Updated : It’s been several months since Google announced the rollout of Expanded Text Ads, and the deadline for working with standard text ads is looming. Google isn’t dropping the hammer on traditional AdWords ads entirely. But the deadline for adding or editing old school AdWords ads is now January 31st, 2017 (Google has pushed back the deadline from the originally-announced date of October 26th).
Google will continue to run standard text ads alongside the new ETA post October 26th. This is good news for advertisers who have high-performing ads in market. However, you won’t be able to edit your ads past that date. Want to update your creative? Google will require you to rethink your creative within the ETA format. Google has also issued best practices to help you think through and get the most of the ETA format. These include:
Test multiple versions of your ETAs. Simply creating one new version of an old, successful ad isn’t guaranteed to deliver the best results.
Focus your ad tests on headlines. They’re more important than ever and you have more space to experiment with.
Don’t simply add a second headline to an existing ad. Consider the ad content as a whole and look for ways to add more search relevance.
Keep your standard ads running until your new ETA ads are consistently outperforming them.
For more best practices, see what Google has to say.
As reflected in the best practices, Google will not delete or remove your standard ads, which some might view as good news. But realistically speaking, your standard ad’s hard-earned SERPs position will probably suffer algorithmically over time. Just as Google has incentivized SEM marketers to enable ad extensions in the past, their desire to see advertisers utilize the ETA format will likely result in a steady decline in visibility for standard ads, however well-performing. Standard ads will be set in stone on January 31st, and may well be slowly sinking from sight not long after.
If you’re looking to evolve your SEM for the ETA era, give Kiosk a call.