A few months ago, AdWords introduced upgraded location extensions that allow advertisers to pull addresses from their My Business account. Every time something “Upgraded” gets launched in Adwords, you can expect the old version to be retired eventually.
This is now happening with the original method of setting up location extensions manually. I first noticed the change when I logged into my account and had the warning that my location extensions were no longer running. After clicking through to the help page, I saw this message:
With manual, or “not upgraded” location extensions you could type in the addresses you wanted to show with your campaigns. Now, you are going to be required to have a My Business account to use location extensions in AdWords.
How To Get Upgraded Location Extensions
1. Create a Google My Business (formerly Google Places) account. You can sign up for an account here: www.google.com/business
2. Link your Google My Business account to your AdWords account. From the Ad Extensions tab, select Location extensions from the drop down menu. Click and the red “+ Extension” button and you’ll be directed to log into your My Business account. 
It will default to the email your are logged into AdWords with, but you can choose “use a different account” to sign into your My Business account.
3. Filter your My Business addresses. If you have more than one business address in your account, you can set a filter to only use certain addresses in AdWords. You set these filters using the business names or categories from your My Business account.
I haven’t found a specific date yet for when manual/”not upgraded” location extensions will be phased out, but better to prepare for upgraded location extensions now.
If you’d like to learn more about setting up ad extensions for your AdWords account, attend one of our upcoming AdWords trainings.
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