Microsoft Advertising has been doubling down on visual ads in search this year, and the latest announcement is no exception. Video Extensions are available globally to advertisers today in the platform (note: mobile is only available in the U.S. right now).
What it looks like. When triggered, a small image window with the play button will show up for searchers in the SERPs.
When users click the video, it will open in an overlay with an action link or button which takes searchers to the landing page of your choice.
“As part of our integrated ad solution, videos you submit for Video Extensions are also included in the Video Library which can be used for Microsoft Audience Network Video Ad resources,” wrote Vi Nguyen, Crystal Zheng and Bhuvesh Arora in the announcement.
How to set it up. You’ll need the following information, according to the Microsoft Advertising:
- Name: internal name for organizational/labeling purposes
- Video source: URL or File
- Thumbnail source: URL or File
- Display Text: text to display beneath the video it is playing
- Alternate Text: text to display in place of the video in case it doesn’t load
- Action Text: text for the action button that is displayed beneath the video when it is playing
- Action final URL: final URL for the action button on PC
- Action mobile URL: Final URL for the action button on mobile (optional)
More details. The new Video Extensions can be shown with other ad extensions like sitelinks. The CPC for Video Extensions will be the same as clicks on the ad headline. Videos need to be between 6 and 120 seconds and should be in the range from 16:9 to 9:16 (e.g., 1:1 will be accepted) for aspect ratio. Microsoft recommends as high a resolution as possible but caps file size at 10 GB.
Why we care. This should be a fun ad extension to test in certain industries. Most video advertising has been reserved for platforms like YouTube, so this gives advertisers the opportunity to test video ads directly in SERPs.