Google Ads Will Drop Expanded Text Ads For Responsive Search Ads In 2022

Google announced yesterday that on June 30, 2022 it will drop support for expanded text ads for responsive search ads. Google said responsive search ads will be the only Search ad type that can be created or edited in standard Search campaigns. The existing expanded text ads will continue still serve for the time being.

Google’s responsive search ads will automatically test different combinations and learn which combinations perform best of your ad headlines and descriptions and put the best together for you, automatically.

Google’s official launch of responsive search ads beta was in May 2018 with a somewhat failed launched in 2016. It then officially went out of beta in October 2019 and in February 2021 Google made responsive search ads the default campaign type.

What Is (Is Not) Changing

• Starting June 30, 2022, you will no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads.
• Expanded text ads will continue to serve, and you will still see reports on their performance going forward.
• You will still be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads, or remove them if needed.
• Google strongly encourages you to transition to responsive search ads.

Why The Change

Why the change? Google said “this change will help simplify the way you create Search ads and make it easier for you to drive performance with our automated tools.” Adding “Responsive search ads help you compete in a wider variety of relevant auctions by delivering ads that adapt to show the right message for the right query. This means that you can drive incremental conversions and create fewer ads—all while spending more time on strategic initiatives for your business.”

Google said “advertisers that switch from expanded text ads to responsive search ads, using the same assets, see an average of 7% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion.”

Timeline

In terms of timeline, Google said after June 30, 2022, you’ll no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads. However, your existing expanded text ads will continue to serve alongside responsive search ads, and you’ll still see reports on their performance going forward. Additionally, you will be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads or remove them if needed. You will also still be able to create and edit call ads and Dynamic Search Ads. Google recommends that you have at least one responsive search ad in every ad group in your Search campaigns by June 30, 2022.

Search Community Reaction

I asked the PPC community what are there thoughts on this and this is what they had to say:

Yeah, this is where I’m at too. We’re not devastated, because it’s obviously been heading this way. That being said, there are use cases where it can go bad :/ ????????‍♂️

— Kirk Williams ???? (@PPCKirk) August 31, 2021

Don’t love this, but as long as they don’t take away the option to pin headlines/descriptions in RSAs we can at least approximate the control we have had with ETAs. There’s been a definite bias toward serving RSAs for a while. #ppcchat

— Tim Jensen (@timothyjjensen) August 31, 2021

With RSA Pinning, even clients with strict copy guidelines should be able to achieve the exact same ad. That is of course only if you use the exact same ad components you did for a single ETA ad and dont make use of all the headlines available.

— Brett Bodofsky (@BrettBodofsky) August 31, 2021

Agreed, this is no surprise but we’d love more data to help us make the right optimizations to individual components of RSAs

— Frederick Vallaeys (@siliconvallaeys) August 31, 2021

Did I read somewhere recently that ad strength is not tied to quality score, so really it does not impact performance/cpc/impressions?#ppcchat

— Shaun Elley (@selley2134) August 31, 2021

I agree! We saw this coming… Clients will have to bite the bullet when it comes to legal issues. Also, I am not looking forward to updating the RSA copy for weekly promos. I guess we will have to ditch full ad copy updates and rely on extensions for frequent sales

— Anastasia Sorokina (@Anna_Sorok) August 31, 2021

Inevitable but disappointing nevertheless. RSA is a good part of any Search portfolio but what can I say, I like options.

— Mike Ryan (@mikeryanretail) August 31, 2021

Not surprised but hate it. For me RSA’s get more conversions because Google gives them so many more impressions. ETA’s often have higher conversion rates in my client accounts.

— Rob Bunting (@robbunting) August 31, 2021

Not a surprise at all. Google has already made them hard to create in the interface. The real surprise would be if we could see engagement and conversion metrics for ALL combinations. #ppcchat

— Matthew Umbro (@Matt_Umbro) August 31, 2021

This gives the advertiser far less control over how their message appears and in what order. Knew this was coming but still is going to be a pain. Going to be a mess for pharma & medical as Greg stated. I do have an idea of a work around though…

— JOSH B. (@jdb426) August 31, 2021

Yup, though if people get mad enough about it, maybe Google will knock off this bullshit.

cc: @adsliaison

— Sam (@DigitalSamIAm) August 31, 2021

We all assumed this was coming. While we can pin headlines, it’s not that bad.
Dynamic keyword insertion + broader match types + RSAs = not a combination you want to use. Too much risk in my opinion.
Standard text ads still performs better for me when looking at the whole funnel.

— Andrea Cruz (@andreacruz92) August 31, 2021

If you need to use pinning, we recommend pinning multiple headlines or descriptions to each position so that any of them can show in that position. This gives you more flexibility to find out which headlines or descriptions perform better. Pinning does not affect quality score.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 31, 2021

Agree the lead time is very helpful, but I can’t take the credit. The team knows the importance of good creative and, even as they see the positive results coming from RSAs now, they want to ensure advertisers have the time & tools they need to make them as successful as possible

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 31, 2021

To help you get the most out of your RSAs, you’ll find lots of useful info here, including tips for thinking about asset combinations, writing your headlines, using pinning and more: https://t.co/xXgbbRRVzc

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 31, 2021

Forum discussion at Twitter.