Speaker 1: 0:05

What are Google Ads extensions and why should they matter to me? Welcome to Legal Marketing 101. I'm Toby Rosen. Do you think your Google Ads are working as hard as they possibly can? What if I told you that there's a simple and easy way to increase your clicks, showcase your expertise and dominate the search results, all without increasing your budget? Well, buckle up, because that is exactly what I'm telling you.

Speaker 1: 0:30

Google Ad Extensions, one of the forgotten cousins of Google Ads. Features are incredibly powerful. They increase ad visibility, lead to higher click-through rates and, just overall, lead to better lead generation for law firms. So let's start with the basics. What are Google ad extensions? Google ad extensions are a secret weapon you didn't know you needed. They're additional pieces of information or links that appear alongside your Google ads. It's designed to make them more engaging, more informative and, ultimately, more effective. So, instead of just a headline, a description and a URL, ad extension give your ads extra layers of detail. These could be clickable links to specific pages or a phone number, or even your law firm's physical address and a little map pin. Think of these extensions as the bells and whistles that turn your standard boring old Google ad into a marketing powerhouse. Without extensions, our ads are still functional, but they're kind of limited. They're like a car without power windows or a backup camera. With extensions, our ad becomes fully loaded. It provides even more value and utility and it generates more potential clients. Now you might be wondering why does this matter for my law firm? And here's the answer. It's a short one. Ad extensions not only make your ads more useful, but they also help you stand out in a crowded search results page. They are going to lead to more leads. That's what we want to hear.

Speaker 1: 1:54

So let's take a quick look at the types of ad extensions that are particularly relevant for law firms. First up is site link extensions. These are clickable links that take users directly to specific pages on your website. So we could create site links that go to our key practice areas family law services, criminal defense, corporate legal assistance. But you can also use these to include links to useful resources things like blog posts, what to expect during a divorce case, or a schedule, a consult page or even an ebook, if we're not directly advertising that in the ad. Site links make it a lot easier for prospective clients to find exactly what they're looking for on your site, and this cuts down the steps between the search and the actual engagement.

Speaker 1: 2:37

But number two is call extensions. I'm guessing you already know about these if you spent any time on Google ads, because these are pretty important, but time is usually critical when someone's searching for legal help. There are some areas where that's not true, but a lot of the time it is. Call extensions allow users to contact our firm directly with a single tap from the ad, whether they're on their phone or their computer, wherever they are. This feature is really good for urgent inquiries Think personal injury cases, last-minute legal advice, car accidents, etc. By adding our phone number to the ad, we make it as easy as possible for clients to reach us right when they need us most.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Number three is location extensions. Similar to call extensions, but they provide a slightly different angle. These extensions display our firm's address, making it clear that we're a local expert who's ready to assist nearby clients. For users that are searching lawyer near me, having our address visible in an ad can make all the difference when it comes to an engagement. And here's a bonus Location extensions also integrate directly with Google Maps who would have thought? And this guides clients straight to your door. So not only are they seeing your address, they're able to click on it and get directions.

Speaker 1: 3:47

But number four is structured snippets. This is one you may not know about. Structured snippets. Let us highlight specific aspects of our services in a clean, easy to read format, even for mobile users. So we could highlight our specialties. If we, you know, do personal injury, then we can talk about the specific types of injuries we handle. If we do real estate, then we can talk about the specific types of injuries we handle. If we do real estate, we can talk about the specific types of cases we handle, even for IP, trademark. All of that. This is our chance to go ahead and start displaying our expertise, even if it's just at a glance, and show these prospective clients exactly how we can help.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Number five on the list is call-out extensions. I've talked about these a little bit in the past, but they're pretty interesting. These are short, attention-grabbing phrases that highlight our firm's unique selling points. So things can be like available 24-7, no win, no fee, if that's allowed in your state. Free initial consultation, flat fees, whatever it is. Call-outs give these potential clients extra reasons to choose our firm over the competitors on the page and this reinforces our value, without taking up really that much space. Of course, that's not always a good thing, but we'll come back to taking up space.

Speaker 1: 4:54

By using these extensions thoughtfully, you're not just enhancing your ad. You're creating a better experience for potential clients. They get to the information faster, they get the information they want sooner rather than clicking through your site. All of that works in your favor. But now we need to dive into why these extensions are so powerful and how they can transform our campaigns.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Ultimately, just why do Google ad extensions matter? Why are they a good thing? So we understand what they are, but the answer here of why we need to be using it can feel a little complex, but it's actually simple, and the reality is that there's data surrounding everything I'm about to talk about. While I'm not going to dig into the details of it, understand this these extensions are a game changer for any advertiser on Google, not just law firms, but especially when you are a law firm that's looking to stand out, attract better leads and grow your business. Ad extensions allow you to rise above the fray, because most legal marketers forget about this. Most firms forget about it. It's a second tab. There's so many other things going on, and so if you're in your market, nobody else is running extensions, you can add them and win this market. So why does this matter, though? If maybe you're not the only one in your market running it, why would I still want to do this?

