Is a picture worth a thousand words? That’s how the saying goes, at least. One thing’s for sure, the right picture could be worth thousands of dollars to your company.

This summer, Google rolled out image extensions for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, allowing advertisers to showcase a picture instead of merely text.

Previously available only as a beta to select users, the extensions have been made available to the masses. The long and short? When leveraged correctly, they could significantly improve click-through rates (CTRs) for many businesses and brands.

Google’s image extensions are dynamic ad extensions, however. What this means is that you will not exert direct control over the images that pop up in your ads. You can choose to upload a max of 20 high-quality images Google will pick from. Google can also scan your site and choose an image from your landing pages to display. It may even scan your social profiles and pull images from those platforms, as well. (Clever, Google.)

For the time being, the benefits are kind of clear cut:

• Better looking ads.
• Boosted quality scores.
• More real estate on the Search Engine Results Page.
• More traffic, more leads, more sales.

Setting up image extensions for PPC ads is also a snap:

• Navigate to the Ads & Extensions menu (left-hand side)
• Select “extensions.”
• Add a new extension by clicking the blue plus sign.
• Choose “image extension.”

You can apply image extensions for PPC ads to your Google Ads campaign or ad group levels. What you choose is entirely up to you, but the campaign level is likely adequate for ad groups and images that target the same service and/or product.

If the groups differ, and the images don’t quite align, go the “ad group” route.

You will also need to confirm that you own or have legal permission to share the images on your landing pages.

Some caveats to keep in mind while crafting your landing pages:

• Images will need to be square (or crop-friendly).
• Recommended size is 1200 x 12000 (minimum 300 x 300 pixels), and not exceeding 5120KB.
• Quality is key – give Google good pics to work with:
  • Do not use logo overlays or text overlays
  • Do not use GIFs
  • Make sure photos are in focus and cropped properly

Taking steps to maximize the reach of image extensions for PPC ads will help your customers to get the right picture regarding your company. So, whether or not a picture is worth a thousand words, the word of mouth that results could end up being priceless.

Questions? The IMPACT Marketing & PR team is standing by.