Guide · Paid search
Expanded Text Ads Ending: What to Do Before June 30
Expanded text ads ending is a date for your calendar: on June 30, 2022, Google Ads stops letting you create or edit expanded text ads. Your old ads will keep running. After that day, responsive search ads are the only standard Search ad you can build or change. You have three weeks, so use them.
What is changing on June 30
Google first told advertisers about this change in 2021. On June 1, 2022 it posted a reminder. Starting June 30, 2022, responsive search ads will be the only Search ad type you can create or edit in standard Search campaigns.
That means you can no longer write a new expanded text ad. You also cannot fix a typo in an old one, change its headline or update its landing page link inside the ad.
Two other ad types are not affected. You can still create and edit call ads and Dynamic Search Ads.
What keeps running
Nothing is switched off. Google says your existing expanded text ads will keep serving alongside responsive search ads. You will still see reports on how they perform.
You can also still pause them, resume them or remove them. So the freeze is on writing and editing, not on running.
Action After June 30, 2022 Create an expanded text ad Not possible Edit an expanded text ad Not possible Keep an existing one running Yes Pause, resume or remove it Yes See its performance reports Yes Create or edit call ads and Dynamic Search Ads Yes How a responsive search ad works
An expanded text ad is fixed. You write each headline and description, and they show as you wrote them. A responsive search ad is different. You give Google Ads a pool of text, and it builds the ad.
Per Google, you can enter up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions in one ad. You must enter at least 3 headlines and 2 descriptions. In any one ad that shows, a maximum of 3 headlines and 2 descriptions are picked, in different combinations and orders. Over time Google Ads tests which combinations work best for different searches.
Because text can appear in any order, each line has to make sense on its own. Google suggests you write your first 3 headlines as if they will appear together. It also suggests you put at least one keyword in your headlines.
A move plan for the next three weeks
Google recommends one responsive search ad in every ad group in your Search campaigns by June 30, 2022. Here is a simple order of work.
- List your Search ad groups and note which have no responsive search ad yet.
- Pull the best expanded text ads from each one. Look at clicks and conversions, not only click rate.
- Reuse their headlines and descriptions as the starting pool. Google says to repurpose high-performing content from your expanded text ads.
- Add new, different lines until you reach a rich pool. Try a different call to action, a benefit, or shipping and returns details.
- Check Ad strength and aim for "Good" or "Excellent."
- Leave the old expanded text ads running until the new ads have data.
A limit to know: an ad group can have up to 3 enabled responsive search ads.
Sources: Google Ads Help, Reminder: support for the creation and editing of expanded text ads will end on June 30, 2022; Google Ads Help, About responsive search ads
Pins, strength and what to measure
If a line must always show, such as a legal note, you can pin a headline or description to a position. Google says to pin at least 2 or 3 options to a position if you use pinning. Pinning gives Google Ads less room to test, so use it lightly.
Google also says that advertisers who moved from "Poor" to "Excellent" Ad strength saw 9% more clicks and conversions on average. These are Google figures from its own internal data, so treat them as a guide, not a promise for your account.
Google also says advertisers who switched from expanded text ads to responsive search ads with the same assets saw about 7% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion. With broad match keywords and Smart Bidding, the figure was 20%. Again, that is Google's own data.
One warning for reporting. Responsive search ads help you enter more auctions. So ad-level click rate and conversion rate may not show the full picture. Judge success by the extra impressions, clicks and conversions the ad group and campaign get.
What to do this week
If you run your own account, do the list in step one today. If an agency runs it, ask for the count of ad groups with no responsive search ad and a date by which each will have one.
Also ask which expanded text ads they plan to leave running, and how they will compare old and new ads. A clear answer shows they have read the change notice. Ads you cannot edit after June 30 will be the ones you wish you had updated before it.
Sources