Just when you think Google couldn’t make any more drastic changes to SERP’s, just after a bye bye to right-handed paid ads, they throw in a tag team maneuver with a bulked up version of text ads above the fold. Do you have to change our ads now? How will this effect my performance? You might have a few questions that we hope to quickly and easily answer.
The Quick Update on Expanded Ads
Here’s the skinny on what’s happening:
- Expanded ads are available now for everyone.
- Adwords Editor and API support the new feature so you can scale your changes effectively.
- You will not be able to create new ads or change ads in the old format starting October 26th, 2016.
- New Ads will run alongside old ads in adgroups; Google has not announced plans to deprecate old format.
- Early signs show advantages from the extra text areas that consist of 2 headlines at 35 characters max and a description with 80 characters max.
Small & Medium Biz Compete More Readily Against Large Brand
All the organic results are now gone! Not really but you’ll have do dig a bit to find them below the monster ads above. Did we mention that extensions are still around too? Well one of the unique opportunities that we also see is the ability to use the extra text to get your ad ahead of those 90 domain authority e-commerce sites who hog organic results. You might use the extra text space to better qualify your clicks and shoot for those positions that help you get into core term searches for higher volume traffic (hint: try bid modifiers for your best cities, demographics, devices and time of day!).
Setting Up Expanded Text Ads
From the Adwords UI just click the 
button as usual and the new format will default for you. When creating an expanded ad in Adwords Editor, be sure to click the right option as you’ll likely be defaulted to “Text Ads” which are the old format.
You might also be interested in checking out Google’s best practices to get some insights about various techniques from adcopy writing to A/B testing.
Need Help Setting Up Expanded Ads?
Contact us and get your new ads setup with world class adcopy that will melt the gold out of your customers pockets. Really, we’ll help you with that old buyers remorse so you can avoid another failed attempt to get more from your marketing budget. Let us show you how digital advertising can grow your sales by simply crafting the right ads. Need more Google Ads services? We’re happy to provide a free audit on your account, complete with recommendations and exact steps to get you started on the success you’ve been seeking.