New & Improved Google Ads’ ETAs: Now With 3 Headlines & 2 Descriptions!

 

Probably one of the biggest updates in 2018 from Google Ads. Advertisers previously only had two sentences to work with on Google’s search ads, and it’s difficult for them to communicate everything about their services in 2 lines of text. Now, Google has made a BIG update— allowing all companies to have more text underneath their ads. This allows advertisers to promote more of their Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) and provide a more detailed understanding of them and what makes their brand unique.

This means you can add a third headline, a second description, and use up to 90 characters for each description to convey your message more clearly to your audience. The more details you can present to your ad, the better!

The improvements on Expanded Text Ads allows you to distinguish yourself from competitors on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). You can also emphasise more on the benefits of your products and services on your descriptions.

Below is a clearer representation of the changes:

Ad Component	Previous ETA	Improved ETA
Headlines	2	Max of 3
Headline Length	30 Characters	30 Characters
Descriptions	1	Max of 2
Description Length	80 Characters	90 Characters each
Total Max Length	170	300

In line with this, running Google ads composed of the previous format will not stop from working. As per Google, they do not have plans on discontinuing the smaller ETA format or even the older Standard Text Ads.

However, it is advisable to start using the new Expanded Search Ads to keep up with your competitors. In fact, Google found that the larger Expanded Text Ads had received 15% more clicks compared to other ad formats.

 

 

Here’s a pro tip: don’t instantly pause older Google ads. It’s better to test out new larger ads together with old ads. This way, the performances can be monitored, and changes can be made unless there is a certainty that the large ETAs are doing better than the old ads.

Even with the extended max length, the quality of the ads should not be neglected regardless of its changed length. To improve ads messaging, it is ideal to maximize the third headline and second description which should include all critical details in the fields.

Google also announced that Responsive Search Ads would be released out of beta soon. Just like the new ETAs, Responsive Search Ads also show up to 3 headlines and 2 descriptions, with a total max length of 300 characters as well.

 

 

The difference between the two, though, is that the improved ETAs has full control over how ads will display on the SERP. Responsive Search Ads, on the other hand, will associate up to 15 different headlines and 4 descriptions that can be arranged in different ad versions.

Overall, this is certainly a significant change that could benefit all companies/individuals that advertise with Google search!