Google Responsive Search Ads: What You Need To Know

Google’s Ads Of Choice Are Now “Responsive Search Ads”

In a short period of time, this means that ad accounts need to be ready for and prepared for these upcoming changes. In the next few months, Expanded Text Ads will no longer exist. Because Google Ad changes always feel like they happen overnight, First Page is already a step ahead and working tirelessly week after week with our Google AdWords representatives to make sure that every account is in the best possible position when Extended Text Ads go offline for good.

Extended Search Ads Were The Golden Goose

No one can give you an exact reason as to why Google makes the sort of changes that it does other than, Google is king and they must know what they’re doing. Unfortunately, a lot of their changes to AdWords and Serp-wide can throw you off your game, even if it’s only temporary. If you were king of AdRank with Extended Text Ads, you may feel a slight or temporary setback but behold, Google AdWords reps are being held to productivity standards and as we understand it, from our reps, they must assist each account in adapting to any changes. This means that phone calls have turned into zoom calls and monthly meetings into weekly meetings. Google Reps are working just as hard as we are to keep accounts in the green zone or get them back into green as quickly as possible.

There Have Been Many Disruptions

The ugly truth is that all of the various changes at google have caused some disruptions to some who had enjoyed the fruits of Serp or Extended Text Ads, these include those that run practices for Bankruptcy and Drug Offense Attorneys. AdWords has a glitch that inadvertently, incorrectly, and mistakenly flags Bankruptcy ads for content related to financial debt relief and those who represent individuals charged with drug offenses with drug-related policy flags. This isn’t only affecting Extended Text Ads but these ads, in particular, have no remedy as they are being phased out and can no longer be edited or appealed. For these cases, phasing out Extended Text Ads is a welcome relief as these are forced into Responsive Search Ads that can be edited and appealed.

Automation In Full Swing

Google has been wanting to completely automate for some years now and thus, every ad account regularly receives recommendations. This happens on a near-weekly basis. Many of the recommendations relate to automation and this has been clear in that AdWords stopped giving Ad Managers the option to create new Extended Text Ads. The full removal of Extended Text Ads will come to fruition in the summer of 2022.

While this may be convenient for AdWords, it is not as convenient for those who normally use variation in ad types to see which work best for their target audience. In addition, this automation comes with a learning period in which you may see traffic drop before it increases. This can be frustrating but is now a necessary step in the process. In one case, the learning phase took nearly 4 weeks before we saw traffic come back up for an immigration client. In another, it took two weeks for a criminal defense client. What used to take a few days, may now be longer but Google AdWords representatives assure us that these kinks will be ironed out and that the learning phase will land around three days’ time.

What Can You Do To Prepare?

In our case, First Page has spent dozens of hours with our Google AdWords representatives in order to prepare for these new changes. We took a deep analytical look into each account and how best to serve each client going forward. This included added new variations of ads like Responsive Search Ads, Dynamic Ads, Location Ads, and other extension ads. We also want to ensure that each account is at or close to 100% optimization.

Now, this part can be tedious as it requires weekly check-ins as the score fluctuates based on what their automation finds or suggests each week. In some cases, you’ll want to dismiss the recommendations. One example is an immigration client whose ad account automatically recommended that we ad an Estate Planning audience. This. happens on a regular basis and as you can imagine, the client is not targeting said audience. For this reason, it is vital that you not automatically accept all changes that are automatically recommended as that can lower your optimization score and thus your overall AdRank.

Preparation Is Key

We’ll say it again, preparation is key. If you are prepared ahead of June/July of 2022, you should not experience a large or permanent disruption to your ads account. It is vital that you begin adjusting your account ahead of this period so that there are no surprises, especially if you rely on AdWords or supplement your SEO with AdWords. As always, First Page is here to help you through these changes. If you’re already on a PPC package, you’re in the clear as we are already working on your accounts and campaigns, if you’re not on a PPC package, feel free to reach out to us for help.