A short while ago we posted an article on the end of converted clicks (see the link) as one change to Adwords and the PPC area. We can now report a further change that is happening. The change has already started and is currently optional to follow, but towards the end of October 2016 this will become a permanent feature.
Expanded text ads are an addition and a new way to help both advertisers and viewers with the emphasis on an ever increasing mobile orientated world and market. As the name suggests, expanded texts allow for more information to be displayed and this can only serve to help both advertisers and viewers. Expanded texts will be supported by all AdWords tools so functionality should remain the same.
What is the difference between ‘normal’ and ‘expanded’?
* There will now be two headline fields (currently there is just one.) As mentioned above, this is designed to give more information.
* The description area will be much bigger – allowing for 80 characters.
* The dispensing of display URL’s matching final destination URL’s. The domain displayed will be taken from the final URL if available.
For example a final URL of www.123.com/subsection/product1/product2 will be displayed as www.123.com
* An extra area called ‘path fields’ which will be housed alongside the display URL. There will be two of these up to 15 characters (although they will be optional to use.)
Continuing with the above example, if you wanted to highlight ‘product 1’ or ‘product 2’ you can enter these as the path fields so the display will show www.123.com/product1/product2
The change
Currently you are free to use both the normal and expanded text ads. When you create a new ad from now on it will automatically be made using the new expanded version, but before the switch over happens you can change back to the normal one. This should give you some time to get experiment and adjust to the change. However after the 26th October all ads will be made using the expanded format and you will no longer be allowed to revert back. Any existing normal ads will continue however.
How to benefit from this change.
Although we are talking about a ‘change’ it is more of an addition or enhancement. Expanded text ads are very similar overall to what you have been use to with standard text ads – the difference being that the enhancement allows better scope for you to engage with your target audience – that can only be a good thing!
Some of the things you can think about in preparation for the change include using the extra character limits to announce your presence more, or adjusting all of your advert to ensure you make full use of the change.
If you are interested in this further, more details on expanded text ads can be found from Google here.
To see how PPC has benefited some of our clients, visit our case studies page and filter on ‘PPC.’