JumpFly is a Google shop, so that means we live in Google Chrome. As the Director of Search Strategy, I’ve gathered a list of 12 Chrome extensions that our PPC experts can’t live without, in no logical order.
- Google Tag Assistant Legacy: 4.1 out of 5 stars with 1,100+ reviews – while it’s eventually going to be obsolete, it’s still pretty handy. Using the extension allows you to see what Google tags have been installed on a site; most handy for Google Universal Analytics (does not work for GA4), Google Tag Manager, Google Ads conversion tracking, Google Remarketing, and more. I like that you can turn on Auto Validation, so you don’t have to enable it for each site you go to. It also color-codes the tags it analyzes so you can see the status of each tag.
- Lightshot (screenshot tool): 4.4 out of 5 stars with 7,000+ reviews – the easiest way to grab a quick screenshot, with annotation capabilities (lines, freehand, text, highlight); it does not require you to save before adding it to emails or documents. You can also save the image if needed or print it directly from the app. I use this every day, all day long. I have it hot keyed to the Print Screen button on my keyboard, so it’s easy for me to use. The only thing I wish it had was a blur function, which is useful for screenshots with info I would like to blur out before sharing.
- Checker Plus for Google Calendar: 4.4 out of 5 stars with 2,000+ reviews – a better option for meeting notifications (snoozable!) than the built-in Google Calendar notifications. Plus, I can easily see my schedule for the current day and the next day right in Chrome with a quick hover instead of having to go to my calendar. This Chrome extension also counts down the time to my next event.
- Wappalyzer: 4.6 out of 5 stars with 1,800+ reviews – check out all the tech on a website from the ecommerce platform to their CMS system, if they have Analytics or Tag Manager installed, and more. I used to go to the BuiltWith.com website, but that was just more steps, took me off the site, and required waiting. Wappalyzer is instant gratification!
- Color by Fardos: 4.3 out of 5 stars with 150+ reviews – color picker for doing Display ads and using the client’s color palette. While using the colors that a client gives us is the best way to get proper colors, there are times when a client doesn’t really know what color they use. And while you can hunt through CSS or websites to find it, using Color by Fardos makes it easy to use the eyedropper tool to find out the colors in both HEX and RGB.
- PPC Keyword Wrapper for Google & Bing Ads: 5 out of 5 stars with 15 reviews – turn a broad match keyword into exact and/or phrase. Yes, you can use Editor to do this, but sometimes it’s nice not to have to download an account to add or update match types.
- Clear Session: 4.5 out of 5 stars with 70+ reviews – one of our developers told me about this tool. Clear Session allows you to clear cookies, sessions, and local storage on whatever site you are currently on. This PPC Chrome extension is super handy if things (think Google Ads!) are acting a little buggy.
- Calendly: 4.6 out of 5 stars with 120+ reviews – if you use Calendly (and I don’t know why you wouldn’t use it if you have to set up lots of meetings with clients or contacts, especially ones outside your time zone), you can easily grab a link for your Calendly events, or pick times to add to an email. This one is a super time saver.
- Loom: 4.7 stars out of 5 with more than 10,000 reviews – Loom is perfect for when I need to make a video of what I’m doing instead of just a screenshot; you can also include your camera in the recording. Once done, you’ll get a link to the video that you can share.
- Google Dictionary (by Google): 4.4 out of 5 stars with more than 16,500 reviews – get the definition for a word on a webpage. I use the double-click option, though there are other ways to trigger it. Super handy when working on a client’s site that I may not be an expert on.
- Microsoft UET Tag Helper: 4.3 stars out of 5 with 20+ reviews – helps you troubleshoot and validate your Microsoft Advertising UET tags. Just wish it had auto validation, like Google Tag Manager. It’s annoying to have to enable for each site, and then refresh.
- dataslayer: 4.7 out of 5 stars with 80+ reviews – this is another one from one of our developers; dataslayer helps debug and test tag management like Google Tag Manager, DTM, Adobe, Tealium, and more.
I’m sure there are plenty of other extensions that PPC practitioners use, but these are the ones that I know of and use – some almost every day. Try one of these Chrome extensions out, and let me know on Twitter (@nikkijumpfly) what you think!
