How to Write Effective Responsive Search Ads in 3 Simple Steps
Google Ads responsive search ads (RSA) don’t leave a ton of room available.
With 30 character headlines, and 90 character descriptions.
It’s tough to write persuasive and effective copy.
In this article you’ll learn a simple 3-step framework to write responsive search ads.
Let’s dive into it 👇
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- The 3-Part RSA Writing Framework
- The Anatomy of a Responsive Search Ad
- Should you pin headlines and descriptions in Google Ads?
- Advanced copy tips for writing Responsive Search Ads
The 3-Part Google Ads RSA Writing Framework
Here's a simple 3-part framework for writing Google Ads copy:
- The goal of headline 1 = match intent
- The goal of headline 2 = differentiate between other results
- The goal of headline 3 = provide a clear CTA
Keyword: b2b google ads course
- H1: Free B2B Google Ads Course (matches intent)
- H2: No Lesson Longer Than 10-Mins (differentiates)
- H3: Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers (clear CTA)
Here's what it looks like in practice (image below):
When writing, always assume the H3 isn't visible, and if only the H1 was displayed would they get it?
(Google is always testing different display variations)
From here you would write different variations per position.
With ensuring legibility between headline combinations.
Simple but effective ✌️let’s dive into each headline further.
The goal of headline 1 = match intent
You’ve got a fraction of a second for a prospect searching on Google to understand if your ad is relevant to their search term.
Don’t mess this up by being vague, asking rhetorical questions, or wasting valuable characters.
When it comes to Google Ads the headline 1 position would be eighty cents out of your dollar.
Maximize your headline 1 by adding the primary keyword in your copy to match intent.
This is such a simple thing to do, and equally not to.
The goal of headline 2 = differentiate between other results
Now that you’ve caught the searchers attention by matching intent it’s time to stand out.
Here’s a real example of what NOT to do from ads that appeared searching SOC2 compliance:
The sequence of which you write your headlines matter.
This is why I recommend following the 3-part framework as shown.
Use the headline 2 position to write a core benefit or outcome for differentiation.
The goal of headline 3 = provide a clear CTA
Finally in the third headline it’s time to provide a clear call to action.
This can be as simple as:
- Request a Demo
- See For Yourself
- Learn More Today!
When writing your H3 just assume it won’t be visible most of the time as Google is always experimenting with how they display headlines.
The Anatomy of a Responsive Search Ad
Now that you understand how to approach writing RSA copy.
Let’s discuss how responsive search ads actually function.
Character counts for Responsive Search Ads
- You can write up to 15 headlines, and 4 descriptions.
- 30 characters available per headline
- 90 characters available per description
How Responsive Search Ads work
The idea behind responsive ads is Google will take your 15 headlines and 4 descriptions and automatically combine them to find the optimal variations based on machine learning.
The promise is you can leverage Google’s AI to do the heavy lifting as it will take into account a multitude of factors including keywords, search terms, devices, audience demographics and more.
Google also tries to guide advertisers on how well their doing when writing responsive search ads with their Ad Strength metric 💩(which we’ll cover in detail shortly).
With each headline and description you have the opportunity to pin positions.
This is where you’re forcing Google to only serve those variations within that specific placement.
Should you pin headlines and descriptions in Google Ads?
The answer here is an unequivocal YES, because if your ads aren’t legible they won’t be clicked.
In a perfect world Google will automatically combine your headline and descriptions perfectly based on performance AND legibility but in reality it doesn’t happen.
Instead you end up with a bunch of variations like this:
I personally would LOVE ♥ ️ if Google’s AI can mix and match ads perfectly for performance and legibility but unfortunately the tech still isn’t there.
So in order to prevent this from happening I recommend strategic pinning.
How to pin Google Ads headlines strategically
In order to get the benefits of both Google’s AI to mix and match top performing headline/description combinations AND legibility you’ll need to pin strategically.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
- Write 2-3 variations of Headline 1 and pin to position 1
- Write 2-3 variations of Headline 2 and pin to position 2
- Write 2-3 variations of Headline 3 and pin to position 3
- Write 2 variations of Description 1 and pin to position 1
- Write 2 variations of Description 2 and pin to position 2
This will give you the benefit of testing multiple variations per position but safely as you can control which possible combinations are matched for legibility.
What is Ad strength and does it matter?
Ad strength is a score created by Google to help advertisers optimize their ad performance ranging from Incomplete → Poor → Average → Good → Excellent.
Ad strength misconceptions to be aware of
- Ad strength has ZERO bearing on actual performance, it's just a predictor of it.
