Google’s responsive search ads, also known as RSA, have existed alongside the original expanded text ads (ETAs) for the past several years. The goal has been to give marketers more formats for their campaigns. Since then, the now default RSAs are quickly being set up to be the only text ad format moving forward into 2022.

Experts at Onimod Global would advise that you start optimizing RSAs to stay ahead of any competitors. Here are three simple suggestions that Onimod Global gives to marketers to improve your RSA effectiveness.

Analyze your asset labels

Google Ads’ asset labels can be very useful by showing you which assets are performing well and which assets you should replace after the RSAs serve. These kinds of assets should be monitored for roughly two weeks, then the idea would be to replace those that are underperforming.

When you open up your RSA, Google gives you a breakdown of all headlines and descriptions. The labeling they give to each asset is based on how they performed overall. Thus this RSA data can be very useful information and provide insight transparently on what is performing well for you and where you can save ad dollar.

Use variations of headlines

Using a variety of headlines in your RSAs can allow marketers to use more keywords, which can enable the ads to reach even more potential customers. The more Google variations the better, because using a variety can increase your CTR. Also according to Frederick Vallaeys, co-founder and CEO of PPC management software company Optmyzr, in his session at SMX Next “If you give Google more variations then the CTR goes up because they’re able to show the right ad to the right user at the right time.”

One important note to add: just because you are experiencing spikes in CTR doesn’t necessarily mean you’re conversion rate has increased. Some data shows they actually decrease with more headlines. Fortunately, adding more headlines also increases total impressions as it gives Google more flexibility to create the ideal ad for each situation, leading to more impressions per RSA. How you view these outcomes is completely dependent on your goals for the text ads in general.

Take advantage of smart bidding automation

Smart bidding automation is often times a very helpful tool when it comes to preventing ads from showing up to the wrong groups. If you’re doing manual bidding and allowing Google to show your RSAs to audience members that my not be as likely to convert, then that’s in the end a problem for your SEA budget since your manual bids are not going to be able to handle that.

However, when combining smart bidding and Google automatically showing the right ad to the right customer, even if that includes a bit more of broad matching, you can achieve very good results for text ads. This tactic holds up  in court by plenty of search data backing up this recommendation. Marketers that make the switch from ETAs to RSAs, using the same assets, in campaigns that use broad match and smart bidding see an average of 20% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion, according to Google. If automation is the future of search ads (which most likely is the case for all future SEAs and social media advertising), it is very senseful to use Google’s machine learning systems in every fullest extent possible.

Final thoughts

In addition to RSA, general SEA and other digital marketing tips, we will continue to share case studies and the latest digital marketing news and tips to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about how to optimize your RSAs or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.