Ads that you see above and below your Google search results are Text Ads. They are the simplest form of online Ad that AdWords offers. Text Ads are the first contact that your potential client will have with you and their conversion is based on how powerful, relevant and convincing your Text Ad is. Marketers need to go with Compelling and well-targeted text ads as they are extremely crucial to channelize a high-performance PPC campaign.
The simplest possible PPC text ad looks like-
Text ads appear on Google results pages and across all the Google Networks, which incorporate search partners, search network, display network, etc. It is important to understand that language of these ads should be as ‘advertisements’, so that visitors can understand that text ads are paid promotions.
A text ad can be understood as a form of marketing communication that marketers use to promote their product or service on the Google Network.
Next Generation of these Text Ads is Expanded Text Ads
Announced in July of 2016, Expanded Text Ads (ETA) are designed for a mobile-first world by keeping both users and advertisers in mind. Industry experts consider it as the biggest change to Google Adwords. ETA lets advertisers and marketers have additional control over their messaging. Users will also see more information before they click on any Ad that lets Ads be more convincing and conversion oriented. As PPC expanded text ads are your first touch with your customers, you have to make them right and relevant to-
- Your product or service
- Searcher’s intent (which can usually be inferred from the keyword and context)
- Your PPC landing page
Some obvious benefits of well-written AdWords Expanded Text Ads are-
- Improved Click-Through Rates
- Better Quality Scores
- Lower CPA (Cost Per Action)
Let us now understand what Expanded Text Ad is-
What Expanded Tex Ad is
ETA or Extended Text Ads Best Practices are adeptly intended for today’s mobile first world by keeping needs and prerequisites of users and marketers as a primary concern. These advertisements join more promotion space than standard text advertisements, and moreover, they are intended to guarantee ideal execution and optimum results on cell phones. Google Expanded Text Ads aid marketers target potential clients even when they are in any hurry, and hence ensure conversions in more result-oriented way.
Expanded text ads consist of a headline, a display URL, and two lines of description
Expanded text ads differ from standard text ads in a few important ways. They have:
- Two headline fields (up to 30 characters each)
- A display URL that uses your final URL’s domain & two optional ”Path” fields; used in ad’s display URL (up to 15 characters each)
- A single, expanded description field (up to 80 characters)
How Expanded Text Ads are different from Standard Text Ads of Google
Google’s new text ads i.e. Expanded Text Ads provide 50 percent more ad space. It is almost similar to text ads but with a few key differences and exciting features, given below-
1.) Google Expanded Text Ads include two headline fields compared to one in text ads
(Two Headlines are shown in lavender on the left side of the image 3 of Expanded Text Ads)
Extra headline field provided in Expanded Text Ad allows you to include additional text in your Google ads. In Expanded Text Ads, you will have up to 30 characters per headline compared to 25 characters in old/standard text ads.
Two headlines of Expanded Text Ads appear next to each other and they are flexible according to your customer screen and separated by a hyphen. Two headlines of expanded text ads are-
- Main headline
- Secondary headline
2.) Display URL domain will now be based on your final URL domain
(Display URL and Path Fields are Shown in Green in image 3 of Expanded Text Ads)
With expanded text ads, you need not to enter your display URL while creating a new ad because Adwords will now use the domain from your final URL. Now, final URL has to be entered first and then accordingly display URL will be created.
Additionally, you can combine it with two new optional ‘path fields’, which are available to extend display URL by up to 15 characters. Path Fields aid potential users see your ad in more understandable manner, which compels them to click on your ad.
3.) Two description lines in Expanded Text Ads are now merged into one field
(Description is shown in Gray in image 3 of Expanded Text Ads)
Expanded text ads character limits for its description field is 80-character instead of two 35-character description lines of standard text ads.
This offers you more control over the messaging of your ads and aids you optimize your PPC advertising.
4.) AdWords Expanded Text Ads are also mobile-optimized
Now that expanded text ads are fully mobile-optimized, you no longer need to select the mobile device setting while creating and editing your expanded text ad. In fact, you will get to see a preview of your ad in both desktop and mobile format when you are creating your AdWords expanded text ad.
To optimize PPC campaigns, it is must for businesses to update their text ads and follow some of the best practices of expanded text ads. Following 10 practices will let you take full advantages of Google Expanded Text Ads-
10 Best Google Expanded Text Ads Practices
1.) Use Extra Characters of headlines to say something more appealing & convincing
- You need to put your most vital information in your main headline as most people see it first and it is first attention seeker.
- You must include your main keyword in the associated ad group and in case you are using long keyword term, you should put complete keyword in main headline of expanded text ad.
- Expanded Text Ads also offers some creative freedom to you and now you can do a lot more after adding keywords, like you can construct powerful headlines, use appealing and interactive language and their combination will for sure aid in increasing click through rates.
- Below-given example of Expanded Text Ad combines Keywords “User Behavior Analytics” with an appealing offer of “Free Guide” and target audience “CISO”.
2.) Do not just add secondary headline but use extra characters to supplement your existing offers
- The secondary headlines are considered best for providing supporting information as here you may provide reference to the USP of your products or services.
- Do not just use more words to say effectively the same thing, but use extra characters to add more value to your existing offers
- As you write new expanded text ads, use the extra characters to supplement your existing offers with more value propositions and CTAs
- Rewriting an entirely new ad need a focus on highlighting points that make your product unique and usable-
- An old ad
- Rewritten Expanded text ad
3.) Your most important message has to be included in headlines of your expanded text ads
- Despite the fact that description part of Expanded Text Ads has largest field, still it commands less attention than headline, and that is why, it is must to include your most important message in your headlines.
