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AdWords has become one of the most robust digital ads services.
It offers an expansive network through which ads can be shown to billions of internet users.
When it comes to Click-through-Rate of Google Ads, the average percentage comes around 7%.
Over 1.2 million businesses in the world use Google AdWords services to advertise their products or services.
What is a Google Responsive Ad?
In its quest to shift away from ‘text-only’ ads to a more visual ad unit, Google has upgraded its new ad type called ‘Google Responsive Display Ads’ or RDA.
The Google Responsive Ads have been introduced to contain both text and image component in the Google Display Network.
The prime objective behind introducing Google Responsive Ads is to build a bridge between the text and banner ad types.
What are Google Responsive Display Ads?
Google Responsive Display Ads, also called RDAs allow advertisers to upload as many as 15 new images, 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, and 5 logos!
This results in an opportunity for the publishers to accept a variety of formats on their websites, especially on mobile.
Before this, advertisers had to make different copies of the ads themselves.
This took a great amount of time.
But now, Google has announced that its new responsive ad program makes it easier to advertise on Google AdWords as it formats the ads by itself.
These Ads automatically adjust their size, appearance, and format to make sure the ads fit into any available ad space.
This has been done to make the ads match the look and feel of the websites and maintain the user experience.
If you haven’t seen a Google responsive text ad before, take a look at these examples to grab a little knowledge about how the ads will look.
What are the Google Responsive Ads dimensions?
Here are the most common Adwords display Ad sizes:
Square: 250 x 250
Small Square: 200 x 200
Banner: 468 x 60
Leaderboard: 728 x 90
Vertical Rectangle: 240 x 400
Inline Rectangle: 300 x 250
Large Rectangle: 336 x 280
Skyscraper: 120 x 600
Wide Skyscraper: 160 x 600
Half-Page: 300 x 600
Large Leaderboard: 970 x 90
Mobile Leaderboard: 320 x 50
Why Google created Responsive Ads?
Google has made the advertisers to use text ads for a long period of time.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The limitation with Responsive ads is that people on the internet easily overlooked such ads due to their no visual appeal.” quote=”The limitation with Responsive ads is that people on the internet easily overlooked such ads due to their no visual appeal.”]
Text ads do not draw much attention and hence needed to be improved.
These ads blended with the search engine’s background and hence could not provide any online traction to the business.
Since Google’s shift to a more visually attracting ‘Responsive Ads’, it has helped advertisers to increase the Click-Through-Rates (CTRs) for Google Display Network ads.
With the help of active machine learning, Google will come up with combinations of text and scaled images to display the ad which will perform the best.
These Responsive Display Ads will automatically adjust their form in order to fit in the available ad space.
As Google explains,
“Great display ads assist consumers using rich images and useful information. However, showing the most relevant and engaging ads across millions of sites and apps isn’t easy. That’s why we’re rolling out responsive display ads.”
However, these ad types might sound similar to Google’s ‘Responsive Ads’, but there are many significant upgrades to look for.
The Google Responsive Ads earlier allowed the advertisers to upload only 2 headlines, 1 image, 1 logo, and 1 description.
[bctt tweet=”According to Google, using multiple headlines, descriptions and ad images result in an average of 10% more conversions at a similar CPA, versus a single ad set.” username=”AdsTriangle”]
There are nearly 20 standard sizes for the ads which can be uploaded on the Google’s Ad Network.
Since there are many teams who do not have the capacity to build a complete suite of Google banner ads, they will focus on top 4-5 banner sizes.
This will result in a lot of inventory getting unused on the GDN.
Here’s where Google Responsive Ads for Display come in.
These ads have immensely helped the advertisers to make complete use of the Google Display Network.
Advertisers can now use the same Native, Text and Banner ad spaces as Google’s machine learning aids them to be responsive to space by showing one of the many available combinations.
In real-time, this is how Google ‘Responsive Ads for Display’ work:
- Images uploaded will be automatically scaled to fit into each ad space.
- The text will be chosen on the basis of available space.
- Some text will be truncated in limited areas.
To understand the new changes and make use of these ads efficiently, we have to follow some best practices to ensure a successful ad campaign.
Here are the Top 5 Google Responsive Ads Best Practices you need:
Let’s understand each point in detail:
TIP #1: Right Picture for Image Scaling Optimization
The Google Responsive Ads permits the advertisers to upload images to accommodate ads in square and landscape format.
When you upload an image during campaign creation, the image upload process will show you images relatively larger on the screen.
Well, not all ad units resulting from the campaign will have the same size!
By that we mean, there’s a fair chance that your uploaded image will be scaled down to fit into the appropriate ad space.
Let’s take an example of using images in Google Responsive Ads.
Assuming we are going to run ads to promote a luxury travel agency that helps people to travel all over the globe.
Say their one of the most popular trips are Safari, so we run Google Responsive Ads for them.
While selecting the right images, we learned from their expertise that lions are the greatest tourist attraction.
So we decided to use Lions in the ad images.
We came up with a couple of pictures that we could have used in the ad – both showing two versions of the safari.
The first image shows lions with a safari jeep in the backdrop – it just can’t be more appropriate when it comes to advertising a safari.
On the other hand, the second image shows just two lions with a close shot.
