Prices Shown in the Ad Itself

Prices under the ad

Since July, AdWords has offered price extensions: a short list under a search ad, each line naming a service or product with its price and a link to a page of its own.

They appear on phones, and for now only when the ad is in the top position.

For a business whose prices are standard, they answer the first question before anyone clicks. How much.

Whether that helps depends on the prices themselves, and on keeping them right.

What an extension holds

• Three to eight items, each a service, product or tier.
• A short heading naming each item.
• A brief description of what the item includes.
• A price for each item, shown in the ad.
• A landing page for each item, not just the home page.
• A level, set for the whole account, a campaign or one ad group.

The fifth is the one most easily wasted. A tap on an item can land on the page about that exact service, which is worth more than a home page.

Why the price brings better clicks

Every click costs money, whether or not the person would ever pay your price. A tap on any item in the list is charged like a click on the ad.

Someone who sees the price first and still taps has already accepted it. Someone who would never pay it scrolls past, and that click never reaches your bill.

That is the case for prices in the ad: fewer paid clicks from people who were never going to buy, and conversations that start after the number is known.

Where it fits

Price extensions suit services with standard prices that people compare: a set fee, a fixed package, a tier of service.

They suit businesses whose price is a reason to choose them, or at least not a reason to rule them out.

And they suit searches from people who already know what they need and are deciding whom to call. A search that names a service is where a price does the most work.

Room for one number

Each item has room for a heading, a few words and a single price. There is no space for conditions, so the number has to stand on its own.

Choose the figure a typical customer pays for that item. If distance or extras change it, name the main condition in the description line.

A figure that only a rare customer could get, shown as the norm, is a misleading claim however it is worded. A price in a search ad is held to the same standard as any other advertising.

A worked example

A process server delivers court documents across a metropolitan area, for law offices and for individuals handling small claims or family matters on their own.

Its AdWords campaign brought calls from individuals that often ended at the price. Some expected the service to be free; others had a figure in mind well below any standard rate.

The business added a price extension with three tiers, standard, rush and same-day, each with its price and a line on timing, and each linking to the page for that tier.

People who tapped through had seen the price first, so a conversation could start with dates and addresses rather than cost.

Law offices, which compare rush rates, could see all three tiers without leaving the results page.

When the business raised its rush rate this month, the extension and the page were changed in the same sitting.

Keeping the prices current

An extension is a second copy of your prices, and second copies drift.

Make the ad part of every price change: whoever updates the website updates the extension at the same time, and someone else checks both.

Extensions can carry start and end dates, which suits a seasonal price or a short offer that should vanish on time.

A monthly look at the extension beside the prices page catches whatever slips through.

What the landing pages need

Each item links to its own page, and that page has to finish the job the ad started.

It should repeat the price in the same words, spell out what the price covers and what is extra, and make the next step obvious: a number to tap or a short booking form.

A tap on rush service that lands on a general services page, with the rush price somewhere near the bottom, wastes the click you just paid for.

Only on phones, only at the top

For now the extension shows only on phones and only when the ad is first. A campaign that rarely reaches the top position will rarely show it.

That is no reason to skip it, since it costs nothing to add, but it is a reason not to expect much from it on its own.

At launch it was also available only for ads in English.

Choosing the items

Pick the services people search for most, not the whole price list. Three clear items beat eight cramped ones.

Write the headings in the customer's words: rush service rather than priority tier B.

Keep the descriptions factual: what is included, how long it takes, or whom it is for. They are short, so every word should help someone choose.

Order them the way a customer thinks about them, usually from the most common to the most specialised.

The counter-case

Price extensions are not for every advertiser. Work priced after a visit has no honest number to show, and a low figure with conditions attached disappoints the people it attracts.

A business that charges more for good reasons may also do better letting the page explain those reasons before the number appears.

And a small campaign that seldom reaches the top position will rarely see its extension, whatever it says.

Where prices are standard and comparable, though, show them in the ad and keep them exactly right.

Setting it up

1. List the services with standard prices.
2. Pick three to five that people search for.
3. Write headings in the customer's words.
4. Link each item to its own page.
5. Match every price to the page it links to.
6. Set end dates for seasonal prices.
7. Check the extension whenever prices change.

Step five protects the rest, because an ad price that disagrees with the page costs trust at the exact moment someone is ready to buy.

Where the ad appears beyond Google itself is covered in search partner sites in your AdWords campaign.

Frequently asked questions

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