Headlines, meet Descriptions ??

Welcome to The Gist with Jyll, your monthly dose of Google Ads expertise. I'll be sharing my top posts with you from LinkedIn and other platforms, with added perspective and reflection to help YOU get better results with Google Ads.

This LinkedIn exclusive newsletter will interest you if:

• you work with Google Ads for a living, and prefer to receive your news with analysis and insights
• you're a current or aspiring content creator, and want a "peek under the hood" at how that works

Your favourite Google Ads LinkedIn post this month was...

about Google Ads treating some Headlines as Descriptions in Responsive Search Ads.

Plain English: your Responsive Search Ad Headlines may be showing up to users as Descriptions, changing the look & feel of your ads.

What this Google Ads change means for you!

?? Search ads appear to be getting shorter. Caveat: this is purely anecdotal, but even though up to 3 Headlines can show at a time, we're seeing more instances of Search ads with just 1 Headline.

?? You may want to "take back control" by pinning all of your Headlines to prevent this behaviour. As a "work with the system, not against it" person, this is not the strategy I'll be going with, but I acknowledge that many in our industry don't agree with me. Do what works for you!

Why did this post get so much attention?

Ten thousand impressions in the middle of August on a post about RSAs? Yup, only on LinkedIn.

This post got a lot of attention because human behaviour is predictable. Specifically:

1. People love to tell you you're wrong. This change was announced in February 2024, but I missed it back then, and this was the first time I noticed Headlines showing up as Descriptions in one of my clients' accounts. My LinkedIn post was an observation that I was just noticing this change and didn't see people talking about it, but many folks felt the need to let me know that this wasn't hot-off-the-presses news and, in doing so, boosted my reach. So, thanks y'all ??
2. People love to complain. As you may have noticed, people love to complain when Google makes changes. This post provided an outlet for them to do so. Since leaving Google in 2021, I've developed much more empathy for the complainers, because I get it - Google is this big, unknowable behemoth that just DOES STUFF and completely messes with us and our livelihoods. I can understand how that's scary. But perhaps because I used to work there, I don't find changes like this scary or evil. Instead, I put my "Insider" hat on, think through WHY Google made this change, and focus on WHAT THAT MEANS for my clients. Remember my mantra, work with the system, not against it.
3. People with big followings dropped by. I'm fortunate to be friendly with many of the folks who share valuable Google Ads content, and of course when they drop by the comment section, it boosts reach. Some of the folks who shared value in the comment section of this post are Ginny Marvin of 谷歌 , Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land , Navah Hopkins of Optmyzr , Anthony Higman of ADSQUIRE , Dan Chorlton of GOA Marketing , and others. Importantly, they shared value, adding context and/or perspective and/or new information that would be helpful to people reading about this Google Ads feature. They did not type my post in ChatGPT and ask it to write a comment ??

This month, you also loved...

One of my BEST tips ever: On Instagram, a Reel about Google Ads custom segments popped off once again. Fun fact: I first posted this video on TikTok more than 2 years ago, I've re-posted it about 10 times and it's a hit every. single. time. People can't get enough of the cool things you can do with custom segments!

Best practices for PMax & Demand Gen images: Another oldie but goodie, this 4-minute YouTube video about what kind of images you should use in your Performance Max campaigns, with examples, continues to get views, comments and subscribers. YouTube is a long game worth playing, as this was one of my most-watched videos in August 2024, even though I posted it in October 2022.

My first podcast sponsor: Though I didn't drop the name, I did share on Threads that I landed my first sponsor for the Inside Google Ads podcast, and the comment section lit up with support. Marketing Threads is a beautiful community. Spoiler alert: My wonderful podcast sponsor is Optmyzr ??. Double spoiler alert: Optmyzr is also sponsoring 4 PPC Zone events ??

Speaking of PPC Zone... this free, live, online event returned in August 2024 featuring Santosh K. , Sophie Fell and Nissha Goenka "Digging into the numbers." You can catch the replay on YouTube. Join us at our next PPC Zone event on September 10th at 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm BST where we'll Activate Google Ads Advanced Mode with Sophie Logan , Alfred Simon and Hannah Zora Strong - live on YouTube and LinkedIn.

First-ever PPC Live Online! I was also proud to co-host the first ever PPC Live Online with Anu Adegbola featuring Charley Brennand , Hollie Thubron and Alex Palgrave-Davies . You can also catch that replay on YouTube, and we'll be back with another PPC Live Online in the fall.

Before I let you go...

If you'd like more Google Ads in your life, you can:

• sign up for my free monthly Google Ads newsletter, The Insider. It has completely different content than this one, I'm sure you'll love it, too.
• follow my podcast, Inside Google Ads, or sign up to get the transcripts in your inbox each week
• join my membership program, Inside Google Ads, and learn everything you need to know to become a Google Ads Expert

Drop a comment to let me know what you think, ask questions, give feedback - I'd love to hear from you ??