A Total Guide to Structured Snippets

What are they?

Structured Snippets are an extension of your ad that allows you to highlight specific aspects of your business’ products and services. For example, a sports retailer could highlight what brands they have in stock (Nike, Adidas etc) or a hotel could shout about their amenities (Free Wifi, Swimming Pool, Laundry Service etc). And what’s more all of this can be done without eating into that valuable (albeit now extended) character limit of your actual ads! 

Google Ads help article: 

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6280012?hl=en-GB 

The character limit of each line of your structured snippet is 25 characters. As a minimum Google asks that you add in 3 “values” under each “Header”, but as the saying goes “the more the merrier” – you can have up to 10 “values” under each header. But that’s not all – you can also have 2 sets of structured snippets in ads – in the hotel chain’s case they can use it to not only highlight its amenities, but also locations (e.g. London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol) 

Possible headers are: Amenities, Brands, Courses, Degree Programs, Destinations, Featured Hotels, Insurance Coverage, Models, Neighbourhoods, Service Catalog, Shows, Styles and Types – so a wide variety of use cases! 

Why Use Them? 

Like all extensions Structured Snippets can give your ad a bit more real estate in the SERP, and when combined with other extensions they can help protect your brand by taking a bit more space up and pushing competitors a bit further down the SERP. 

As you’re describing your offerings a bit more in the ad, Structured Snippets can also help to give a better user experience – after all people like to know what you have to offer before clicking. 

Best of all, they’re free to implement! 

Where to add them 

Structured Snippets can be added in via the Google Ads interface, or the Google Ads Editor software. 

Adding via Interface: 

• Select the “Ads & Extensions” tab on the left, and click the “Extensions” tab at the top (in the middle between Ads and Automated Extensions

• Click the “+” sign at the top left of the screen. From the drop-down, select “Structured Snippet Extension”. You will then be asked for things to input: 

• Add To – this can be Account, Campaign or Ad Group level 
• Header Language – there are 41 to choose from – make sure it matches that of your ads otherwise it may be confusing and affect user experience. 
• Header – available headers are described above. 
• Values – enter your features line by line – character limits are 25 characters. By default the interface gives you 3 lines but to add more, click the “Add Value” button. Google recommends you have 4 as a minimum 

• Advanced Options: 

• Mobile preference – check the box to show your set of snippets over others on Mobile devices. As a best practise make your values shorter to account for the smaller screens. In our hotel example, “Swimming Pool” could become “Pool” or “Laundry Service” could be shortened to “Laundry” 
• Start & End Date – if you are running your Structured Snippets for a tactical campaign you can choose to only run them between a certain date range. For example if you are a retailer running a Christmas campaign you could choose to schedule it from November to mid-December 
• Ad schedule - you can choose to display your structured snippets at certain times of the day or days of the week. Just click “Ad Schedule” to add a time slot. 

Adding via Google Ads Editor: 

• Go into Google Ads Editor 
• Structured Snippets can be added through the Shared Library tab 
• Select “Shared Library” and then “Add Structured Snippet Extension” – you will then have the option to add at account, campaign or ad group level. 

Best Practises: 

Automated Extensions Opt Out 

If there are no Structured Snippet extensions in your account, Google will sometimes show automated structured snippets if it finds relevant content on your site. As a best practise we recommend opting out of this as it may not offer a good user experience. To opt out: 

• In the Google Ads interface select “Ads & Extensions” on the left, then click “Automated Extensions” at the top. 
• Next click “more” (3 dots) and then Advanced Options 
• Select “Turn Off Automated Extensions” and then from the drop-down select “Dynamic Structured Snippets” 
• You also have to select a reason (one that represents you or your business), then hit “done” 

Policies 

The following are not allowed in Structured Snippets: 

• Gimmicky punctuation & symbols e.g. Exclamation marks, capitalisation, emojis 

• Repetition – you cannot have the duplicate text values under the same header 
• Multiple items in one value i.e. comma separated 
• Trademarks – in response to complaints 

Header-Specific policies: 

The following are not allowed: 

Amenities: 

• Values that do not list features or facilities. 

Brands: 

• Values that aren’t actual brands 
• Description of the number of Brands 

Courses: 

• Values that do not list specific courses 

Degree Programmes: 

• Values that aren’t actual study subjects 
• Values that describe the duration of the course 

Destinations: 

• Values that are not names of destinations 

Featured Hotels: 

• Values that are not hotel names 

Insurance Coverage: 

• Values that aren’t a specific type of Insurance 

Models: 

• Values that are not specific models 
• Model specifications 
• Names of manufacturers, shops or dealerships 

Neighbourhoods: 

• Names of cities or countries 
• Values that aren’t a sub-region of a city 

Service Catalogue: 

• Values that aren’t specific offerings 

• Values that list a product’s features 

Shows: 

• Values that aren’t the names of shows or programmes 
• Information regarding the show e.g. times 

Styles: 

• Values that aren’t variations of a specific category 

Types: 

• Values that are not variations of a product category. 

Sources:

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6280012?hl=en-GB