Google AdWords is one of the most effective marketing strategies for small businesses. It puts you in front of your audience in very a targeted way with such amazing metrics that allow you to constantly optimize and measure what is or isn’t working.

But what you might not realize is that a lot of people aren’t using AdWords to its fullest potential, which includes site links! One of the most valuable site links that business owners can use is the location extension.

What are local extensions in Adwords?

The location extension shows your business address, phone number, and so on in your ad. How? It pulls all of this information from your Google Business Profile. If you don’t already have one set up already, here’s how it’s done.

So once your Google Business Profile is ready to go, you’ll want to get the locations extension setup:

1. Click on the Campaign that you would like to add an extension for.

2. Click on the “Ad extension” tab

3. Click on the drop-down that says “View” and go to “Location extensions”

4. Click on “Ad account” location extension and select the red button that says + Extension

5. Choose whether or not you want to include all locations if you have multiple, or individual locations. Once you’re done, click save!

The great thing about the location extension is that it automatically populates your reviews from your Google Business Profile. So if you have 47 reviews with a 4.5-star rating, there’s a lot of value in this. Especially since a lot of other businesses don’t use the local extension, this will help your ad stand out.

And personally, I’d drive a little farther for a business that has reviews in their listing over one that doesn’t.

So once your location extension is up and live, your main goal should be to get more and more reviews. Make this an everyday, top-of-mind priority. Connect with clients (previous and current) and encourage them to review your business.

That’s where a product like Podium comes in handy. They make the entire review process so much easier. We love recommending our clients to Podium because we believe their product is the perfect type for this goal. Without reviews, your location extension in AdWords isn’t fully put to use.

This is what it looks like when you use your reviews and the AdWords extension to your advantage… versus when you don’t. Here’s an example of a search for “Phoenix dentist”:

Phoenix drumset search example.

Of these two dentists, which one would you choose? If you’ve never heard of either, you’re more likely to pick the one with the better reviews. And that makes sense since 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

So if my wacky uncle tells me not to eat at a pizzeria because he said it doesn’t taste good, but I look on Google or Yelp and see that they have over 200 reviews with a 4.5 rating… I’m not going to trust my wacky uncle over those reviews. He is outweighed by people who rave about the pizza.

That being said, online reviews are really important. Without them, consider how many sales and calls do you miss out on because the guy next to you just looks so much better and has reviews in his ads.

If you can get enough reviews to where you convert more of those impressions into opportunities and those opportunities into sales, you’ll start closing more just by amping the number of reviews you have.

For example, a lot of people feel like they get too many clicks on AdWords but not any leads. But if the person above or to the right of you in search results has a lot of great reviews and you don’t show any, that’s where you aren’t going to get picked.

People don’t feel comfortable getting pitched to by a business that seems like they may not have a great reputation as opposed to another business that has proof that their services are top-notch.

If you’re able to generate just a few more sales because you have more reviews, you’ll notice that your AdWords, SEO, and every other marketing campaign works better as your reputation builds. It’ll make the sales process easier as well because people will ask fewer questions as they feel like they trust you more. And that’s the main goal.

This article is part of our Google Reviews Explained Guide:

Google Reviews 101

Google Reviews Related Training

The Importance of Reviews in Your Adwords