Google has quietly begun testing the placement of headlines within the description text of ad copy in live ads.
Advertisers were not given advance notice of the ad copy variation experiment, and the uncertainty over the possible expansion of this test to more accounts has created frustration in the community.
Why we care Changing the rules without informing advertisers can make it harder for advertisers to do their jobs and know what to prioritize. The impact is even more significant for advertisers with smaller budgets, as evaluating changes, especially with responsive search ads, becomes a challenge, adding to their workload.
What Google says. Google Ads Liaison Officer Ginny Marvin addressed concerns about ad variations after multiple reports on the issue during a PPC Chat Q&A. She said:
“This is a small trial and I have nothing more to share about it at this time.”
Just a little test? Despite Google’s comments, not everyone is convinced that the ad variation experiment is a “small test.” Expert in Google Ads Anthony Higman told Search Engine Land:
“While I understand that Google is rolling out tests on SERPs and paid ads, this test seemed to have more reach as everyone on my team and others in the PPC community were seeing it in live ads. So it looks like it’s one of the biggest tests out there.” While I understand paid ad testing, I think we’re all a bit over the top with the amount of testing and changes that have happened this year and last “. “This test also looks different to me, as they are altering known elements of a search ad by making the ad headlines appear as descriptions or almost ‘call-to’ resources in front of text descriptions advertising This is problematic because these changes alter the ad copy dynamics that are well known to all Google advertisers.”
Ask for more transparency. Higman, who pioneered the ad variation test Xwent on to explain how Google’s lack of transparency can affect advertisers:
“I think that since this test and other recent tests are changing the dynamics of ad copy, they need to be mentioned as it can disrupt the planned and tested ad copy in accounts.” “As others have mentioned, this may also change the rules for certain more restrictive advertising sectors, such as legal and medical, where ad copy variations must be approved before going live.”
A step towards full automation? Commenting on the “small test” ad variation, as well as other experiments he’s witnessed in Google Ads recently, Higman said it appears Google is moving toward full automation that could be problematic:
“My point with all this testing and also the advancement of automatically applied resources, recommendations, GBP connected ads, photos and also new asset format variations is that it seems like everything is a new test A/B with every advertiser using Google Ads.” “While this may be beneficial for advertisers with larger budgets, there is no statistical significance that can be gained over smaller spend accounts. Also, we can no longer see what these changes are doing to our ad data because we don’t know what resource variations are doing to our CTR.” “So all this new testing, in addition to the decrease in data of ads and the reduced visibility of search query data further forces us to full automation, which will not be a good solution for all advertisers using Google Ads.”
deep dive. For more information, read our guide on How to write an engaging ad in a Smart Bidding landscape.
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