Google officially rolled out their highly anticipated expanded text ads on Tuesday, allowing marketers to begin testing new ad copy strategies that take advantage of nearly 50% more ad text, with two 30-character headlines and one 80-character description line.
The mobile-driven change was just one of many Google teased at their Performance Summit in May. (Even as Google launches this update, digital marketers everywhere are still awaiting other major changes to follow soon, such as device bid adjustments and responsive display ads.)
What do these new expanded text ads mean for your existing PPC campaign? So far, Google hasn’t announced a date when standard text ads will stop running, but we do know that we won’t have the option to create new standard text ads after October 26. Luckily, this is another positive mobile-focused change piggybacking on Google’s SERP updates back in March of this year, and we’ll still have plenty of time to test out expanded ads against our top-performing standard text ads. This allows us to make sure we’re deploying the best creative strategies across this new ad format. Google has also put forth a few key tips to expanded text ad development that will inform our approach:
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- Create and test multiple expanded text ads for each ad group, and evaluate performance before pausing or deleting your standard text ads
- Remember to include important information about your business and other tried-and-true components from your standard text ads, like keyword insertion
- Focus on your headlines: they’re the most prominent part of your text ad
While PPC best practices still apply, we’re embarking on an exciting change designed to better and more efficiently reach and communicate with the mobile user—a change that is expected to yield a strong increase in engagement.
If you have any questions about these Google updates, just let us know. As a Google Managed Agency Partner, we have lots of first-hand information and would be happy to help.