The latest Ask A PPC question is based on ad strength and creativity. It comes from Isha in Delhi who asks:
“Should expanded text ads be paused or kept running since we can’t edit?”
The short answer is the age-old, “It depends.”
However, recent data indicates that moving away from expanded text ads may be more valuable.
In this post we will review:
- Expanded Text Ads (ETA) status.
- Reasons to keep them.
- Reasons to pause.
This is a Google-specific perspective. However, the same logic could be applied to Microsoft.
The status of ETAs
Expanded Text Ads (ETA) allow users to include three 30-character headlines and two 90-character descriptions.
These ads display creative in the order listed in the original ad, but may be truncated based on the search engine results pages (SERP) on which they appeared.
As a general rule, mobile SERPs will only display headings one and two (with some truncation possible in heading two).
They were also “phased out” in June 2022. The citations exist because – while advertisers can no longer create or edit ETAs – ETAs were allowed to continue running.
This is similar to standard ads (which received the same treatment in September 2017).
As such, there are still a significant number of advertisers using ETAs instead of or in conjunction with Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) and Performance Max ads.
While I can’t give you a specific number on how many ETAs are still running, a recent ad strength survey by Optmyzr found that about 20% of advertisers still have some ETAs running on their accounts (~5,000 accounts).
There is no clear answer to ETAs. It really depends on the condition and performance of your business.
Reasons to keep ETAs
The biggest reason to keep ETAs is that they perform well.
Most agree that 200% ROAS is the baseline for acceptable performance (ie deposit $1 and get $2 back). Based on the data, ETAs seem to struggle to meet this:
| Bucket length | Number of ads | CPC | CPA | CTR | Conversion rate | ROAS |
| 0-20 | 69296 | 1.49 | 34.80 | 5.98% | 4.27% | 159.38% |
| 21-30 | 165899 | 1.78 | 30.52 | 6.61% | 5.83% | 148.83% |
| 31+ | 8964 | 0.91 | 4.93 | 9.00% | 18.42% | 161.40% |
(Data from the Optmyzr survey)
However, if you are not using conversion values, you may need to use conversion rate and CPA to determine success.
To compare ETA data, here is the Optmyzr data for RSAs:
| Course length bucket | Number of ads | CPC | CPA | CTR | Conversion rate | ROAS |
| 0-20 | 92744 | 1.26 | 17.36 | 8.85% | 7.26% | 208.78% |
| 21-30 | 716888 | 2.20 | 30,61 | 7.95% | 7.19% | 181.35% |
| 31+ | 31631 | 1.86 | 40.01 | 7.75% | 4.65% | 224.73% |
While longer ads are close to ETA performance (which makes sense because longer ads are an ETA-era tactic), it’s clear that shorter ads outperform their predecessor.
However, big data does not always translate to your individual performance.
That’s why it’s important to establish your own thresholds for performance. If you find that your ad is underperforming (probably due to not qualifying for enough SERPs), it might be a good idea to switch.
It is important to remember that you cannot “undo” this choice.
Another reason to keep these ads is just so you can get them. Once they’re paused, you can’t get them back.
Reasons to pause
The main reason to move away from ETAs is that you want the greatest possible access to all rankings for your search terms.
Google has many different SERPs that can force truncation. Leaning into RSAs and PMax ensures that you have the greatest opportunity for success.
Final takeaway
There is no right or wrong answer to whether to move away from ETAs. However, it is important that you honestly review your ETAs and confirm that they still work for you.
Have a question about PPC? Send via this form or tweet me @navahf with the #AskPPC hashtag. See you next month!
Read the full Ad Strength & Creative Study from Optmyzr.
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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/SearchEngineJournal