New Review Extensions In Google AdWords: What You Need To Know

Just yesterday, Google announced the beta release of AdWords Review Extensions, which allow advertisers to include blurbs of third-party reviews in their search ads. The extension could prove especially useful to local businesses and to advertisers who don’t have access to seller rating extensions to add validation to their ads. We’ve asked Google for some more detail […]

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Just yesterday, Google announced the beta release of AdWords Review Extensions, which allow advertisers to include blurbs of third-party reviews in their search ads. The extension could prove especially useful to local businesses and to advertisers who don’t have access to seller rating extensions to add validation to their ads.

We’ve asked Google for some more detail on how Review Extensions (pictured below) work.

Adwords Review Extensions Beta

What can I use in my reviews? As the two examples above show, the review snippets can either be a direct quote or a summary from a review. Of course, you’ll need to have permission to use the review from the source publication.

Is the publication name a link?  Yes, the publication name (in blue) is a link to the publisher’s website. Advertisers can set the destination URL to the page where the review snippet is sourced from on the publisher’s site.

Do I pay for clicks on the publisher’s name? No, advertisers are not charged for clicks on links to publisher sites.

Is there a character limit on Review Extensions? Yes, the character limit on Review Extensions in 67, and that includes the name of the publication.

How will Google prevent abuse of this extension? You’re not alone if you immediately started thinking about ways scammers and spammers will try to abuse Review Extensions. Google clearly wants to make sure this extension doesn’t become rife with bogus reviews from less-than-credible sites. According to the policy, each review must come from a “reputable 3rd party source”. Google also states that  “automated and human-based systems” will be used to review and validate all review extensions.  I’m waiting to hear more on how they are qualifying a reputable source.

How do I participate in the beta? Contact your AdWords rep. There is no sign-up form for consideration at this point.

Google says they’ll be adding support for Review Extensions in the UI soon. They are available globally in English only at this time.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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