Google rolls out the new expanded text search ads for desktop as well as mobile devices. The change has been made after the previous Adwords Shake-up update made by Google on February 23, 2016. It was the update where some major changes were made by removing the right-column ads completely and displaying 4 ad blocks vertically above the organic search results.
The new type of text ads give you more space for your ad text and are designed for optimal performance on both desktop and mobile devices.
Changes in the Expanded Text Ad
Expanded text ads are similar to the standard text ads that you’re used to but with a few key differences.
1. Expanded text ads have two headline fields instead of one.
2. The 2 description lines have been merged into 1 field.
3. The display URL shows the domain of your ad’s final URL
Let’s go over each of these in a little more detail. First let’s talk about the headlines.
Headlines
Standard text ads give you a headline of 25 characters to work with. Whereas expanded text ads have two headlines each allowing up to 30 characters. These headline fields will appear next to each other separated by a hyphen (-). The headline may wrap to multiple lines depending on the size of the user screen.
Next, let’s look at the ad description text.
Description
Instead of the two 35 characters description lines you get with standard text ads, expanded text ads have 180 character description field giving you more control over your ads messaging.
Display URL
Finally, there’s the URL that shows with your ad called Display URL.
With expanded text ads you no longer have to enter your display URL when creating a new ad. Instead Adwords will use the domain from your final URL and then give you the option to combine it with two new path fields. These fields are designed to help people see your ad and get a better sense of where they’ll be taken when they click it. They can be up to 15 characters each.
For example: www.farhanmajid.com/advertising/seo
You have control over the paths you choose and they don’t need to match the exact structure of your website.
How to Create Expanded Text Ads?
Creating the new expanded text ad is simple. Just follow the same steps to start creating a new ad and you’ll be taken right there. Now let’s go over a few tips to make your expanded text ads effective and see how you can optimize your Adwords campaign using this new type of search ads.
Use Keywords: Standard and expanded text ads share many of the same best practices. For example you still want to use at least one of the keywords in your ads text to make sure the ad is highly relevant to those who see it.
Write in Title Case: You also want to capitalizing the first letter of each word in your ad to help it stand out.
More Text More Value: One key difference is the additional space expanded text ads give you.
Rethink your Ad Text: Take some time to rethink your ads messaging to make sure you’re getting the most value from this additional text space especially your headline.
Make your Hedlines Scannable: Also make sure the two headlines are easily scalable and will make sense when read separately from each other.
Use your “Path” Fields: And finally, take advantage of the new path fields you add to your expanded text ads display URL. This offers a simple straight forward way to give your customers a good idea of where they’ll go once they click on your ad.