- Having a poor ad strength doesn’t mean your ad won’t actually perform well.
- Having a poor ad strength doesn’t mean your ads won’t receive impressions.
What determines if your ad appears is your Ad Rank.
Pin strategically with 2-3 variations of headlines and you’ll be ok, it’s also what Google suggests if you decide to pin.
Advanced copy tips for writing Responsive Search Ads
Now that you know how to write effective responsive search ads let’s wrap with some advanced tips you can implement to make your ads perform even better.
Implement Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)
Dynamic Keyword Insertion allows you to change your ad copy in real time based on the keywords that are triggering your ads in order to create more relevant experiences.
Currently there are 3 types of DKI available:
- Keyword Insertion = insert the keyword that triggers your ad
- Countdown = insert a timer that counts down to an event
- Location insertion = insert the location that triggers your ad
Test variations of your RSAs using relevant DKI parameters vs not to see if it impacts performance.
Leverage Business Name, Logo, and Image Ad Extensions
Now that Google allows you to highlight your business name and logo in your RSA, don't waste the characters anymore referencing your brand in your ad copy.
Save those valuable characters as you’re already getting brand awareness and instead maximize each character according to the 3-Part Google Ads RSA writing framework.
Ad extensions should always be used as a best practice but when it comes to writing effective Google Ads copy don’t forget to utilize your extensions to provide more information.
Hope you found this article helpful, best of luck on your next set of ads!
Resources for mastering B2B advertising
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:
✅ 100% free access.
✅ Taught by vetted industry experts.
✅ Have workbooks, resources, and templates.
✅ Less than 10 minutes per lesson.
We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
- Scale their ideas
- Level up their careers
- Make a positive impact
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)
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50+ Ad Specs for The Top 10 Ad Platforms
Have you ever wondered what dimensions does that ad require? 🤔
Then started searching to find the answer? (same here lol)
To save you (and ourselves) trouble, we gathered the most popular ad specs across 10 channels in one place:
- Google Display Ad Specs
- LinkedIn Ad Specs
- Twitter (X) Ad Specs
- Quora Ad Specs
- Reddit Ad Specs
- YouTube Ad Specs
- Google Discovery / Demand Gen Ad Specs
- TikTok Ad Specs
- Meta Ad Specs
⭐️ Bookmark this article and refer back to it when you need ad specs.
Google Display Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
LinkedIn Ad Specs
Source: business.linkedin.com
Browse examples at: linkedin.com/ad-library/home
X (Twitter) Ad Specs
Source: business.twitter.com
- You can request to have video lengths increased up to 10 minutes
- Carousel can use images or videos but must be in the same aspect ratio (ex: 1:1 or 16:9)
Quora Ad Specs
Source: image ads, video ads
Reddit Ad Specs
Source: reddit.my.site.com
* Headlines will be truncated to 100 characters on mobile/mobile web for the conversation placement.
Youtube Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
Google Discovery / Demand Gen Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
TikTok Ad Specs
Source: ads.tiktok.com
Browse examples at library.tiktok.com/ads
Meta Ad Specs (Facebook/Instagram)
Source: business.facebook.com
Browse examples at: www.facebook.com/ads/library
Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising
Hope you found this ad specs article useful!
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:
✅ 100% free access.
✅ Taught by vetted industry experts.
✅ Have workbooks, resources, and templates.
✅ Less than 10 minutes per lesson.
We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
• Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously I timed it 😂)
3 Powerful Strategies For Scaling SaaS Google Ads You Need To Know
Google Ads is a blessing and a curse.
You're blessed with intent and cursed with scale.
It’s a powerful channel for scaling pipeline for SaaS startups but low search volume is a challenge.
In this article you’re going to learn 3 powerful strategies for scaling your SaaS google ads further.
This won’t solve your limited search volume issues that's just the nature of your target keywords and B2B SaaS but these strategies will help you squeeze more performance from your account.
Let’s dive into it 👇
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Strategy #1: Broad Match Discovery
- Strategy #2: Advertising outside of English
- Strategy #3: Industry campaigns
Strategy #1: Broad Match Discovery
Before you click away I’m not talking about using broad match in the traditional sense.
Where you let Google show your ads for WHATEVER they think is relevant.
Broad match discovery is where you combine broad match keywords AND an audience.
It essentially means you’re giving Google the flexibility to show your ads for whatever they feel is relevant but within the confines of your targeted audience.
I would not recommend testing this approach unless you have:
- Strong negative keyword lists
- Proven converting phrase match keywords
- Significant conversion volume (> 15/month)
The benefit is you get to scale your top keywords safely past phrase match.
