Have you ever been writing your Adwords copy and wished there was just a bit more space to get your message across? It turns out the search engine giant has made a move that could make PPC advertising a bit easier, for ads on all devices.
Earlier this year, Google released Expanded Ads to the market, offering companies 50% more advertising space. The main headline increased from a single 25-character line to two 30-character lines with a very respectful 80-character limit for the description, up from the original 2 x 35 character limits.
On top of this, with expanded text ads users won’t have to use a display URL that matches the final URL. AdWords will use the domain from the final URL and use it as the display URL. Also, two separate paths were included to automatically be placed after the domain URL from the final URL chosen.
Google expanded text ads = more selling opportunities
This move by Google is a step forward after removing the right-hand-side ads. It offers advertisers more opportunity to sell their products and services more descriptively and accurately. Companies can now compete at a higher level with their competitors’ adjacent ads.
In Google’s own words, Expanded text ads are the next generation of text ads, designed for a mobile-first world with both users and advertisers in mind. Expanded text ads give advertisers additional control over their messaging, and provide users with more information before they click your ad.
Here’s an example:
Google stated that after the 26th October, they would be removing the standard legacy text ads and running fully on the new expanded ads. If you are just learning about it and are concerned you may have to spend your nights re-writing all of your ad copy to catch up, you need not worry.
Google have kindly extended the deadline to the 31st January 2017. However, do not relax completely, as we do recommend taking the time to properly make use of the new space available, without spoiling the appeal of your previous ads. You still want the message to be clear rather than adding fluff just to fill the space.
Takeaway
TrafficSource UK has been testing these ads for a while now for a number of our clients and in our results we have noticed improvement in CTR and conversions rates. But, we would suggest that you continue to run the standard text ads alongside your expanded ads to maximise your potential impressions.