, and you\u2019re actively testing ways to increase efficiency and grow your account. <\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve done your due diligence, so why the nagging feeling that something\u2019s wrong? Since you can\u2019t sleep, you decide to check up on your ads in the wild and run a live search to put yourself at ease. That\u2019s when it hits you. Your ads are showing with extensions you didn\u2019t specify. Even worse, some of them don\u2019t even really make sense.<\/p>\n

What are these, and where did they come from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By default, campaigns on Google and Bing are automatically eligible to show dynamic extensions, ranging from site links, callouts, structured snippets, call extensions, and app extensions. Additionally, Bing offers “Dynamic Ad Enhancements” which are anything from dynamically generated ad description texts to badges highlighting promos and deals.<\/p>\n

The content of these extensions is based on your landing pages<\/a>, ad copy<\/a>, information from your domain, your Google My Business profile, and third-parties in the case of reviews<\/a> and seller ratings. The exact logic Google and Bing Ads use to determine when automated extensions show is a closely held secret, as is the content of those extensions themselves. Only performance metrics associated with the type of extension is viewable in each interface.<\/p>\n

Depending on how your site is indexed and crawled by each platform, wildly different data is available to populate these extensions. That could lead to showing outdated information or content from irrelevant pages with your ad. Seeing an extension driving particularly strong performance without being able to see what that extension actually is is incredibly frustrating, but seeing an irrelevant or outdated addition to your ads on a live search is even worse. Even more so if your client happens across one before you do.<\/p>\n

While each platform is heavily invested in improving overall user experience<\/a> and improving ad experiences, automated extensions are far from perfect. Further, SEM managers frequently need to maintain control over ad messaging for legal compliance and client needs. Some examples would be adherence to branding guidelines, highlighting specific events<\/a> and promotions, and using particular approved language. These make automated extensions a non-starter regardless of performance.<\/p>\n

Measuring the impact of extensions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Both Google and Bing warn against the potential negative performance impact of opting out of automated extensions. If your account doesn\u2019t have specific branding or compliance requirements, you should gauge automated extension performance against your existing extensions before opting out of anything. There will be clear winners and losers in every account. As automated extensions are frequently changing, their performance is likely to ebb and flow. Hopefully, dynamic extensions that don\u2019t resonate with users get weeded out of the mix by the ad<\/a> platforms.<\/p>\n

When you find something that works, it\u2019s nice to be able to build on it. Similarly, if you find something doesn\u2019t work, it\u2019s a great time to stop doing that. Unfortunately, both ad systems seem determined to make certain extensions work, even when their performance doesn\u2019t merit keeping them around. And, since both the underpinning logic behind automated extensions serving as well as the content of those extensions is a mystery, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to get a good handle on what exactly is driving those decisions.<\/p>\n

To quantify the impact extensions have on your account in Google, analyze ad performance segmented by click type to determine which part of an ad unit users are interacting with. To determine how individual extensions perform on the ad level, segment your data with This Extension vs Other. In Bing, there are multiple ad extension reports available within the Reports tab just not directly in the interface.<\/p>\n

How do I get rid of these?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To manage your dynamic extensions in the Google Ads interface, click into the “Ads & Extensions” tab, and then click into the \u201cAdvanced Options\u201d menu on the far right-hand side of the screen.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

In the Bing Ads interface, you\u2019ll need to click into the “Ad Extensions” tab and select the dropdown menu to choose “Automated Extensions Report”. From there, the “Manage Automated Extensions” button is clearly accessible.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

As soon as you get to the appropriate section in both platforms, opting out of undesired extension types is as simple as checking a few boxes.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

As your settings are updated in the interface, they should roll live in the same amount of time it takes any other change, which is usually within 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

As always, performing a periodic live search to verify if ads are serving appropriately is a life saver. Make a note on your calendar to include checking your automated extensions settings periodically when you move through your deeper account health checks.<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019ve regained some control over your account, you can breathe a sigh of relief, and look forward to restful slumbers. But when you wake in the morning, we think that\u2019d be a great time to audit<\/a> your current extensions. Make sure everything serving is timely and applied to the appropriate campaigns. Ad extensions are key to boosting the success of your campaigns, assuming they\u2019re strategically implemented. While automated extensions show some promising results, they\u2019re far from perfect just yet.<\/p>\n

Blake Lucas is an SEM Coordinator at PMG.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By default, campaigns on Google and Bing automatically show dynamic ad extensions. Quick fixes on how you could remove or manage them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":128612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[27486,1133,179,588,58],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-128583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ppc","tag-automated-extensions","tag-bing-ads","tag-google-ads","tag-paid-search-ads","tag-ppc"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Dont-let-unwanted-automated-ad-extensions-keep-you-up-120x90.png","category":"PPC","timeago":"7y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128583"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=128583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}