7 things you must do before expanded text ads disappear

In September 2021, Google announced that it would Stop expanding text ads June 2022. This is of course a big change, but not a big surprise. In addition, Google provided us with ample delivery time.

All advertisers should take advantage of this time and make sure you are prepared when the June 2022 deadline takes effect. So today I will share with you seven things you can handle in your account during this period. They include:

1. Test expanded text ads now
2. Set up a new ETA for future use
3. Prepare for a drop in impressions
4. Start using responsive search ads today
5. Establish an RSA benchmark
6. Strategically fixed
7. Understand RSA reporting limits

let’s start.

1. Test the ETA message combination when you can

If you have been interested in running a specific ad copy test but haven’t started yet… now is the time.

Prioritize advertising information and set ETA immediately—while you can view all performance metrics at a granular level—to determine which headlines, descriptions, and combinations work best.

For help with ad copy and testing, please check the following post:

2. Create a staged ETA for later use

Starting June 30, 2022, you will no longer be able to create new expanded text ads or modify existing expanded text ads…but existing expanded text ads will continue to run and can be turned on/off as needed.

So with this in mind, I suggest you Create as many expanded text ad combinations as possible In an account that you think will be used reasonably in the future. They can pause the start, but still wait for future tests. This way, you can retain the ability to use them, because they have been created, all you have to do is turn them on and off.

But be realistic

You will notice that I said, “You believe you will use it reasonably in the future.” This is very important. Just like in, don’t create and upload every iteration of advertising you might think of, and then come back to me a year later, waving an angry fist at me because I suggest you expand your campaign. That is not my goal.

Which to think critically Ad variants It’s important to test you in the future, and upload only those you are sure you will use. If you only test three new ad variants every quarter, you don’t need to upload 500 ad variants for each ad group. This step needs to be realistic, but don’t miss the opportunity to create the desired ad variant.

3. Get ready for the estimated time of arrival of the descent

Although I think it is important to use them when we have ETAs, I am also very realistic.

Even before this change was announced, we noticed a decrease in the number of impressions of expanded text ads compared to responsive search ads in many accounts. My hunch is that this trend will continue.

Test as many messages as possible to prepare ideas for future tests, but it is expected that as we get closer and closer to and exceed the June deadline, RSA may continue to occupy an increasing percentage impression Stay away from ETA.

4. Immediately activate responsive search ads

Google’s standard recommendation is that you Ad group your account.

At this point, I am with them.

Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, RSA will become the new norm in all Google Ads accounts, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to get used to them now. The longer you persist, the more you struggle once the deadline comes.

If you are not familiar with them, please go to this article: Responsive Search Advertising 101: Best Practices You Need to Know

5. Establish an RSA benchmark

The click-through rate of RSA is almost always higher than that of ETA. (Please note that I said “almost always”. If there are exceptions, please don’t @我.)

Conversion effectOn the other hand, great changes have been made. Some accounts do a good job of responsive search advertising, while others may have difficulty getting customers across the final finish line.

Immediately activate RSA in all ad groups in all search campaigns in all your accounts so that you can start building benchmarks for each specific account. This is very convenient when you have to answer to your boss or client about performance changes.

We started testing a new ad format, which will become the default ad format in the future. We did not provide you with general benchmarks, but specifically tested these benchmarks in your account, which is the range we can expect.

Even if the benchmark is lower than previous performance, I can guarantee that you will mitigate the blow by establishing clear expectations as early as possible.This is the key Build lasting customer relationships.

6. Strategically fix

One feature of responsive search ads is that you can choose to fix certain titles and descriptions. Please note that the ad will always be at least two headlines and one description. Google can choose to expand it to three headlines and two descriptions, but the length of the ad will never exceed this length. Here are some important tips about this feature.

Use pinning to ensure that there is a CTA in every ad

Not every headline and/or description need to include a call to action, but of course every ad should be included.Fixed certain components to ensure that every eligible ad variant contains Call for action.

