The rules are similar, the playing field is different.
The same holds true in SEM as it does in SEO. Talk to Google and think of Google as a person. You now have 50% more space to tell your story to Google so don’t put them to sleep and plummet your Quality Score because ‘direct speak’ wins all. Here are 8 things you need to know to ensure that you have a smooth transition to Adwords Expanded Text Ads. Editing an Existing ad or ‘Copy and Edit’ If you attempt to edit an existing ad in the old format it will automatically put you into the new formatting fields with the Headline 1 and Description prepopulated with your existing ad text content. There are now 2 headline fields instead of just 1 Headline 1 and 2 are 30 characters each separated by a dash and both at the top of your ad depending on how many characters you use. Depending on the device or browser, headline 2 may stay on the top line also, may wrap to the line below or truncate.
The description line is now one large field.
The description section allows for 80 characters and will wrap to the second line depending on how many characters you enter into this field.
Keyword Insertion
Keyword Insertion functions the same. Use {KeyWord:} to tailor your ad’s titles and content to the search query.
Under Review
All new ads or edited ads go through a review process and are not immediately displayed. Our experience is that most ads are enabled and running live within 30 minutes. For this reason, do not immediately pause old ads. Wait until the new ads are live.
All ads are automatically mobile-optimized
Mobile AND Desktop ads no longer exist. You now create one ad and can toggle back and forth to see how your ad will look on mobile and desktop devices.
Update your ad extensions
Now that you have 50% more space to tell your story, make sure that you don’t have redundant content in your ad extensions and that they align with your ad text’s message.
Deadline
The deadline to convert all of your current mobile and desktop ads into the new format is January 31st, 2017.
We are seeing an increase in CTRs of 30% or higher so the sooner that you convert your old formatted ads to the new Extended Ads the better. Higher CTRs and lower CPCs will increase your Quality Scores so it’s imperative that these changes are made immediately.
Did this article help or do you have additional questions about updating your Adwords with Expanded Text Ads? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us directly.
