Responsive Search Ads: What You Should Know

I’ve found a lot of success for companies hoping to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack by creating ads that are dynamic, also known as responsive search ads. Search Ads can create brand recognition which can then be turned into increased sales. In fact, one study has shown that brand recognition is increased by 80% with online ads

Google advertising is one of the gold standards for the industry with over 60,000 searches conducted each and every second. (That’s over 5 billion searches a day!) As Google is now transitioning towards responsive search ads. I’d like to take a look with you at what this means and how it will impact your business. 

What is a responsive search ad? 

A responsive search ad is a new standard being used by Google. It allows an advertiser to enter multiple pieces of text (such as headlines and descriptions). Google then optimizes these pieces of text to find the best combination based on someone’s search. In this way, an ad can be more custom-designed to match up and connect with your potential customer.

How does a responsive search ad differ from past text ads? 

In the past, a Google ad was made up of a headline and body text. You simply wrote out the text and the headline exactly as you wanted them to appear in the ad. But with a responsive search ad, the text is typed in as “blocks.” These blocks can then be mixed and matched to create multiple versions of the ad. Google can then change these out and rotate them to match the parameters that you control in the ad’s settings. Because of this change, it’s necessary to think of each piece of an ad as a separate part. 

What does this mean for advertisers? 

Ultimately, this may not have a huge impact on some businesses. Responsive search ads are going to be the default, but it isn’t going to be the only option available. Extended text ads will still be supported. They just won’t be the automatic default when you start making a new ad. Google is still going to offer other tools to help you optimize your ads. These tools will give you the ability to personalize the ad features to meet your needs and to measure the strength of these ads.

What should you avoid when creating a responsive search ad? 

Basically, perform careful planning when putting together a responsive search ad. For instance, make sure your text blocks (or assets) are self-contained. If you have a headline and sub-headline that complement each other like two halves of a sentence, these could conceivably get mixed up when the Google system begins mixing and matching the pieces. This could result in an unintelligible ad. However, Google does have a setting in place for responsive search ads that allows you to pin the blocks of text together so that it will be displayed in the right order. However, other parts of the ad that aren’t pinned together will still be interchanged.

Why does this move to responsive search ads matter? 

At the most basic level, this is an important move for advertisers who will need to adjust their campaign to use these responsive ads (or at the very least make sure to select regular text ads when designing their campaign). 

However, the move also matters as it offers several benefits to the advertisers, including:

  • More flexible and responsive ads that will adjust to the viewing device widths; 
  • Time-saving opportunities that allow Google Ads to find the best combinations of texts; 
  • Increased wide-reaching ads that will improve the performance of your campaign and bring in more potential customers.

The Next Step in the Google Ad Space

Responsive search ads are simply the next step in the advertising progression for Google. By adjusting to this development, advertisers have the potential to create higher performing, more adaptable ads that will reach more potential customers.

Want Help with Your Responsive Search Ads?

Creating more web traffic and converting that traffic into qualified leads is what I do! If you’d like help with digital ads, social media, or email marketing, please fill out my contact form to schedule a consultation.