Greetings Happy Readers! With Google Ads ending the ability to create ETAs this week, PPCers expressed their views on creating ETA before the deadline, how long will they wish to run ETAs, have they found an optimal formula for crafting RSAs, and more. Here is a screencap of the entire PPCChat session hosted by Julie F Bacchini.
Q1: With Google Ads ending the ability to create new ETAs (expanded text ads) this week, will you be creating any new ETAs before the deadline? Why or why not?
No. In my mind it’s time to adjust and adapt. @dan_patterson
We went full ahead with RSAs over 6 months ago and haven’t created any since. You can pin headlines and desc if you want to mirror an ETA if you want to. Time to move forward on those. @KurtHenninger
Yes, I am creating some today. I am testing some new ad and landing page messaging and think it is easier to get the messaging right on a text ad. If it works, I will have it into the future. But since it can’t be edited probably not a high chance. @AllisonMiriani
I will not be creating any additional ETAs. I’ve already seen in my accounts that ETAs generally are getting served FAR less frequently than RSAs in the same ad groups. I expect this will accelerate. Better to work on RSAs now. @NeptuneMoon
No, but we are running tests where we are basically creating our best performing ETAs as RSAs with Pins and limited options. I think G will basically stop showing ETAs so not going to spend a lot of time creating new ones. @selley2134
After the announcement was made, we made sure to refresh all of our clients ETAs before late May/early June, so not much more to do at this point and we’re mostly just prepping/waiting for the transition to happen on Friday. @adclarke10
Not at this point, since we won’t be able to make more changes to test anything. We are keeping our best running ETAs and go all in on RSAs. @duanebrown
No, we will not be adding more ETAs. I think it’s time to analyze and adjust vs creating more ETAs. @adwordsgirl
Late, busy day! No, Google has already shown it prefers the RSAs with traffic falling off for ETAs, so I am embracing the fully at this point. I still have some ETAs running that performs very well currently though. @lchasse
Thought about it, but just wasn’t worth the effort. I am trying to come to terms with things I can’t accept/control. So focusing that energy on getting @MSFTAdvertising to change their name back to MSN Adcenter. @JonKagan
Q2: Do you have any Google Ads accounts that are not running RSAs (responsive search ads) yet? If so, why no RSAs?
No, all my accounts/campaigns have RSAs running. I always had at least 1 RSA per ad group and now most have 2 RSAs and only 1 text ad. @AllisonMiriani
No, all accounts I am currently working in have RSAs set up and running. @NeptuneMoon
We’ve been working on ensuring RSAs in every adgroup for over a year. @KurtHenninger
Nope! All accounts have at least one RSA per ad group to make sure we weren’t caught off guard by this switch. @adclarke10
Nope, all accounts/campaigns/ad groups have an RSA at this point. @selley2134
All ad accounts are running RSA and most as of at least back in Jan. As someone said on the team last week. It is good to test new things and not wait until the last minute. There was talking about PMax but it applies here too. @duanebrown
Nope, not to my knowledge. We’ve been testing RSAs extensively for a while in every account. Might as well be ready for the transition, and ease it when it happens! (was our thought process) @PPCKirk
Nope, we ensured that we have RSAs in each campaign when they announced ETAs would be sunsetted. @adwordsgirl
We had a couple for a bit, due to being in the medical field. We were able to get ads created using pinned content though to get RSAs up. @lchasse
I have some adgroups, solely due to lack of time, which is being consumed by vocally resisting #GA4 and #pmax @JonKagan
Q3: Will you continue to run your ETAs? For how long and/or what would make you stop running them?
I will continue running ETAs for as long as it makes sense. If they have higher CTR/conversion rates than the RSAs I see no reason to stop running. @AllisonMiriani
I will continue to run existing ETAs for as long as the perform. As I said in A1, I expect that ETAs will get less and less traffic as the months roll by. Google Ads often does this whenever they sunset a feature/ad type/match type, etc. @NeptuneMoon
I currently dont see the harm in letting them run. Not sure if that will change but I do think they will stop being shown & when they do I will pause them as just an organization task. @selley2134
Yes & we’ll probably run them for at least another 1-3 months. We updated ETAs semi-recently for most of our clients in order to collect data on how different messaging performs. Once we feel like we have good insights, we may then pause ETAs & switch to all RSAs. @adclarke10
We’ll keep them running as long as it works for the account. Same strategy we used for the old standard text ads. @KurtHenninger
In other words, as long as ETAs are performing well, don’t see any reason not to keep those running! @adclarke10
We’ll keep running the ones that we have in our current campaigns until the data support turning them off which will likely be soon since Google is prioritizing RSAs anyway. @adwordsgirl
At this point, only if there is a CLEAR demonstrative winner in an ad group and we’ll still be trying to get our RSAs to win in that ad group so we can move forward. Anywhere it’s unclear, we’re pausing ETAs. Might as well move on. @PPCKirk
Until the wheels fall off. @JonKagan
Q4: Has the end of ETAs impacted your strategy and/or campaign setup or structure in Google Ads?
