Insights from the article:
- By June 2022, advertisers will no longer be able to use Expanded Search Ads for their Search Engine Marketing campaigns;
- The more dynamic format – Responsive Text Search Ads – will be the default and only option;
- Advertisers will need to restructure their campaigns to accommodate this newer format by segmenting their targeting into different ad groups and having 1-2 Responsive Text Search Ads specifically appropriate for these ad groups.
The old ways of running Search Engine Marketing ads here in the Philippines is going to be transformed and disrupted again, as Google eclipses the Expanded Search Ad feature in favor of Responsive Search Ads. The Expanded Search Ads will be expired on June 30, 2022, so we need to prepare our ad campaigns that might be running by then, and figure out how we going to use Responsive Search Ads better.
What are Expanded Search Ads and Responsive Search Ads in Search Engine Marketing?
Both of these are forms of Search Engine Marketing ads available via Google Adwords. Expanded Search Ads is a more “legacy” form of search text ads that allow us marketers to define 3 headlines and 2 descriptions for a more fixed format of text search ads.
This has been helpful for marketers to define specific creative copies and fragments of headlines to be included in specific ads, and segment different sets of headlines and descriptions into different ads.
Meanwhile, Responsive Search Ads allow for real-time ad-level optimization because it allows us to input up to 15 different headlines and 4 description texts. This enables Google Adwords to use more relevant combinations of headlines and descriptions that are more relevant to each user’s search query.
It may seem that Responsive Search Ads don’t allow us a lot of control over what kind of Search Engine Marketing ads are displaying for each search query but when we structure our ad campaigns correctly, we can address this issue and be able to control what kind of creative captions are coming out and matches with our targeted keywords.
How do we use Responsive Search Ads for better control over our campaigns?
Simple – we restructure how we do our campaigns, and come up with more variations of headlines and descriptions.
We already know how we’re supposed to set up our budgets and schedules at the campaign level, and our targeted keywords at the ad group level. We just need to segment our targeted keywords more, and create several ad groups for each of those segmentations.
Then, we just need to create 1-2 Responsive Search Ads for each of those ad groups. As we mentioned, this structure will require a lot of headlines and descriptions, and those will have to match the targeted keywords where they will be placed.
Moreover, you just need to look at the Ad Strength graph and ensure that you have good ratings. This graph measures whether you’re using the Responsive Search Ads feature to its full potential.
Let’s Make Your Digital Marketing Easier
This might be a little bit advanced if you’re just trying to start out on Search Engine Marketing ads. If you’re ever thinking that you have an opportunity to improve your business with search ads, feel free to contact me and let’s get you started.