What Are Responsive Search Ads And Why Should You Use Them?
Marketers have been talking about personalization and responsive advertising for a long time. This trend is not going anywhere anytime soon.
In 2019, 72% of display ads were responsive, twice as many as just two years earlier.
In addition, the search methods that users prefer are changing. Google found that every day 15% of all search queries are new queries that have never been used before.
That’s why, as of June 30, 2022, responsive search ads will be the only ad type that can be created or edited in standard Google search campaigns. This decision was made in order to simplify the writing process and increase the effectiveness of advertising.
To prepare for what’s to come, let’s take a look at responsive search ads and best practices for creating them.
What Are Responsive Search Ads?
Responsive search ads are a type of ad for which an advertiser can write multiple titles and descriptions at once that can be used by a search engine. This means you can have 15 headline variations and four descriptions for a single ad.
The goal is to show different combinations of titles and descriptions to different users based on their unique queries and search history. Google will rotate them, displaying 32,760 different versions of the ad. After that, the search engine will determine the most effective combination of title and description in order to use it most often.
Responsive search ads are a simple and smart way to create an effective PPC marketing strategy. With them, you can increase engagement and reach more potential customers using the most performing version of your ad.
Responsive Search Ads And Dynamic Search Ads
Despite the general similarities, responsive search ads are different from dynamic search ads. Again, responsive advertising involves creating multiple versions of the title and description that will alternate.
At the same time, for dynamic ads, Google independently generates a title for the ad depending on the content and search query (not the one you created).
Also Read: 5 Tips For Creating An Seo Optimized Website
Responsive ads are great for building brand awareness and generating leads, while dynamic ads are great for keyword-rich content and SEO pages.
Now you are probably wondering: what are the benefits of responsive search ads? Let’s look at them in detail.
Benefits Of Responsive Search Ads
- Personalized search ads.
- Optimize search ads according to device type.
- Ease of A/B testing.
- Opportunity to participate in more auctions and attract more customers.
1. Personalized search ads
One of the main benefits of responsive search advertising is personalization. Since 90% of consumers find personalized marketing enjoyable to some extent, it’s important to make your ad as personalized as possible.
Responsive ads are displayed based on the user’s search history, past clicks, device type, and search terms (keywords used). Google will apply the most relevant title and description you’ve created. In addition, responsive search ads can be customized based on the user’s current, usual, or location of interest.
With all of the above in mind, responsive search ads will allow you to create more personalized ads.
2. Optimization of search ads according to device type.
When a user searches for something on their mobile device, and not on a computer, the size of the content field changes.
In other words, they may see less of your ad’s title and description. With responsive search ads, you can use smaller alternative titles and descriptions for mobile devices.
Ultimately, this can help you get more space for your post and, ideally, increase your click-through rate (CTR) on all types of devices.
3. Ease of A/B testing
As mentioned earlier, Google’s responsive search ads involve thousands of variations of your ads. In other words, the company will automatically test different versions of your ad so you don’t have to analyze click-through rate (CTR) or impressions again.
According to Google, responsive search ads also generate 6% more clicks and 5% higher CTR. This type of ad will save you time as the system will do the testing for you and help you achieve better results.
4. Opportunity to participate in more auctions and attract more customers
Participate in more auctions and attract more customers.
With more titles and descriptions, your ads will enter more auctions, match more searches, and ultimately attract more customers. Expanding your reach while boosting results is one of the main benefits of using responsive ads.
So now we know that responsive search ads will be around for a long time and can help change your PPC strategy. But how do you create the best responsive search ads to ensure good results? Let’s look at some of the most effective practices to help you get started.
Guidelines For Creating Responsive Search Ads
- Write unique titles and descriptions to create variety.
- Experiment with different title lengths and description types.
- Entice users with different offers in your descriptions.
- Use short and clear calls to action.
- Add keywords with product features and benefits where possible.
- Leverage existing content from top-performing ads.
1. Write Unique Titles and Descriptions to Create Diversity
Since one of the main benefits of responsive search ads is the ability to write 15 titles and four descriptions, it’s important to make them unique.
Try to create as many variations as possible. Test different calls to action, call different functions, include different keywords, use different title lengths, etc. Unique titles and descriptions (instead of very similar ones) will lead to higher results since Google can determine the most effective ones.
2. Experiment with different title lengths and description types
As mentioned above, it’s important to experiment with different header lengths. It is worth including shorter versions for mobile devices and longer versions for personal computers.
Also, you should experiment with different types of descriptions. These can be descriptions with special offers, promo codes, discounts, or product benefits and features.
3. Entice users with different offers in your descriptions
Using offers and discounts is a great strategy for responsive search ads. You can check which stocks perform best by using multiple options in your descriptions. Google will identify the ads with the most effective offers and start showing them more often than other versions.
4. Use concise and clear calls to action
The best responsive search ads have short and simple calls to action. Examples of top performers are “Save Now”, “Use free shipping” or “Why pay full price? Save 70% today!
Short and concise calls to action tend to be more effective in contextual advertising in general, so it’s important to continue using them in responsive ads as well.
5. Add keywords with product features and benefits where possible
To improve the performance of responsive search ads, it’s important to include keywords in titles and include product features or benefits in descriptions. This will help you match several different queries, increase your reach, and ultimately get better results from your ads.
6. Leverage existing content from top-performing ads
You have probably already used contextual advertising. Find your top-performing copy and use existing content in your responsive search ads. This is an effective method for many types of contextual advertising. It also applies to responsive ads.
Responsive search ads are becoming more and more popular and important in the advertising world. Think about how you can use them to improve your PPC strategy and make it more effective.
