Google introduced expanded text ads a couple of years ago in response to the clamor for more space for promotional, call-to-action copy. That was successful, but it wasn’t enough in today’s competitive environment. Another factor – modern desktop, laptop, and mobile device screens tend to be larger, and have higher resolution, providing more space for all elements of the page.
So this month, Google responded with the expanded-plus text ad format, and I’ve already been deploying it for clients with positive results. The new format provides space for “Headline 3,” adding 30 characters of headline. The new format also includes “Description 2,” adding a full 90 characters of description copy.
One caution: These additional headlines and description 2 lines may not show at all times and on smaller screens. So make sure your copy is great, and makes sense in the “old” two-headline, single-description-line format. In this way, the expanded ads are similar to sitelinks extensions, which also don’t show all the time.
You’ll definitely want to roll the new expanded format ads into your testing program.
