YouTube location extensions & in-store visits measurement come out of beta

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In May, Google shared details of a beta program for location extensions and store visits tracking for YouTube. On Tuesday, Google announced the features are now generally available.

While the number of ad extensions available for Google search text ads keeps adding up, the addition of location extensions marks the first time ad extensions have become available for ads in YouTube. The location extension appears in a card below the video ad that includes a map, store hours and address and links to the website or for directions.

The extensions will show on TrueView in-stream and 6-second bumper ads.

Google’s store visit measurement will then report on how effective the video ads are at driving traffic to those locations. Launch partner iHop said in a statement that it has been able to use location extensions in YouTube to drive visitors for less than $1 per guest.

Google has been expanding its store visits measurement capability to more advertisers and says it has measured more than 5 billion store visits globally. Facebook has also been building store visit measurement capabilities and recently announced stores can retarget visitors when they browse Facebook.

To get location extensions to show with YouTube ads, enable the extensions within those campaigns from the Extensions tab in AdWords.

Earlier this year, Google also added a location extension ad format for display ads.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.