- Headlines are considered most influential in improving CTR of your ads. You need to spend most of your time in testing new ad copies by focusing on headlines that explain your message in the best possible fashion.
- Find out best-suited headlines that update visitors about the USP of your product or service and convince them that you are just best for them to quench their thirst.
- Google policies have not changed regarding what you can add and cannot add in your Ad’s headline, means you are provided great opportunities to use extra Ad space more wisely.
4.) Utilize Description part of your Expanded Text Ads to differentiate your product and add a CTA
- Once you grab the attention through headlines, it is significant to use description of expanded text ad to provide supplementary information that convinces searchers to click on your ad and reach to your page.
- You can provide some additional benefits, features, offers and Call to actions in description of your Adwords expanded text ads.
- Some powerful CTA examples are like- ‘Show Now”, “Start Free Trial”, or “Download Free EBook” etc. They will inform users about the exact benefits that they may get from your landing page.
- Description is your final attempt to cajole a searcher to click-through to your site and that is why, you must use your extra description space prudently.
- You need to differentiate your product or service from other competitors and description is the perfect space for doing this.
5.) Make sure that your expanded text ad is fully responsive on mobiles
- Nowadays, it is not essential to mention that large chunk of your audiences will fir sure be using mobile devices to view your ads, and that is why you have to make your Expanded Text Ad mobile responsive.
- Expanded Text Ads do not differentiate between devices like standard text ads, which lets same ad and the same copy get displayed to searchers across all devices.
- However, you need to ensure that long headlines of your ads are not broken into two parts, and additionally, you must pay due heed to ensure your ads work well on both mobiles & desktops.
- In ad editor, you get mobile preview feature that shows you what would be the final look of your mobile ads, and accordingly, your can adjust your ad copy.
6.) Adept & Effective use of Display URL
- The two new display URL path fields are optional but they are one of the best places for adding keywords in expanded test ads.
- You can break long keywords; you may break them and use both path fields for your keywords.
- You can also use one field for your keyword and other for adding call to action in your expanded text ads (this is must if you could not do the same in your description field).
- Google allows you to use your competitor’s name or trademark term in your keyword in display URL path fields only, and that is why adept using of display URL is must to optimize your PPC advertising.
7.) Path fields of your Expanded Text Ads should have top keywords-
- Expanded text ads automatically have domain for your display URL from your final URL, and additionally, you can add two path fields with expanded text ad character limit of 15 characters to your display URL.
- It is highly advisable to add top keywords in path fields as this will make your ad be more relevant in keywords; your audiences are searching for.
- Including top keywords in path fields will help in boosting CTR & CVR of your expanded text ads
- This reduces your CPC and helps you ensure good quality score.
8.) Do not pause your old ads immediately
- It is very important that you do not pause your old ads immediately despite the fact that Expanded Text Ads are new and more effective, because it is not always essential that they will outperform your old ads every time.
- Even some of the advertisers complain that their first attempt with Expanded Text Ads provided them lower CTRs compared to their old text ads.
- If is important to introduce your first expanded text ad to your ad groups alongside your old ads and check their comparative performances with old ads.
- When your testing results prove that Adwords expanded text ads’ performance is better than your old ads, you may pause your old ads.
9.) Change your old ads into new Expanded Text Ads
- If your account have plenty of standard text ads, you can change them all over into expanded text ads, and for your surprise, you can do this in bulk too.
- For doing this, you can quite easily download your old ads to a CSV file, and make all your changes, after doing this; you can upload them back to your Google Adwords’ account.
- This will let you add your new expanded text ads in same ad campaigns and group as your old text ads. This process does not remove any of your old ads, it just converts them into expanded text ads.
- There are some easy steps to do this and by following them, you can change your old ads into new expanded text ads.
10.) Include practices that help you have good quality score
- To optimize PPC advertising and ensure success with AdWords, it is must to have a good quality score for your keywords and ads.
- To ensure high quality scores, you need to make your ads as relevant as possible to user search queries. This helps in achieving high click through rate for your expanded text ads.
- This will let Google understand that users find your ad useful, and this aids in optimizing your PPC campaign.
- To ensure high score-
- You need to include keywords in your headline as well as in the display URL path fields.
- If you do not include keywords in path fields and bid on a trademark term or competitor name, you will get very low quality score. Therefore, it is must for you to add keywords in path fields of display URL.
- You need to use as many ad extension as possible with your expanded text ads.
Conclusion
When your expanded text ads are relevant to searchers, and include over-mentioned practices, your CTR (click through rates) will improve. High CTR is the most important factor of good quality score that you can easily ensure through well-planned and channelized expanded text ads.
High Quality Scores will lift your whole AdWords account. They are extremely beneficial for your business as they not only improve your ad rankings but also reduce your cost per click. Successful PPC advertisers always test and tweak their text ads to find the most compelling messaging for each keyword group, which maximize clicks and quality score that ultimately enhances ROI.
Now that you have understood best practices of expanded text ads, you can start your PPC advertising more effectively. However, this new format of Expanded Text Ad may take the little time and practice; you need to stick with your old text ads for a few time period until your expanded text ads start giving better CTR and ensure higher ROI.
Expanded text ads are going to be more and more popular in coming days, and advertisers need to be excited and prompt to test out Google’s new expanded text ads as early as they can.
Digital Vidya will continue updating you more about PPC advertising & significance of expanded text ads.
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