[Blog post updated on the 16th of January 2023]
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are two powerful online advertising tools. However, their strength is not only based on their keyword model and ad formats but also on the number of assets (previously called extensions by Google Ads) they offer that allow you to personalise your ad to the user’s needs. Let’s not forget that assets represent a real opportunity to expand your ads with additional information and give more reasons to the user to click and choose your business.
Assets increase the size of your ads and improve the click-through rate and, finally, your ROI! Some main advantages are: greater visibility, more prominence on the search results page and increased engagement.
To increase your chance of success in your campaign, Google recommends adding as many asset types as possible, be it at the account, campaign or ad group level.
Now that you know more about what assets are and the main benefits of using them, we can compare both platforms.
Which assets can I use in Google Ads & Microsoft Advertising?
The good news is that most assets are common to Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads. However, some are specific to one of the two platforms, the action, filter link, video and flyer extensions (Microsoft) or the callouts for hotel campaigns and affiliate location assets (Google).
Besides, Microsoft offers the possibility to highlight some characteristics of your business, such as the number of your followers on Twitter with automated extensions: longer ad headlines, consumer rating and dynamic partner data and ad enhancements.
Whereas Google allows you to display specific offers through promotion assets and with lead form assets to help you track leads on your website.
Differences exist between Google and Microsoft extensions. For example, there is a discrepancy in the number of pictures you can display in your image assets.
To help you understand which assets exist on both platforms and which are unique to Google or Microsoft, you can check the following summary.
Now that you know which assets are useful to you, all you have to do is to implement them. Google and Microsoft algorithms decide where, when and how your assets are displayed based on the search query used by the user.
Even though using assets is relatively easy, there are a couple of pieces of information you should know.
What should I bear in mind when using assets?
Some assets are not available in all countries. This is mainly the case for Microsoft extensions. For example, callout extensions, app extensions or review extensions are not available in China. For the Call Extensions, they are available in the US, UK and AU on all devices but only on smartphones for all other markets (but China). Therefore, if one of the extensions you would like to use is not available in your account, it might be because of your targeted market. The issue is the same with automated extensions: operating conditions change from a market and an extension to another.
In a nutshell
Microsoft and Google offer a large selection of assets that you can use based on your needs and goals. The assets you implement are then displayed by Google and Microsoft when they consider them relevant for the user.
They add value to your ads, allow you to give more information to the user, and in the end, increase both your CTR and ROI.