Google’s Structured Snippets – How They Work and What They Are

Structured snippets allow you to highlight key aspects of your products or services in your ads. You can add them at the account, campaign or ad group level. These ad extensions help provide context on the nature and variety of your products or services before visitors click through to your site. You can customize snippets, choosing when they should appear.

Each snippet contains:

Header

A header a list of features you would like to highlight:

• Up to two headers at a time can show on your ad
• Your header text must match one of the categories in this list from Google
• Add several relevant headers to your ads because Google will use their algorithm to determine the best combination of headers to show

Below is an example from Google of what using snippets might look like in an ad for a company that sells boots. The snippet is outlined with a red rectangle.  In this case, the header “Styles” was given four values (Chukka, Combat, Cowboy, Chelsea).

Values

• Values are a list of products or services that you would like to highlight
  • Minimum of 3 values needed
  • 25 character limit per snippet value
  • For mobile, limit text to less than 12 characters
  • Must follow Google’s policy and be family safe

Your header and values must match. A mismatch will result in disapproval of your snippet. Google explains values in more details below:

“Values for the Style header should be variations of a fairly specific category, like sandals or high heels, while values for the Type header can be variations of broader categories, like light fixtures or shoes.”

Best Practices

Keep these in mind when creating and/or optimizing structured snippets:

• Provide sufficient information. At least 4 values per header
• Consider mobile users. Shorter snippets for customers using mobile
• Increase your options. Adding multiple header-value set. This provides more options and ensures that relevant extension will show with your ad
• Pick the right format. Structured snippets should highlight a complete group of products or services that your business provides

Here’s an example of what a structured snippet should look like:

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