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In the last year Google continued to reinvent its products and add new features and tools to our favorite online advertising platform – Google Ads (previously known as Google Adwords).

This time, it’s a new, additional expansion to Google text ads, allowing us, advertisers, to add more useful and compelling information in our ad copy. The new expanded ad format includes a third title and an additional description! Almost double the size of the previous ad formats.

Important notes about the new expanded ad format:

• The expansion is available in both the Search and Display Networks.
• The new ad format supports all types of mobile devices and the ads are formatted to fit the screen size.
• Characters limitations: up to 30 characters for the title, up to 90 characters for the description.
• The old format (2 titles & 1 description) is mandatory, but the third title and second description are optional.

What will happen to the old Google Text ads?

Don’t worry, the old ads will continue to work as usual, and currently Google doesn’t plan to stop them. So, on one hand there’s no pressure to rewrite and expand the old ads. However, in the future all your competitors will be using only the new ads, and you don’t want to be left behind.

Will the additional title & description appear anytime and everywhere?

According to Google, the original ad (i.e. two titles and one description) will always be displayed, but the additional title and description might not appear when the space is too tight. Occasionally, Google will be required to trim the text and display an ellipsis instead.

How to write copy for the expanded Google Ads?

Follow these two main guidelines to use wisely this new gift given by Google:

1. Be coherent

It may be tempting, but try to avoid overloading the ad with incoherent, unnecessary or confusing information, which will eventually diminish the ad’s focus. Keep a logical continuity between all parts of the ads.

For example, if the first title includes the product and the second title the brand, add the sale to the third title or a relevant call to action such as “Buy Online”. And if, for example, the first description describes the product, use the second one to provide details about the location, a special offer or additional services.

2. Include the main information in the “original” ad format

Since the expansion may not appear in every search, it is important to make sure that the essential information for the user appears when there are only two titles and one description. Otherwise, the ad might look cut and misunderstood if only part of the ad will be displayed.