?? RSA Ads are now the default

Google announced last week that Responsive Search Ads are now the default ad type for Search campaigns, but what will the impact on advertisers be?

What are Responsive Search Ads and Expanded Text Ads?

Google launched responsive search ads in 2018 to offer a Text ad type that automatically matches Headlines and Descriptions based on performance from a range of 'asset' options written by the advertiser. These include:

• 3 Headlines of max. 30 characters, you can include up to 15 different options here, and it is recommended to define their Headline position (1, 2, or 3)
• 2 Descriptions of max 90 characters, you can include up to 4 different options for these and specify their position (1 or 2)

In Expanded Text Ads (ETAs), the headlines and descriptions are set by the advertiser as stand-alone versions and the ad rotation settings can be adjusted to favour best performing ads or to rotate the ads indefinitely.

Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) can be a powerful feature! Using machine learning, Google tests the various combinations of the headlines and descriptions you provide and determines which ads are most relevant to particular search queries, and are most likely to perform best. However, RSA ads can perform worse or better depending on a number of factors, so it's important to make sure that they are the right choice for your account(s) in particular and that you are using the correct pinning options for RSA headlines.

Expanded Text Ads

Responsive Search Ads

Was this change expected?

Rumours that Google is gradually phasing out ETAs have been circulating since some advertisers noticed in August 2020 that the "Text Ad" option was no longer available in the ads' creation dropdown for Search campaigns in the Google Ads Interface. This was, in fact, a test from Google to experiment with ways to improve advertisers' experience, which is now being implemented for all users.

Can I still use ETAs?

The possibility to create and run ETAs is not disappearing; as the option to "Switch back to text ads" is now present in the RSA creation screen on the Google Ads interface, it's just less obvious to advertisers to find. Similarly, we are still able to create ETAs in the Google Ads Editor in the same way as before.

What are the likely effects of this change?

This change marks the next step in Google leaning further towards automation and machine learning in campaign management and demonstrates their clear preferences for advertisers to use RSAs. Google expects RSAs to perform better, with a higher average CTR than ETAs, but, in practice, advertisers have had mixed experiences with this projection.

Because of RSAs' dynamic quality, they may have a higher chance of winning impressions by adapting to individual auction dynamics to be more relevant to particular search queries.

Different PPC companies have had mixed results when comparing the performance of RSAs and ETAs, partially because RSA performance can depend on many factors, including the quality of your copy, your campaign architecture, budget, the industry you are selling in, and more.

Below you can view results found by eConsultancy and Optymzr, and if you'd like to explore different findings further be sure to check out the links in the Learn More section below. Beware that the reliability of analyses varies depending on their scope, parameters, and timescale.

2019 (eConsultancy)

2020 (Optymzr)

?What best practices should I use in my Search campaigns going forward?

As was the case before the change, it seems you can achieve the best performance through a combination of RSAs and ETAs. A thorough set-up across your campaigns, with a STAG (Single Themed Ad Group) organisation, will allow you to create a unique RSA for each ad group and at least 4 ETAs reflecting the copy in the corresponding RSA, so that you can maximise the performance of both ad types.

Keeping some investment in ETAs whilst respecting best practices may be a smarter move than switching to RSAs only. At the least, it will allow you to compare between the two, and make sure that you see an improvement in performance.

Follow these 4 tips when it comes to RSAs:

1. Check any combination of the headlines and descriptions makes sense
2. Create an engaging ad copy and ensure each of your assets can stand-alone
3. Match the user's intent by including keywords and unique CTAs
4. Avoid repetitive phrases and terms across assets in an RSA to avoid variations of your ad performing worse and not being shown to users.

How do I make an informed choice?

In the end, each advertiser needs to take their own individual decision on using RSAs and ETAs, which might be affected by the characteristics of the industry.

Once you have enough data and passed the learning period of RSA ads, you can start comparing the two ad types. "Machine learning usually has a one- to two-week learning period before you see the impact of automation," so it's crucial to allow RSAs to run for at least 14-days before beginning analyses or making changes.

Then, you can analyse the incremental impact of additional impressions from RSA ads, for example by using ad experiments (see how to set up an ad experiment), and taking your own decision.

Ideally, you might take a separate decision per ad group and take into account each RSA's ad strength to make an informed choice.

Can we expect further changes to Ad Types from Google in the future?

Hopefully, optimising RSA ads will become easier if Google decides to make performance data available for each RSA variation and individual assets. This will improve our understanding and optimisation efforts both in the APIs and the platform.

With Google increasingly favouring its machine learning and dynamic features, it is likely that further changes to Ad Types will take place in the future.

Unfortunately, we can't predict these, but by ensuring we are making the most of RSAs as they are now, while not forgetting to bolster our campaigns' performance with trusted ETAs, we can make sure we won't be thrown off by any sudden changes that might come up.

Authors

Tara Eaton (Paid Acquisition Partner)

Yoann Ferrand (Founder)

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