Google has announced that they are trialling image extensions in AdWords. This will allow an ad to not just include text but also have an image or multiple images attached to it. This is quite a major shift for Google’s Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising platform that up until now has only allowed images that are product images and then only if they were relevant to the search query that the user has typed.
Advertisers will be able to attach multiple images to an ad. The images are still not guaranteed to show and will only appear if Google judges the search query to be enhanced by the images. From what Google have said so far it would appear that there will be strict rules regarding what would trigger the appearance of an image in an ad.
An image can be worth a thousand words and it is likely that ads with images will achieve a higher click through rate than those that do not. Of course the choice of image will be all important. Before the ad can run the images will have to be reviewed by Google to ensure that they are suitable for display. One of the factors will decide if they are suitable is whether you own the copyright to use the image. It is not clear yet whether the image will be allowed to include text on it and even if it is I doubt that they will permit a call for action to be included such as an image that says “Click Now!”.
Facebook ads already contain images and my experience of working with Facebook’s advertising platform is that the choice of image is as important as your choice of text. Often it is the image that catches your eye at first and then leads you to the text of the ad.
Possibly one effect of images in ads is a higher click through rate and an increase in the number of people who will click on an ad. Currently only about 35-40% of users will click on an ad on Google but with a more visual element present on the page then users might be more inclined to click on an ad.
It will also help to give advertisers an edge over those whose sites rank highly in organic results as the snippets on a search engine results page (SERP) only contain text. This in turn may lead to some companies starting to advertise on Google if they find that in spite of maintain their position in Google’s rankings that they have seen a decrease in traffic. There is also evidence that suggests that when a site is ranked at number 1 for a particular search term if the company then run a Google AdWords ad that is triggered by the same keyword that the ad gains more clicks than for a site that is not on the first page of results.
Image extensions have the potential to increase click through rates and I am sure that many companies will try A/B testing ads with and without images to see which perform best and are the most cost effective.
If you are interested in taking part in the trial then you can apply to do so here.