So which image did we choose to go on the ads?
First one, right?
Wrong!
While the first image is really a complete image with all the important visual elements, the second image will perform better when Google decides to scale the image w.r.t the available ad space.
The first image is really the correct representation of what we are selling.
But the second image of lions up close is attractive enough to catch the eyes of the customer who is interested in lions.
Now, let’s scale these images down.
When we have scaled down the images, the first image becomes hard to understand with regards to the advertisement we are trying to show.
There’s a car maybe, and trees, the background is grey for some reason.
The customer cannot really comprehend what we need him to know in one quick glance.
The second image is an undisputed winner as it clearly shows lions, and is self-explanatory to a great extent.
Therefore, while choosing which pictures to upload, always give a thought about how the pictures will look when scaled down.
If the images become too mucky when you scale them down, resist to use such images.
If you don’t, you will lose the impact of using a visually appealing image on your ads.
TIP #2: Treat No Size as Optional in Google Responsive Ads
While creating an Ad campaign, there will be sections where it says ‘optional’.
You are recommended to treat them as ‘required’.
This ensures that all the resulting ad variants are effectively optimized for an available space even if Google selects images from the attributes which say ‘optional’.
If that doesn’t work, try using the same image.
Only this time you will crop it yourself to make a landscape image square, or otherwise.
TIP #3: Show Some Flexibility with Your Logo
Every brand loves its Logo.
Well, that’s quite understandable, given that a logo is a reflection of a brand’s personality.
They are sacred. We get that.
But to be effectively recognized on the Google Display Network, it’s worthwhile to spend some time to make small adjustments to your logo.
This will help you to increase the logo recognition on your ads.
When you upload your logo, it uploads in a similar way a usual image does – square and landscape.
The problem arises when we have logos which only make sense when they are either in landscape or square.
Here, scaling can become a major issue.
If you have a logo that is only square or landscape in orientation, we recommend you to adjust to make the logo fit nicely in the available space.
Don’t hesitate to use only a portion of the logo that shows your icon.
Adjust the logo to fit the icon in the square portion or shift the alignment for a better fit.
Let’s take the example of Spotify’s logo.
The logo is designed to be in landscape orientation with the icon on the left and the word ‘Spotify’ on the right.
Will this logo fit in the square image section of the Google Responsive Ads?
No, it won’t.
What would you do then?
Most people will move to their graphic designer and ask him for a square version of the logo.
And more often than not, the designer will simply add the white space on the top and bottom of the logo to make it a square image.
This might look great in the editor.
But one should not forget about the downscaling which Google does to efficiently use the ad space.
This image above will look great on larger ad formats, but when it comes to smaller ad formats, it will become hard for the users to read.
Therefore, at this point, it’s better to try other adjustments to accommodate the logo within the confines of ad space.
When talking about Spotify, we can clearly see that the brand thought about such scenario.
They have adjusted the icon and word ‘Spotify’ to form a perfect square logo.
If that does not work, then they can even just use the icon by itself.
Let’s see how the three forms of the same logo perform when scaled down.
This might not go down very well with your brand managers, but what has to be done, has to be done.
It’s better to adjust the logo to get the best ad space fit without losing the essence of your brand.
TIP #4: Always be in Control of Text Combinations
When creating Responsive ads, we are presented with a number of text fields to put our text into.
Let’s take a look.
- Short Headline: 25 Characters
- Long Headline: 90 Characters
- Description: 90 Characters
- Business Name: 25 Characters
We have not been given these many text option in the past.
So it becomes very important to know which text will go where.
Not all text will show up together.
However, it’s equally important to know which text fields can and will be shown together to make the most of the ad impression we’re provided.
Here’s what you need to make sure while using Text Combinations in Google Responsive Ads:
1. Headlines will never be shown together
That simply means we don’t have to repeat the same things in headlines. Headlines can be different versions of the same message.
2. Descriptions can be shown with Short or Long Headlines
Descriptions will never be shown without a heading or headline. That helps to maintain the context of the ad. Since the description will show with the headline, make sure that you don’t copy the same thing from headline to the description.
3. Headlines might show without the descriptions
This makes it essential to crafting headline with utmost precision. Try to provide an all-encompassing and enticing message to gain a click through from users. We recommend you use a Call-To-Action in the headline.
TIP #5: Take Brand Safety and Regulations into Consideration
Let’s face it.
The new Google Responsive Ads are not for every brand.
There are brands who want to control all the aspect of the advertisement and not depend on Google to choose the best possible combination.
For such brands, banner ads are the best as here they can control every attribute from start to finish.
Also with Google Responsive Ads, there’s a common issue regarding regulations.
There are few industries which require to disclose legal information directly in the online advertisement.
When using Google Responsive Ads, these companies would have to cover the legal information in the provided space, leaving no space for the advertising itself.
We recommend you to keep these regulations in mind while creating combinations of text fields and images.
Conclusion
Google’s Responsive Display Ads is not rocket science.
But certainly, there are some aspects where advertisers should give more attention.
These best practices when followed properly, can step up your advertising game without much effort.
Choose the images and text wisely, figure out how they will play out together and make sure every regulatory aspect of your industry is covered.
Once you do that, you’re set!
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