Fix multiple components to the same location

If you have several very similar title variations, you can pin them all in the same place. Therefore, only that set of headings will be displayed in this position, and not in any other positions. This is a great way to deal with call-to-action titles. You can create four different CTA headings and pin them all in the second position so that the placement always contains one of these four CTA headings.

Either pin everything or leave a gap

If you pin elements to all five ad positions, and then there are unfixed elements, these unfixed elements will not be displayed. To prevent this, please pin all ad components to one placement, or make sure to reserve some headlines/descriptions for Google to dynamically create ad copy for you.

Understand how ad intensity works

Don’t confuse ad strength with ad rank or quality score. The ad strength score in Google Ads is designed to guide you to get better results from RSA, but it does not affect how often your ads participate in auctions. If your client or manager frequently follows this in their account, make sure they understand how this metric works. Google explains the advertising intensity here.

Image Source

Use RSA framework to make ETA

Responsive search ads only need to add three headlines and two descriptions to the campaign to run. You can also pin elements anywhere in the RSA.

So…you can basically create expanded text ads by creating responsive search ads with minimal advertising components and fixing them all in place.

Be careful with this

Although this seems to be an attractive option and may make sense for users who have legal requirements or disclosures, I don’t recommend this to everyone. In the long run, Google Ads will only further automate your advertising campaigns. The sooner you can adapt and lean towards its machine learning to see better results instead of maintaining tight control, the better you will be.

If you take the time to properly set up the RSA, there are indeed many ways to customize the RSA as you want/need.

7. Understand RSA report limitations

this report RSA is also a bit different from ETA.We can still see performance at all ad unit levels index We want to see. However, if you take advantage of any level of dynamic advertising services, you may not know exactly which combination of ads produced results.

In the image above, you can see the performance of each ad unit, but since responsive search ads use dynamic headlines and ad descriptions, we can’t be completely sure which combination creates the effect.

View asset details

You can learn more about performance by clicking the “View Asset Details” link below the ad.

Unfortunately, these further details are very tedious and do not always provide the complete insight we want. You will notice that all statistics have been deleted except for the number of impressions. Therefore, although you can tell which components are showing the most, you don’t actually know which components are helpful in all aspects of ad performance.

Use our free Google Ads Performance Grader to get a real understanding of your performance.

Asset performance rating

In addition, you’ll notice that Google has a Asset performance rating system:

• To-do: There is currently no information about the assets.
• Learn: Information about assets is not enough.
• low: The worst-performing product in its class. May want to change.
• OK: Relative to other assets of the same type perform well. Keep and add more.
• The best things: One of the best in its class. Keep and add more.
• Unrated (“—”): Unable to obtain a rating due to insufficient activity, flow, or comparable number of comparable assets.

If you ask me, these are…very unhelpful. But they did give some indicators about the performance of each component Google saw.

The important thing about these scores is They are not directly related to conversion performance. Just because a component is rated as the best does not mean it Produce conversionTo find this, you need to fix some advertising components in place and get more reliable data.

Check the combination tab

Finally, you can view some ad combinations by clicking the “Combinations” tab at the top of the asset details page.

Similar to the other page, you will still only see the number of impressions, but based on how evenly your combination shows, you can infer which variants are driving the performance your ads are seeing.

Prepare to opt out of expanded text ads

Whether you are frustrated or indifferent about the changes, it’s important to use the time before the deadline to ensure that your account is in top condition. Whether you pay more attention to ETA or RSA will depend on the activity in your current account.

All in all, resist the urge to control you too tightly by fixing components in all areas or restricting dynamic learning, but don’t accept all the “best practices” from Google as the best choice for your account. Use this time to test, learn, and iterate. After the deployment is complete, you will be ahead of the competition.

You may also be interested in these 5 ways to maximize your return on investment with responsive search ads.