Whenever there is an announcement of a new feature in Google AdWords the ears of the SWOT Digital PPC Team prick up. As anyone who is a follower of the Google AdWords blog will know updates are not uncommon. However, they are generally not seismic and typically do not make front page news, even in the very niche world of pay per click advertising.
A recent new feature though, that of ‘expanded text ads’ is certainly one to shout about or at the very least draw people’s attention to. This is a potential game changer and one you might not be aware of just yet as this was only released in closed beta to a few selected Google Partner companies like ourselves. We are currently rolling this out to our clients and we are really excited about the results it might yield for them.
What are expanded Text Ads?
As their names suggests, the ads are larger, considerably larger in fact. Previously ads one headline of 25 characters, then two description lines, each of 35 characters each, giving a grand total of 95 characters to write a search ad. The looked like this:
The new expanded ads, have not only increased in size but also in composition. We now have available two headline, both of up to 30 characters each and then a description of up to 80 characters. This means we now have 140 characters to play with when we write our ads. This is equates to a 47% increase in characters. And this is what a new ad might look like.
What does this mean for AdWords Advertisers?
Implementing these new ads is no small task, especially if you have a large number of text ads in your AdWords campaigns. We would strongly advocate you test performance of expanded ads against the standard ads and closely analyse which ones perform better. The data we have collected so far, suggests performance (and we are just talking clickthrough here) is positively impacted, however it must be noted (1) we only have small amounts of data to analyse as this is very new and (2) some ads buck the positive trends (don’t they always!).
When will Expanded Text Ads become available to everyone?
A good question! We have been advised by one source they will be rolled out in August however, another source is saying the end of the year. If you use an agency to manage your AdWords campaigns, and they have not advised you of expanded text ads yet, the bet thing to do it ask them when will this feature will become available. There is undoubted advantage to having adverts with the larger size and like any new feature early adopters will see the benefit, whilst the laggards lag away!
So if possible, start experimenting today. After all whilst the sun is shining you should be making hay.
Do you want to find out more about Expanded Text Ads? Or are you looking for a Google AdWords Management Solution?Drop us a line at SWOT Digital and we’d be happy to discuss how we can help you with both!
