Expanded Text Ads and the New Responsive Ones

Two kinds of search ad

The standard Google Ads search ad is the expanded text ad. You write up to three headlines of 30 characters and two descriptions of 90, and Google shows what you wrote, in that order, when there is room.

Responsive search ads, now available in most accounts, work differently. You supply up to fifteen headlines and four descriptions, and Google assembles each ad from them, up to three headlines and two descriptions at a time.

Over time, it learns which combinations get clicked, and shows those more often.

For a small business, that changes the writing more than the strategy.

What changes when Google assembles the ad

In an expanded text ad, headlines can lean on each other. The first asks a question, the second answers it, and the third tells people what to do.

In a responsive ad, any headline can appear beside any other, in any order, sometimes with only one other for company. A question can appear without its answer, and an answer without its question.

Headlines are shown side by side, separated by a vertical bar, so each is read as a separate statement anyway.

So each headline has to make sense on its own, and every pair has to make sense together.

Headlines that stand alone

• The service, in the words people actually search for.
• The area, naming the places you genuinely serve.
• A concrete fact, such as hours, warranty length or years trading.
• The business name, for people searching for you directly.
• A reason to choose you that a competitor could not claim.
• The next step, such as call, book or request a quote.

The third does the most work. A specific fact is believable and different from the ad beside it; a phrase like quality service is identical in every ad on the page, and readers skip it.

The test for each headline

Read each headline alone. If it would confuse somebody who saw nothing else, rewrite it.

Then read the headlines in pairs, in both orders, looking for pairs that repeat each other, contradict each other, or only make sense one way round.

Vary them, too. Several headlines saying the same thing in slightly different words give Google nothing to choose between, and the ad strength rating will say so.

The usual rules still apply to every headline: 30 characters, and no exclamation marks in headlines at all.

Descriptions

The same logic applies to the four descriptions, any two of which can appear together, in either order.

Each needs to carry the essentials on its own: what you do, where, and what to do next. A sentence split across two descriptions guarantees that half of it will sometimes appear alone.

Descriptions are also where the detail goes that will not fit a headline: what is included, what a call-out costs, how soon you can start.

When pinning makes sense

Pinning fixes a headline or description to a position, so it always appears there.

Some things should be pinned: a statement your industry requires in every ad, or the service itself in the first position, so no version of the ad leaves out what was searched for.

Pin two or three alternatives to a position rather than one. A single pinned headline is the only thing that can ever appear there, which removes most of the choice the format exists to make.

Pin everything, and you have an expanded text ad that took longer to write.

A worked example

A garage door repair company ran expanded text ads whose three headlines read as a sequence: "Garage Door Spring Broken?", "We Can Fix It Today" and "Call Before 2 pm".

Its first responsive ad reused those lines and added a few more.

Google soon showed versions pairing the second and third on their own. The ad never said what was being fixed, and the deadline seemed to apply to nothing.

The fix was to rewrite every headline to stand alone: "Garage Door Spring Repair", "Call by 2 pm, Fixed Same Day", "Family Owned Since 2006". The service headline was pinned to position one, with two variations.

The old expanded ads kept running beside it. The comparison was made on calls and form enquiries after two months, not on clicks after a week.

Running both side by side

Google currently recommends one responsive ad alongside two expanded text ads in each ad group, which is a sensible way to start.

Keep the expanded ads you know work. They are the control, the thing the new format has to beat.

Judge the two by enquiries and calls, not clicks alone, since a responsive ad can win more clicks with headlines that attract the wrong people.

On a small budget, give it time. An ad group with a few clicks a day needs months, not weeks, before the comparison means anything.

Ad strength is a guide, not a goal

Google rates each responsive ad from poor to excellent, and suggests improvements: more headlines, more variety, more of your keywords.

The suggestions are often sensible. But the rating measures the raw material Google has to work with, not whether the ad will bring you work.

Padding the list with weak headlines to reach excellent makes the ad worse. And every headline is a claim you must be able to stand behind, whichever combination it appears in.

The counter-case

Responsive ads are not a fit for every account yet.

A very small campaign may not give Google enough searches to learn from, and the ad will rotate combinations for months without settling.

Businesses with strict wording rules, such as regulated professions, may find that the pinning they need leaves little to assemble, and an expanded text ad does the job more plainly.

For most accounts, one well-written responsive ad beside the existing ones costs little to try: headlines that stand alone, pinning only where needed, judged on enquiries.

Writing the first one

1. Write down current ad results before changing anything.
2. List ten headlines that each make sense alone.
3. Read every pair in both orders.
4. Write four descriptions that each stand alone.
5. Pin only what must appear, with alternatives.
6. Keep the expanded ads running alongside.
7. Compare by enquiries after a few months.

Step three is the one that catches what Google would otherwise publish. A headline that reads well alone can still make nonsense beside another, and reading the pairs is the only way to see the ads before your customers do.

Recording the figures you will judge the new ads against is covered in writing down last year's numbers first.

Frequently asked questions

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