Speaker 1: 6:12

Let's break it down into the five key benefits that Google ad extensions give us. Number one is improved visibility. In the competitive world of Google search results, whether it's organic or paid, just getting on the page and standing out is most of the battle. Ads with extensions take up more space on the page, full stop. This is incredibly important. It gives our firm not just a placement on a page, but it gives us a significantly larger footprint in a crowded digital landscape. Think of it like this While some of our competitors might have this simple one-line ad, our ad looks like a real search result. It's much more comprehensive and it looks like it's endorsed by Google because they're displaying all this extra information. It's way more comprehensive, way more professional and that, right there, grabs a lot of attention from searchers. This extra real estate can make all the difference, not just for lawyers and insurance people and the high value click areas of Google ads, but really at any level. Having that extra real estate is akin to having a larger ad in a magazine or in a newspaper. We want those extra column inches.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Number two is leading to higher click-through rates. Here's a statistic to chew on Ads with extensions always see a higher CTR than those without, and sure I made that up. I'm getting into the habit of making up statistics when it comes to these things because, a we can't really find data on all of this and, b, because in all of my accounts it's true. And why? Because extensions provide potential clients with more reasons to click. Instead of relying on just one headline and one description, we're giving them a bunch of different pathways to engage with our firm and we're giving ourselves more chances to resonate with that potential click, Whether it's clicking on a site link to learn about our practice areas, tapping a call extension to speak with us directly, clicking on the location to see how far away we are, extensions make our ad irresistible. And a higher CTR doesn't just mean more traffic. It means more engaged traffic from people who are actively seeking our services.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Number three is better ad rank. I was about to get into this in number two, but the reality is you guys get it. The more we please Google, the more Google gives us and Google's algorithm. It really rewards relevance and quality, and ad extensions are a key ingredient in this recipe. When you use extensions, you're improving your ad's relevance and user experience, which in turn boosts your ad rank. A higher ad rank means your ad is more likely to appear at the top of the search results, even if your budget is in the highest. In other words, ad extensions can help you compete smarter, not harder. And at the end of the day, I mean, what else are we trying to do? Number four is enhanced user experience.

Speaker 1: 8:56

Ever heard the saying make it easy for people to say yes to you. Of course you have. That's exactly what ad extensions do. We make it easy. They help the potential clients find the information they're looking for effortlessly, and it happens in an instant. So for someone who's searching family lawyer near me, they can immediately see your location, your phone number and a link to schedule a consultation. By reducing all this friction, providing clear, relevant information, you're not just getting clicks. You're getting high quality leads who are ready to take action. They're card in hand, as we say.

Speaker 1: 9:31

And finally, there's number five. We talk about trust all the time, but trust is still everything in the legal industry At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to, and ad extensions are a key element in helping us build trust right from the very first interaction. Features like location extensions show that we're a local firm. We're not some ethereal, you know, in the cloud legal zoom type of operation, and we can also use call outs like over 20 years of experience or top rated attorney or super lawyers attorney to reinforce our credibility. Some clients will understand some of these designations, but everybody understands 20 years of experience. And if you include review extensions in all of this, you're adding social proof to the mix.

Speaker 1: 10:13

We've talked about this before too. This shows prospective clients that others trust and recommend your services, and there is no higher recommendation than the random person on the street. Why that is true is incredibly frustrating to me, but that's the system. When people see your ad, they're not just seeing a service provider, they're seeing the whole picture. They're seeing a firm they can rely on. And here's the bottom line Google ad extensions are not an option anymore. They aren't just an add-on, they are a critical element of any marketing effort when it comes to Google ads. And if you started this episode saying, hmm well, I've never heard of Google ad extensions, then, oh, buddy, I feel bad for you, because this is important and you need to get up to speed quickly. Ad extensions boost visibility, improve engagement and establish trust, all while enhancing your ad's overall performance. If you aren't doing them now, I guarantee you someone else is and they're going to beat you.

Speaker 1: 11:09

And now that we know why these extensions are such a powerful tool, let's get into how we can start using them for the law firm and how we can make them as effective as possible. So I'm going to run through this quickly. I had ChatGPT sort out all my notes for me on how to set these up and I'm going to read through these. And I'm not going to make these available in the show notes, because, if you'd like them, check out the transcript where you can download them, or use something like Mac Whisper to pull these and then put them into ChatGPT to clean it up. I'm not going to be adding a lot of information in the show notes from now on. I'm using the AI descriptions provided by Buzzsprout for those descriptions, giving a few links, but the reality is, if you need information from within the podcast, you, at this point, should have the tools to be able to grab it. Put it into something that will take the transcript and then use AI to grab the information that you need.

