Advertising Editor Advertising Intelligence

About responsive search ads

Important

Responsive search ads make creating ads easier by eliminating the need to figure out which headlines and descriptions work well together. You provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and we'll mix and match the most optimal combinations to create effective ads for potential customers.

Analyzing ad performance to determine which ads perform best is also taken care of with responsive search ads. The best performing ad combinations are automatically identified and reported to you, while the ineffective ads aren't shown again. Adapting your ad's content to match what potential customers are searching for can help to improve your campaign's performance.

Best practices for responsive search ads

  • Create responsive search ads in existing ad groups to help avoid impression and click loss when testing effectiveness. We recommend you have a minimum of one active responsive search ad in each ad group. Please note that there's a limit of three enabled responsive search ads per ad group.
  • Take advantage of the additional headline limits and aim to provide at least 8-10 distinct headlines that don't contain similar phrases.
  • Take advantage of the additional character limits and provide at least two distinct descriptions, with a clear call-to-action for customers.

Here's some more detailed information about character limits for responsive search ads:

Ad part Responsive search ad
Headline 30 characters
Description 90 characters
URL 67 characters

Best practices for upgrading expanded text ads to responsive search ads

Upgrade your expanded text ads to responsive search ads to maximize your ad performance. Here are a few tips for effectively making this transition:

  • There are three ways to upgrade your existing expanded text ads:
    • Manual upgrade: Create new responsive search ads in Microsoft Advertising Editor. For more information, see Create a new responsive search ad. We recommend that you leverage top-performing content from your existing expanded text ads by applying that content to distinct responsive search ad assets (headlines and descriptions).
    • Upgrade to responsive search ad feature: See the instructions below for how to use this feature.
    • Automatic upgrade using Google import: If you already have responsive search ads set up in your Microsoft Advertising Editor account, Google import is your shortcut to mirror your campaigns/ad groups in Microsoft Advertising Editor. We highly recommend automatically scheduling Google imports to make this migration easier for you.
  • Make sure there's at least one active responsive search ad in each standard ad group in your search campaigns.
  • Optimize your current responsive search ads by reviewing asset strength, combination reports, and other details. To view your responsive search ad assets, select the appropriate responsive search ad from Ads & extensions within Responsive search ads in the type list.

Upgrade to responsive search ad feature

Easily upgrade your expanded text ads to responsive search ads:

  1. From the tree view in the left pane, select the account or campaign(s) that includes the expanded text ad(s) you want to upgrade.
  2. Select Ads & extensions > Expanded text ads from the type list.
  3. Select Create a filter text field above the main grid.
  4. Select Item level filters > No responsive search ads.
  5. Select the expanded text ads you want to upgrade to responsive search ads.
  6. Select Upgrade to responsive search ad above the main grid.
  7. Select View.
  8. Review the upgraded responsive search ads in the edit pane.

    Note: If you upgraded in bulk, select each responsive search ad in the data view and review its details in the edit pane.

Note

Some terms are different between expanded text ad to responsive search ad. Your Title will become your Headline, and your Text will become your Description.

Create a responsive search ad

  1. Select the campaign from the tree view in the left pane you want to set up responsive search ads in.
  2. Select Ads & extensions > Responsive search ads from the type list.
  3. Select Add responsive search ad in the data view.
  4. Select the ad groups you want to add the responsive search ad to.
  5. Create your new responsive search ad in the edit pane.

Update an existing responsive search ad

  1. Select the campaign from the tree view in the left pane that contains the responsive search ad you want to edit.
  2. Select Responsive search ads under Ads & extensions from the type list.
  3. Select the responsive search ad you want to edit.
  4. In the Edit the selected responsive search ad pane, update the details.

Update multiple responsive search ads at the same time

  1. Select Responsive search ads under Ads & extensions from the type list.
  2. From the data view, select Make multiple changes > Add/update multiple responsive search ads.
  3. In the dialog box, under Add text ad data, do one of the following:
    • Paste data using the suggesting headings
      1. Select Insert headings.
      2. Underneath the headings row, paste the spreadsheet data.
      3. Select Edit headings.
      4. Under Edit headings, make sure that the correct heading is selected in the dropdown menu for each column.
    • Paste data from a spreadsheet that includes column headings
      1. Paste the spreadsheet data into the text box.
      2. Select Edit headings.
      3. Under Edit headings, make sure that the correct heading is selected in the dropdown menu for each column.
  4. Select Next.
  5. On the Import Completed page, after you review your changes, select Close.

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