Google just released Google+ Pages, a new way for businesses to get closer to their customers online. As of November 9th, Google has started to roll out the ability to link your Google+ Page to your AdWords campaigns, so that all your +1s — from your Page, your website, ads and search results — get tallied together and appear as a single total. This functionality is now available with a new AdWords featured called Social Extensions.
When you enable Social Extensions in your AdWords campaigns, the 40+ million Google+ users as well as Google searchers will be able to see all recommendations your business has received, whether they are looking at an ad, a search result or your Google+ page. To enable Social Extensions in your AdWords campaigns, click the ‘Ad Extensions’ tab in your account and select Social Extensions from the drop down menu and choose new extension.
Without Social Extensions, your AdWords ads only show +1’s from people within the visitor’s Google+ network who have +1’d the landing page of the ad. By implementing Social Extensions, your ads will be connected to all of your brand’s +1’s, which makes it more likely that someone who sees your ad will have a friend or contact who has recommended it.
Google believes that Social Extensions has the potential to improve overall ad performance because recommendations from friends and family impact purchasing decisions. That being said, Google has added a new reporting segment to help better understand the impact that social annotations are having on your AdWords campaigns and ads. This reporting is also available in the ‘Ad Extensions’ tab of your account.
To learn more on Social Extensions, visit the AdWords Help Center.