Guest Contributor:
Corey Morris, Director of Digital Strategy
This year has been a big one with Google updates and news across all platforms and products. Google AdWords has not been immune to large scale changes that have an impact on how advertisers manage accounts and campaigns. Earlier in the year Google removed all ads from the right side of the Google search results page. This update means that text ads are now only showing at the top and bottom of the page and while there was a lot of debate about what this would do to advertiser costs to remain in front of the targeted audience, it was accepted as an evolution toward a mobile-first mentality for Google and advertisers alike.
Compare the Two…
Google’s New Expanded Text Ads
Google’s Legacy Ads
What are expanded text ads?
A natural evolution toward the mobile-first mentality was launched in late July and is rolling out to all accounts in the form of “expanded text ads.” This update by Google is available for advertisers to use when creating new ads featuring a new format and level of flexibility in ad creation and has a handy preview as you’re composing your ad for seeing how it might render on mobile and desktop. This update removes the need to check the mobile device box on text ads and for more detailed break-outs of campaigns by focus on mobile versus desktop.
Why should I care?
I have boiled this down to the pros and cons for the new format. Regardless of how you feel about the format, it is something that must happen and we recommend getting on board as soon as possible so you can get any possible advantage during the transition period in having more real estate on your search engine results page.
Pros:
- The ad creation process will be easier going forward
- You gain more flexibility with how the ad text lines are formatted (one line and continuous statement versus two) and it is expanded to 80 characters
- You can have multiple headlines (30 characters each)
- The display URL allows for multiple directory layers (backslashes) providing the opportunity to work more keywords into the display URL
- All ad extensions are still in play allowing for even more real estate for your ads
Cons:
- If you have a lot of ads in your account, or if you manage multiple accounts, you’re going to have to invest time in creating new expanded text ads. There is not a way to have your ads automatically convert in format and you will have to go through them in detail.
- You won’t be able to update legacy text ads after the October 26, 2016 deadline. While your ads will continue to run, they will be frozen in time.
The Data
ERM started building expanded text ads when our accounts became eligible and started A/B testing against the legacy format. We’re monitoring the tests and will follow up with another blog post in the next 1-2 weeks with the results of our testing and more information about how expanded text ads are performing across the board. Stay tuned!
More info from Google on expanded text ads and the transition: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7056544
Help on setting them up on your own: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/6167115?hl=en
To read more, check out this article: http://searchengineland.com/google-expanded-text-ads-quirks-testing-results-255093
