Marketing

In The Know – The Era of the ETA

20/01/2017

As part of Google’s perpetually dynamic development cycle, expanded text ads were introduced back in May of 2016, and now they’re set to become the best and only way to create your pay-per-click search ads in the future. At the end of January 2017, single headline adverts will become a thing of the past, as Google ushers in the era of the ETA.

The Preparation Situation

Getting your business ready for the shift is one of the most important things that you could be doing with your PPC management time at the moment, as it is still unclear how the change will affect advertisers that don’t make amendments in time. All we know for sure is that after the 31st January 2017, Adwords users will no longer be able to create or edit standard ads, and that could spell a pain in the proverbial for a lot of people, especially as ETAs will be significantly favoured for SERP positioning.

Double or Nothing

As one of the largest and most significant changes to the Adwords platform in almost 16 years, expanded text ads provide an extra allowance of 50% more text in your search ads. This ultimately means that you can provide 50% extra context to Google users prior to having them click on your adverts, not only helping to separate the wheat from the chaff more effectively (alongside not having to pay for unnecessary clicks), but also improving your CTR potential in a big, big way.

Google have reported that users who have fully adopted the changes have seen their click-through-rates increase by up to 20%. This can be attributed to some effective uses of a second headline, providing more insight into the content of an advert. It also helps users make more of an informed decision as to whether a product or service is for them, before they commit to spending their time and effort clicking through to your site.

The How

ETA’s are most effectively built using a csv bulk spreadsheet upload. To find out how to effectively build & upload a populated csv, check out Google’s informative implementation guide here. Once you’ve uploaded your new expanded text ads, it might not simply be a case of sitting back and watching the conversions roll in, though. As with all aspects of PPC Search advertising, managing and adapting your account takes a significant amount of time, energy, and risk.

By creating your ETAs ASAP you’re subverting the risk that comes with being the smallest fish in the biggest pond. Make sure you don’t leave it all too late and get lost in the swell post-January. If you need any help with creating new, improved and expanded text ads before the shift happens, give us a call and speak to one of our New Business consultants today.