Migrating ETAs to RSAs

Make sure your shift to Responsive Search Ads is successful

Expanded Text Ads will be sunsetted in July 2022. After June 30, 2022, you’ll no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads. However, your existing expanded text ads will continue to serve alongside responsive search ads, and you'll still see reports on their performance going forward. Additionally, you'll be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads or remove them if needed. You’ll also still be able to create and edit call ads and Dynamic Search Ads. You can read more about it from Google right here.

Let's see how ETAs and RSAs are different

If you visit the Ads/Extns tab for any project in CampaignBuilder (start with an Example, if you haven't yet created your own proejcts), you can clearly compare the structure of ETAs and RSAs. ETAs have two or three 30 character headlines and one or two 90 character descriptions. RSA's have three to fifteen 30 character headlines and one to four 90 character descriptions.

First, let's look at the layout of an Expanded Text Ad:

Then, let's look at the layout of a Responsive Search Ad:

So, how will you go about using RSAs?

An ETA is displayed exactly the way you drew it up. There is no configuration by Google. When you have an impression, you can know exaclty what the ad looked like when it was displayed. Well, sort of. Google still makes a number of interpretations about whether to show all three headlines (if you have three) and whether to show both description lines (if you have two).

An RSA is displayed in different configurations, decided by Google, depending on ad performance. An RSA can have 3-15 headlines and 2-4 description fields. Your ad, as it is shown on Google, will only display up to three headlines and up to two descriptions. Each time your RSA is displayed, Google can not only try different combinations of those headlines and descriptions, but it can also change the order in which they are presented.

RSAs have an extra field called Position Preference that is assigned to each field. This allows you to tell Google your preference as to where a particular headline or description should appear on your ads. They have the value of 1, 2, or 3 for headlines. And values of 1 or 2 for descriptions. You can leave these blank. Do not leave them blank, unless you really are ambivalent about the order in which your headlines and descriptions are presented. Try them in different orders in different ads - then learn which order works best. It is a bad idea to let Google try to figure that out for you. Better that you work it out so you know.

What's the Major Takeaway?

Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) can hold a lot of headlines and descriptions. But they don't have to.

You can configure yours with three headlines and two descriptions. Probably exactly as you would have configured your Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) in any event. If you are clear about the order of those headlines/descriptions (by using the position preference fields!), you can pretty much assure yourself that they will display exactly as you would have wanted.

Start by copying an ETA and pasting it into an RSA

CampaignBuilder has several features that make working with all the fields that make up your ads quite easy. Here's a straightforward way to use your ETAs to create the RSAs you want. The figures below show you where the buttons to do the cut/paste are for ETAs and RSAs in CampaignBuilder.

1. Start with one ETA and copy it to the clipboard - and then paste it into an RSA.
2. If your ETA does not have three headlines or two description lines, you will have to create them. You will have to provide those values before your RSA will run on Google. Minimum of 3 headlines/2 descriptions
3. Then all you have to do is provide a value for the position preference variables. If you do not provide these, Google will decide which order to show your headlines and description fields randomly. They do not naturally order them by which field you put them into.