What To Do Now That Google Has Ended Expanded Text Ad Creation

As recently as June 30th of 2022, Google has officially made the decision to shift its focus by pushing its responsive search ads vs expanded text ads moving forward. By doing so, a Google Ads account owner no longer has the ability to edit existing or create new expanded text ads (ETA’s). This has definitely stirred up a lot of controversy around usability as well as frustrations with other issues post-switch. Now, bear in mind that this change will not affect you’re currently running ETA’s, but it does mean that you need to keep a close eye on those particular ad types. 

With the ability to edit these expanded text ads officially removed, there has been a lot of talk on what to do if issues arise (i.e. URLs aren’t loading properly, landing pages need updating, etc.) Prior to the switch, many experts and others currently running ads for clients or their own business were told to ensure that these ad types were optimized to their fullest potential in order to ensure problems such as these didn’t happen, however, if you are experiencing issues with these ETA’s, there are a few things you can do to mitigate effects on your ad performance: 

1. Remove The Ad
2. Submit An Appeal (if applicable)
3. Review ETA performance Week

Removing Expanded Text Ads All Together

When it comes to problems with ETAs post-June 30th, the go-to recommendation would be to ultimately remove them. The reason being is that leaving an expanded text ad that isn’t working properly will begin to start affecting the overall performance. This can include, increasing avg. CPC, lower quality scores, drop in ad rank, and ad strength. By removing the ETA altogether and switching to responsive search ads vs expanded text ads, you will eliminate any further performance issues, as well as apply all the ad elements to the responsive search ad. 

Now, yes, removing these ads can be frustrating and confusing, however, with almost two months of time past since the official change, there’s no turning back now. And remember, marketing is a constantly evolving process that will always keep us on our toes. 

Submitting An Appeal For Your ETAs 

Whether it’s a URL not loading properly or something on Google’s end that has affected your ETA, you are able to still go through the same manual appeal process similar to other ad types. Once your URL is working properly, you will have access, and only then will you be able to rectify any situation regarding your expanded text ads. Since final URLs are one element of expanded text ads that cannot be edited, you must be sure that the site/URL experiencing the issue caused a “destination not working” disapproval message to appear on the ETA before continuing. This is a minor and very issue-specific tip to help limit your expanded text ad problems, however, if applicable, you should most certainly use the tools you have available to you. 

Review Your Expanded Text Ad Performance Often: 

If you decide to keep an expanded text ad, or multiple for that matter, one of the most important things that you can do is to monitor your existing ETAs often. This might seem a bit obvious, however, with Google now in full swing with Responsive Search ads, you might find that your ETAs are getting “disapproved” at a much higher rate; which might be part of Google’s efforts to get Google Ads users to fully convert to responsive search ads vs expanded text ads. If this is your current situation, don’t fret, use some of the tools that we have discussed and always keep an open mind. Use the tools and trust the process. 

Responsive Search Ads Vs Expanded Text Ads: Embrace The Change

As more Google Ad users switch to full-blown Responsive search ads vs expanded text ads, the hope is to maintain or even increase ad performance. Google has seen many users show up to a 7% improvement in conversions at a similar cost. Some of the ways to embrace this change are to consider the recommendations that Google provides for these responsive search ads. Also, you are always more than welcome to utilize your high-performing ad copy and apply similar strategies, obtained from expanded text ads to your new Responsive search ads. 

One of the reasons Google has shifted the focus towards this new ad type is to capture a broader audience and searcher intent. With several features such as smart bidding and targeting relevant broad match keywords, marketers are able to reach more people. However, maintain caution with Broad match keywords, as you don’t want to deviate from your particular target audience. 

Do you need help optimizing your digital strategy for responsive search ads and other ad types? Let us help you organize a strategy that can help you capture new customers actively searching for your services. Contact us today!