With the arrival of Expanded Text Ads in Google AdWords, are you prepared for the change? This significant update, revealed on Tuesday, brings substantial changes to AdWords, particularly the doubling of ad text limits.

Let’s delve into the key aspects of Expanded Text Ads: [March 2021 update] RSAs are now the default ad type, replacing ETAs. [August 2021 update]: Google will retire ETAs. Get ready by taking these seven steps for your ETAs and RSAs!

1. Understanding Expanded Text Ads

Expanded Text Ads provide double the size of standard text ads, offering a larger headline and a more extensive description to enhance visibility and performance on mobile searches. Given the focus on mobile-first design, these changes will likely extend to desktop searches as well. These ads adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless experience across all devices. Google’s testing of this format began in the second quarter of 2016.

2. Google’s Rationale for the Change

Google considers this the most significant update to text ads since AdWords’ inception 15 years ago. This shift stems from their vision of AdWords in a mobile-dominated world, where over half of the trillions of annual Google searches originate from mobile devices. This move follows the removal of right-side desktop ads in February, aiming for a unified experience across devices. With the limitations of right-side ads gone, this change seems like a logical next step after the introduction of larger headlines in 2011.

3. The Increased Size of Expanded Ads

Expanded text ads offer double the space (or a 47 percent increase) compared to existing AdWords text ads. The character limit has been expanded to 140, leaving behind the old 25-35-35 structure. It remains to be seen how Twitter feels about Google adopting their 140-character limit. Here’s a breakdown of the changes from the Google Ads blog:

Make every character count by crafting compelling and engaging ads that entice users to click.

4. The Appearance of New Expanded Text Ads

Here’s a comparison showcasing the old and new ad formats on mobile and desktop:

Here’s how Expanded Text Ads appear within the AdWords interface:

5. Expansion of Headlines

With the rollout of Expanded Text Ads, advertisers will have two 30-character headlines, a significant increase from the current 25-character limit. This translates to a substantial 140 percent increase in headline space.

6. Expansion of Descriptions

Advertisers will now have a single 80-character description line, replacing the previous two 35-character lines. This change represents a 14 percent increase in description length.

7. Changes to Display URLs

Similar to Responsive Search Ads, Google Ads will automatically extract the domain from your final URL. Advertisers can then add up to two paths, with a maximum of 15 characters each, to enhance the display URL.

8. Anticipated Improvement in CTR

The increased text visibility is expected to boost click-through rates (CTR). Early data suggests that Expanded Text Ads are achieving CTR improvements of up to 20 percent. At nexus-security, we’ve observed around a 12 percent CTR increase by incorporating ad or call extensions in mobile text ads. We anticipate that expanding headlines and descriptions will further enhance click engagement. As this format becomes more widely adopted, we will be closely monitoring its performance.

9. Rollout Timeline (UPDATED)

Initially, Google did not specify when all advertisers would gain access to Expanded Text Ads. Currently, Expanded Text Ads are accessible to all advertisers. Google has announced the retirement of the old standard ad format on January 31, 2017. All ads must be transitioned to the ETA format by this date.

10. Preparing for Expanded Text Ads

Prioritize your Quality Scores now! As a crucial metric in AdWords, Quality Score is about to become even more critical. Businesses ranking higher will secure the most valuable search engine results page (SERP) space, particularly for commercial searches. This change could relegate anything below the second or third position on mobile devices to irrelevance. For insights on Quality Score, refer to “Hacking AdWords: Winning at AdWords the Weird Way.” Get ready for significant ad text optimization to leverage the benefits of this new format. Google’s Expanded Text Ads provide double the space, so be prepared to maximize its potential.