How To Lock In Your Location Extensions

You’ve probably seen AdWords listings with an address listed below the ad copy. It’s blue and hyperlinked so that if a user clicks it will automatically search for the address and business on Google Maps. Here is an example:

Location-Extension

However, the other day I got an email from a client that their location extension was showing the wrong location. This client is a franchise business so we have campaigns for each location and geographic areas are very strictly defined. This was a problem. Looking in the reports for the location extension it was apparent that the problem was bigger than even they realized. Here is a scrubbed view of what was going on:

Location-Extension-Scattered

As you can see, though this campaign is for one very specific location, there are impressions for 6 different locations. SIX!

Ensure The Right Location Is Shown

Just below the report pictured above you’ll see a red button reading “+ Extension” and when you click that button you’re presented with this:

Location-Extension-Filter

Here you can type in the name of the specific business location (or category) for a campaign or ad group and it will force AdWords to use a certain location from your Google My Business account. This way you can ensure that the right location is always being used.