Google Ads to eliminate expanded text ads in June 2022

Google Ads is eliminating their expanded text ads.

Read on to find out how this will impact your current and future ads as well as your campaigns.

Starting June 30, 2022, you’ll no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads

You may have already seen this notification in your Google Ads account or received the announcement email from Google Ads.

If you are just now starting to explore Google Ads for your health care tech, biotech, or infotech business, some significant changes have recently been announced that you need to be aware of before setting up your first campaign.

It seemed as though many marketers (including myself) thought the writing was already on the wall back in March 2021 when Google made responsive search ads (RSAs) the default ad type for Search campaigns.

But in late August, Google confirmed it, and then in late September, they sent out an email to make sure all users with campaign manager access were aware.

The good news is Google isn’t going to delete them all from your account overnight:

Expanded text ads will continue to serve, and you’ll still see reports on their performance going forward.
You’ll still be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads or remove them if needed.
They strongly encourage you to transition to responsive search ads (obviously).

You’ll need to get responsive search ads up and running sooner rather than later

Google recommends that you have at least one responsive search ad in every ad group in your search campaigns by June 30, 2022, but you’ll probably want to experiment with them much sooner than that.

Writing and experimenting with actionable ad copy requires an investment of time, so it’s important for you to get started with responsive search ads as soon as you can.

To help make the process a little smoother, Google has put together a few important points to consider while exploring your responsive search ads:

Repurpose high-performing content from your expanded text ads and focus on Ad strength.
Check your account’s Recommendations page.
Pin headlines or descriptions to specific positions in your responsive search ads.
Use ad variations.
Use Google Ads Editor or the Google Ads API to create and edit your responsive search ads at scale.

How will this impact your ads and campaigns?

If you’ve never used responsive search ads, you’ll need to strategize how to integrate them into your campaigns. It might not be obvious at first.

If you’ve seen less than impressive results with responsive search ads in the past, you’ll have to play around with the text fields in the format to mimic what’s worked in the past. As we mentioned, it will require writing and testing a lot of ad copy to see what speaks to your customers.

You’ll also want to pin ad copy combinations in groupings that make sense in relation to the messaging for the product or service you are advertising. This will help ensure you are not at risk of generating an unclear and confusing ad.