ETAs getting demoted has not really changed my strategies for accounts. Google gave us a window into where they want all of this to go at GML when they announced Dynamic RSAs – where they pull from other ads, assets, and the website. “Make one campaign” is coming. @NeptuneMoon
Aside from having to write more ad copy, not really. @adwordsgirl
It hasn’t impacted how we approach campaign structure, but it does impact how we approach ad copy. Instead of writing 3-5 distinct ads, I’m much more focused on messaging related to specific themes. Ex: 1 RSA focused on pain points, 1 RSA focused on general branding. @adclarke10
Not really. Made it a little more difficult to test but doesn’t change our overall strategy or structure. @selley2134
Where it makes sense from a traffic POV. Try to consolidate things even more. Make life easier and don’t have as many moving parts. @duanebrown
Ending ETAs has not changed my campaign structure much other than leaning more toward RSAs for any new campaigns and ad groups I was creating. @AllisonMiriani
No, not really. We have known for a while ETAs were going away. We all also know when Google releases a new format, it usually means the old one is going to go away. It was initial work at first to come up with RSAs, but now that is the strategy. @lchasse
All it has really done is given me a lot more caveats I have to inform the client of, when doing reporting. @JonKagan
Q5: Have you found an optimal formula(s) for crafting RSAs?
I have not so all ears on this one. @selley2134
Start with at least 6 headlines. 2 keyword-focused, 2 benefit-focused, 2 CTA. I think I read this on @bgtheory blog. @Adalysis @KurtHenninger
My advice here is the same that I give to my kid… Don’t be influenced by Google’s hard pressure to do what THEY want you to do. You can test/use RSAs with fewer headlines and descriptions. Limit the inputs to ML when you have data on what works. @NeptuneMoon
No. @adwordsgirl
We’ve been analyzing the performance of ETAs & then using the top-performing headlines/descriptions as the foundation of each RSA. From there we fill out the other assets based on the targeted keywords, messaging themes, performance, etc. @adclarke10
What I see working seems different depending on the brand/products. This was similar to ETAs though as one ad type never seemed to win always. The mantra of always be testing is important to see what resonates with your audience for that brand. @lchasse
Each client ad account is a little different. Luckily we work with ecom, retail, and DTC brands 95% of the time. Makes setting up RSAs easier across the different businesses. @duanebrown
Q6: What is your biggest frustration with running RSAs, if you are currently running them?
NOT HAVING CLICK OR CTR DATA @adclarke10
Google can want too much ad copy which may not be easy to come by for smaller brands who are just getting started or brands with limited stock/SKUs. @duanebrown
*For specific headlines/descriptions. @adclarke10
Clients sending me ads that make no sense b/c G thought it was a good idea to group 3 CTAs together. Seeing “Poor” on every ad where I pin something to force their hand. Inability to run meaningful tests. What seems to be a focus on CTR over conv or conv rate. @selley2134
The lack of specific performance data is very frustrating. Automatic lowering of ad strength if you pin. Ad testing is a lot harder w/ RSAs. For less experienced PPC people, the harshness of Google’s ad strength really bugs me. @NeptuneMoon
/Sigh Google’s ad strength meter is just stupid. More headlines and descriptions do not = better ads. Show me the data (conversions) for how different ad combos are performing for my lead gen and ecom brands so we know what to work on. @lchasse
Transparency. @JonKagan
PPCChat Participants
- Dan Patterson @dan_patterson
- KurtHenninger @KurtHenninger
- Allison @AllisonMiriani
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Shaun Elley @selley2134
- Ashton Clarke @adclarke10
- Duane Brown @duanebrown
- Ameet Khabra @adwordsgirl
- Lawrence Chasse @lchasse
- Jon Kagan @JonKagan
- Kirk Williams @PPCKirk
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