Speaker 1: 11:59

So it is pretty straightforward to get these extensions set up. If you haven't yet, don't worry, it's pretty easy. Let's dive in. Number one go into your Google Ads manager, choose the campaign or ad group that you want to enhance and then head over to the ads and extensions tab on the left-hand side. Number two then click that blue plus sign on the top left side and that's where the magic happens. You're going to see a list of extension types like site links, call outs, location extensions, all of that.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Pick the one you want to add. Then we're going to fill out the details for that extension. It'll give you a whole list. If you try to save it without all the right stuff being in there, it'll yell at you and give red boxes and things. So if it's a call extension, you need to add your firm's phone number and set it to display during whichever hours you want to have it display. So if we just want to during business hours, just select your office hours and then last step is to save the changes and that's it. Google will review it and once it's approved, your ad will go live with the new extension.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Now there are some scenarios where it might not be approved, but those are pretty rare. So if you get into one of those, call me, and it's really as simple as that. Trust me, these couple of minutes of setup can make a huge difference in how your ads perform. It's good for clients, it's good for Google and look, have I steered you wrong so far? Now let's get into some of the best practices for the ad extensions themselves, because not all of these extensions are created equal and it does matter how you use them.

Speaker 1: 13:26

So first is the site link extensions. These are links that you see below an ad that take people to specific pages on your website. So for law firms, we want to be focusing on a couple of pages that matter the most maybe family law services, schedule a consultation, maybe about our team, whatever allows us to put our best foot first and is still going to be relevant to the search terms that these ads are running on. We want to make it really easy for potential clients to find exactly what they need. So if we're entirely content-based, entirely topic-based, we don't necessarily want to be putting information about ourselves, but if we're running something a little bit more general than having an about us and an our team page in our extensions. It's absolutely fine.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Next up is call extensions. These may be where you want to start because they're a little easier than sitelink. There's a little bit less information, but they're number two on the list because sitelink extensions are really, really powerful. They're always at the top of my list, but call extensions let people call your office directly from the ad. It's kind of like Google my Business. But here's a pro tip Only keep these call extensions active during our office hours. Nobody wants to call a law firm and hit voicemail. So if you don't have 24-7 answering, turn it off when you're not there. Use the Google Ads scheduling tools to make sure that the calls are only coming in when the team is ready to answer.

Speaker 1: 14:43

And another powerful tool that has a frustratingly similar name but a completely different purpose is call-out extensions. I mentioned these up top. Call-out extensions are these short snippets of text that highlight what makes you and your firm unique. Things like free initial consult, available 24-7, no win, no fee, contingency, whatever works and whatever you can advertise these are incredible. Whatever works and whatever you can advertise these are incredible. They're a great way to make your ad stand out in a sea of competitors, because they're small and a lot of people forget about them, so you might be the only one on the search engine results page with call out extensions actually appearing. And if you're targeting local clients, another one that is really critical. I would say these four are probably the most important of all of the extensions for law firms. I would say these four are probably the most important of all of the extensions for law firms Location extensions they're a 100% have to do it kind of thing. These display our address right on the ad. They show prospects that were nearby and were accessible, and it's a really great way to build trust, especially if we're a community-focused firm.

Speaker 1: 15:49

And now I know I talk about metrics a lot and I haven't talked about it a lot here, other than making up a couple of stats, which is a habit you're going to see I'm getting into for 2025. But I'll keep this part brief because I'm going to try not to talk about analytics so much. Once your extensions are live, you need to know how they're performing, keep an eye on this, check your click-through rates, track which extensions are driving conversions. All of this can be done within Google Ads, so you don't need three different things to look at it, and you can even experiment with different messaging in your call-outs or try linking different pages in your site links to see what performs the best. We can do an A-B test, the same way I've always talked about, but with location extensions and site link extensions and call extensions.

Speaker 1: 16:26

What I suggest here is play with it. There are not a lot of wrong answers here, as long as we're not violating any of Google's guidelines or any bar rules. The sky's the limit. But before we wrap it up, I just want to say this setting up these extensions is not complicated, but it requires a little bit of thought. You do need to be a little creative and a little strategic. We want to think about what our clients need the most, whether it's quick answers, easy contact, reassurance that you're the right guy for their case. And I understand that it can be a little bit difficult to think from their perspective, because what you think they need and what they think they need can be different. But the more you tailor your extensions to meet those needs, I promise you you're going to see better and better results using that strategy. That's it for Legal Marketing 101. Check out roseandadvertisingcom for more Thanks.