Google Ads App Extensions

This tool allows you to link your mobile phone or tablet application from your text ads. Customers mostly click on the headline of your ad to go to your web site or simply your URL address. App extensions are a valuable tool to provide you access to your website and your application from only one ad.

How does it work?

Basically what the ad app extension does, is it shows you a link to your app below your ad when viewed on mobile devices. When customers click this link they are taken to the app store (Google Play or the Apple App Store). If customers click on the ad's headline they will be still taken to your web page, not to your app store.

What are the key benefits of app extensions?

There are various beneficial effects this kind of upgrade adds to your existing ad's:

  • Flexibility – Adding ad app extensions to accounts, campaigns, or ad groups.

  • Detailed reporting – You can see the clicks that are received while clicking on your ad. You can determine how many clicks were done on the headline and how many were on your app extension.

  • Smart detection of app store and device – Not all mobile devices use the same systems, this way the customer will get the correct link to the app store depending on their mobile device.

  • In-place editing – You can edit app extensions without resetting the performance statistics.

An important thing to remember is that you can use only one app extension per text add but you can still create multiple app extensions for each app store.

Account levels

You have the possibility to add app extensions to campaigns, ad groups, or ad levels. The way it works if you have app expansion on all of them is that the most specific one will be used.

What does the app extension cost?

The app extensions are free to add, but you will be billed for clicks. Clicks will be recognized on mobile devices if the customer clicks on the headline or app extension. This is great news for you mainly because the cost of your ads won't increase since customers can either click on the headline or app extension.

How to set up app extensions

First of all, you should make sure you have the following:

  • A mobile app that can be on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
  • The package name for android phones, or App ID for iOS
  • The URL of the page in the app store where customers can learn more about it.

When you are ready and you have all of the above you can add an app extension like this:

  1. Sign in to the Google Ads account.
  2. Click ads and extensions and navigate to the extensions at the top of the page.
  3. Click the plus button .
  4. Choose app extension from the drop down menu.
  5. Select if you want the app extension to run on the account campaign or ad group .
  6. Choose to create a new app extension or if you already have one you can use existing app extensions .
  7. Input the name of your app into the search field (you can choose if it is for android or iOS)
  8. Insert link text you want to appear as your call-to-action.
  9. Add custom tracking parameters to set end dates or daily schedules for the extension.
  10. Click save and be done with it.

If you already have an app extension, this is the way to edit it:

  • Go to the shared library under the type list.
  • Select shared app extensions on the left panel.
  • Select an extension in the data view.
  • Edit the extension's information in the editor panel.

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