Google Is Phasing Out Expanded Test Ads This Month: What Does This Change Mean For Search Advertising?

In August 2021, Google announced that starting June 30, 2022, they will no longer allow Expanded Text Ads, also known as ETAs, to be created. For providers of digital marketing services, changes like these aren?t anything new. The change was announced to simplify how search ads are created and drive performance with automated tools. The announcement came after the search engine transitioned the default ad creation type in the UI from ETAs to Responsive Search Ads. As of July 2022, advertisers can no longer create or edit expanded text ads. The existing expanded text ads can be paused, reactivated, and removed. Google recommends having at least one responsive search ad in every ad group in your Search campaigns by June 30, 2022. What are Responsive Search Ads? Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) are built on the idea of Expanded Text Ads with several new modifications. So instead of three headlines, you will have the option of creating 15, and instead of two descriptions, you will have the opportunity of creating four. It is not necessary to fill every ad headline and description, but it makes split testing easier. How do RSAs work? Google will alternate between 4 titles and fifteen descriptions to show 32,670 different versions of the same ad in different instances. The search engine will eventually find the most effective title and description combination through this method and use it more often when helping you promote your business with the ad. What does this change mean for search marketers, and what can you do to prepare for it? Google doing this is no surprise for us in the digital marketing world. As an experienced digital marketing agency in Pune, we expected this change to come with automation and machine learning on the rise in the past three years. While it can feel intimating for businesses and new marketers to adjust to this change, it will simplify split testing with different ad variations. As mentioned before, existing expanded text ads or ETAs will continue operating and appear in performance reports, but new ones cannot be created. To prepare for this change, Google has recommended a few things that anyone providing digital marketing services can follow:

• Repurposing high-performing text ad content into RSAs and focusing on improving ad strength.
• Applying the customized suggestions from your account?s Recommendations page.
• Pin the headlines or descriptions to specific positions in your RSAs if needed. This will be useful if you have certain messages that always need to be shown.
• Use ad variations to test different versions of your assets and review their performance.
• Assessing your ads' incremental success in impressions, clicks, and conversions that your ad groups and campaigns receive.

When Should You Transition into RSAs? As Benjamin Franklin once said, ?Don?t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.? Being a provider of some of the best digital marketing services in Pune, we recommend our clients start experimenting with RSAs as soon as possible. So if you still have not done so, create your first RSA today. The more data you collect now, the more success you will begin to see with the new ad type and the more confidence you will get to pause your ETAs eventually. How will this change affect your Marketing Strategy? According to Google, advertisers who switch from ETAs to Responsive Search Ads will see an average of a 7% increase in conversions at a similar cost per conversion. As a digital marketing agency in Pune, we are currently testing ETAs this month while we can still create them. We are also adding some evergreen ETAs that will prove helpful in the future. Of course, as digital marketers, our prime focus will be on testing and improving RSAs and ensuring that every ad group has an RSA. We will also focus on finding what copy lines work best for your organization just in case ETAs are completed removed in the future. The search engine is trying to save marketers time by taking some ingredients and brewing the best campaigns based on a user?s search query. The main change will be how you will spend your time managing your account. The area of focus will move from split testing to focusing on different strategies for your paid marketing channels. However, not everyone will have the time to develop unique strategies. This is why as the best digital marketing agency in Pune, Hats-Off provides PPC advertising services to our clients. We keep an eye on your RSA reporting and tweaking by Google, create variations of your high impression brand messaging in your RSA, and help in driving more clicks with a unique sales proposition.