On August 31st, 2021, Google announced they would be phasing out Expanded Text Ads on Google Ads, leaving Responsive Search Ads as the only ad type left when creating a standard search campaign. This change won't go into effect until June 30th, 2022, so there is not need to panic as we’re here to breakdown everything you need to know about expanded text ads going away: 

Why is Google taking expanded text ads away?

In their announcement from August, Google stated that, “The ways people search are constantly changing. In fact, 15% of search queries every day are new searches we’ve never seen before”. Google states that the best way to keep up with the trends and changes is with automation. Specifically they point out why responsive search ads are better than expanded text ads, since they can change as needed to fit the right situation, time, and place. 

What’s going to happen with my current expanded text ads?

After June 30th, 2022, you will no longer be able to create new expanded text ads or edit your current ones. Although, any expanded text ads you have running (or even paused) will still run. So although expanded text ads are being phased out, this does not mean your current running ones will stop or be deleted.

Before next June, Google suggests that each ad group with expanded text ads has at least one responsive search ad.

How to set up your responsive search ads for success:

• Take content from your high performing expanded text ads to create high performing responsive search ads
• Check out your Recommendations page to see suggestions that can quickly help your performance
• Pin 2 to 3 headlines and descriptions in your responsive search ads for messages that you want to always be shown
• Be sure to use your most important keywords in your headlines and descriptions
• Watch the Ad Strength Tool when creating responsive search ads to see how your ad will perform and edit it as needed

Also don’t be afraid to test out other ad types before this big change happens, like call ads, dynamic search ads, display ads, and more!