How to implement broad match discovery:
Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords
Review your performance across converting phrase match keywords to identify which you’re going to prioritize testing with broad match discovery.
Don’t rely on “total conversions” make sure you’re viewing performance by keyword based on the custom metrics that matter for your business (ex: Demo, Trial, SQL, SAL, Opp, etc).
Once you’ve identified some worthwhile keywords it’s time for step 2.
Step 2: Brainstorm your targeted audiences
Google has 5 audience types you can leverage for targeting in your search campaigns.
- Your data = website visitors or contact lists
- In-market = people actively researching a given topic
- Life events = people who’ve accomplished a life milestone (ex: create a business, get married)
- Detailed demographics = industries, company sizes, education level.
- Affinity = people who are interested in a certain topic
You can use a mixture of all these different types of audiences to layer on top of your broad match discovery campaigns.
If you’re dealing with < 500 searches/month for your keywords I recommend clustering a minim of 10-15 audiences on top of your campaigns to help with delivery.
Step 3: Setup a campaign experiment
The safest way you can test broad match discovery is in a 50/50 experiment alongside your top converting phrase match campaign.
You can easily AB test in Google Ads using the campaign experiments feature.
Located under Campaigns > Experiments
Using this feature build an experiment splitting the traffic by 50% for your original campaign vs the experiment version using broad match AND the targeted audiences you brainstormed in step 2.
Strategy #2: Advertising outside of English
English is the most competitive language in the world with the majority of advertisers.
We’ve seen reductions of up to 70% in our average CPC targeting other languages.
If your company has the resources to sell in multiple languages – take advantage of localization!
Localization campaigns are when you target keywords, write ad copy, and design landing pages that all are in your audience's native language (ex: Spanish, German, Portuguese).
You’ll reap the benefits of lower costs due to less competition.
The downside however with localization is search volume.
If you’re already advertising in English outside of North America and finding success, definitely recommend testing this strategy.
How to implement localized campaigns:
Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords
Review your performance across converting phrase match keywords to identify which you’re going to prioritize testing with broad match discovery.
Don’t rely on “total conversions” make sure you’re viewing performance by keyword based on the custom metrics that matter for your business (ex: Demo, Trial, SQL, SAL, Opp, etc).
Step 2: Brainstorm your targeted languages
Ask your internal team what languages your sales team is able to sell in.
Based on your options make a list of potential languages.
Next, if you’re advertising outside of North America, review the top performing countries and identify their local languages and see if you have the internal resources that can speak that language.
If you can’t sell in this language then this strategy won’t make sense.
Step 3: Hire a local translator
Don’t make the mistake of relying on Google Translate to perform the bulk of your translation.
You’ll want to hire a translator that grew up in the area in which you want to advertise.
For instance, if you’re advertising in Portuguese.
The dialect for Europeans living in Portugal and those living in Brazil is very different.
A local brazilian can tell if it’s not their dialect just like a native portuguese.
I recommend hiring locals off Upwork can be as low as $12/hour depending on the language.
These translations will make a world difference in your ad and landing page copy.
Strategy #3: Industry campaigns
Industry campaigns can be great for coverage and quality.
This is where you’re going to bid on a desired keyword and add a related industry term.
For example, let’s say bidding on the keyword “crm software” here’s how you can modify this keyword to make it industry specific:
- healthcare crm software
- crm software for fintech
- crm software for small businesses
The benefits of industry campaigns:
- Personalized ad copy that can yield greater CTRs
- Higher quality leads due to a more qualified search term
- Lower cost per click prices due to less competition
The downside however is search volume (the constant struggle of Google for SaaS 😅).
How to implement industry campaigns:
Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords
Just like the other strategies we’re going to identify proven keywords first that we can create industry variations for.
Step 2: Brainstorm your target industries
Run a win rate analysis in your CRM and understand which industries have the shortest sales cycles and largest deal sizes? Based on your findings, prioritise the industries in which you want to target.
Step 3: Build and prevent keyword overlap
Once you have your keywords and target industries you’re ready to build your campaigns.
Make sure to add your industry terms as negative keywords in your generic non-brand campaigns.
Otherwise you can have people seeing your generic ads for your industry terms.
Hope you found this article helpful!
Best of luck scaling your Google Ads campaigns for your SaaS.
Resources for mastering B2B advertising
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:
✅ 100% free access.
✅ Taught by vetted industry experts.
✅ Have workbooks, resources, and templates.
✅ Less than 10 minutes per lesson.
We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
- Scale their ideas
- Level up their careers
- Make a positive impact
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)