Six facts about Google's new Expanded Text Ads

Google unveiled a new mobile-optimized ad format Tuesday at its Performance Summit. Expanded Text Ads (ETA) in Adwords offer 50 percent more space for ad copy. Marin Software has compiled six facts about the new Adwords format that advertisers should know:

1. definition of the ETA

Expanded Text Ads are a mobile-optimized ad format in Google Adwords to boost performance in mobile search results. They are also played out in desktop search results.

2. more characters for two headlines

The new ad format has two headlines that are linked with a hyphen. Each headline can consist of up to 30 characters. The old format only allowed one headline with a maximum of 25 characters.

3. longer description text

The maximum number of characters for the description text for the advertised products or services is also increasing. Instead of two 35-character texts, only one text with a limit of 80 characters is possible.

4. automatic display URL

The display URL is now automatically extracted from the destination URL. Advertisers can now create up to two path ranges. For example, for "golf" and "shoes," the URL would look like this: Powpowsports.com/golf/shoes.

5. higher click through rate

Initial test results from ETA show that the increased presence of the ad has a positive effect on the click-through rate (CTR).

6. customization of the text displays

Previous text ads must be adapted in Adwords to be compatible for the ETA format. Various tools can automate this process.

"Advertisers should get familiar and experienced with Expanded Text Ads as soon as possible. To make the text ads ETA-compatible, Marin Software has formed an exclusive partnership with Boost Media. This will automatically adapt the ads to the new format," comments Bert Bröske, Marketing Director EMEA at Marin Software. "Google is just stepping on the gas in the mobile space, implementing the most far-reaching changes in 15 years. The harbinger was already the elimination of ads on the right side in search results in February. In the next one to two years, all publishers will increasingly focus on mobile and optimize their mobile marketing," Bröske continues.

Marin Software is a global advertising technology company and leading provider of the Advertising Cloud for cross-channel performance marketing. Through Marin, digital advertising campaigns with a total value of more than 7.8 billion US dollars are controlled and managed per year.