10 Responsive Search Ads Best Practices You Need to Know

What would be the most relevant change since the launch of Google's Expanded Text Ads in 2016 was launched at the Google Marketing Live event. In this article I am going to review the details you need to know in order to get the most out of it. to this update.

1. What are Responsive Search Ads?

Unlike static ads where you create a header and description for a single ad, with this format you can write up to 15 headings and 4 different descriptions for each ad. This would give 43,680 different versions that could be generated from these variables, so the possibilities of testing which combinations work best are unbeatable. Google will show the most convenient variables for each user, be it search keywords, browsing history or device.

2. How big are these ads?

They have a 30 character header, 15 character Visible URL and 90 in the description. Compared to expanded text ads, we have extra header and description space and 10 more characters to use in our description.

3. How can I create them?

This tool is in beta and is available only for some accounts. It will be available to all advertisers throughout this year.

Go to the "Ads & Extensions" tab, click the "+" icon to create a new ad and select "Responsive search ad".

From this point, the platform will take you through a step by step to create each component of the ad and a tracking template can be created by expanding the ad URL options.

4. Will all 3 headings and 2 descriptions always show up in Responsive Search Ads?

At least 2 headings and a description will always be displayed. The rest of the components will be displayed based on the user's screen size or congestion on the search results page.

5. How do Responsive Search Ads perform?

These are larger and in many cases better than Expanded Text Ads. According to information from Google, responsive have a CTR between 5 and 15% higher compared to standard ads. Either way, it is important to be able to make use of best practices in order to get the most out of it.

6. Responsive Search Ads work best with more headings and descriptions.

Each of these ads needs at least 3 headings and two descriptions to display. It is important to at least get 10 different headings and 4 descriptions to be able to use the power of the platform and really make a difference.

7. Highlight something different in each heading and description.

Avoid repetition in the variants of the same header, in fact Google will not show your ad if the descriptions are very similar.

• Highlight the different value propositions of your product or service, offers and call to actions for your ad.
• Make sure to include a top keyword in at least two of your headings. You can use dynamic keyword insertion in your ad.
• In the same way, make sure that at least three headings do not include the keywords, this will prevent your ads from becoming repetitive.

8. Results and descriptions can be pinned at specific positions.

The platform will automatically test different headlines in different positions to see how they perform. Either way, if you want a specific message to always be in the ad, you can pin it. When you're in the creation process, a pin icon will appear above each headline. Use it to see the different options in which that text can be left in your ad.

9. Try only one Adaptive Search Ad per Ad Group.

You don't need to include a lot of Responsive Search Ads as Google is automatically testing different elements of your Responsive Search Ad against each other. Adding more variations could slow down the optimization possibilities of your campaigns.

10. Should I continue to use Expanded Text Ads?

Yes. In fact, Google recommends running at least one Expanded Text Ad in each Ad Group, alongside Responsive Search Ads.

Responsive Search Ads are still in beta, so time will tell how much we can actually improve our core campaign metrics thanks to this new ad format.