In the online world, the word responsive most often describes websites that are considered mobile-friendly. These websites automatically adjust their size and format to fit the device the user is viewing them on, be it a tablet, smartphone, or desktop computer.
Responsive ads on Google function similarly — but with even more bells and whistles. Read on to learn what responsive ads are, the benefits of adding them to your paid search strategy, and how to get started.
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What Are Responsive Ads?
Responsive ads automatically change up their format and size based on the website or placement they appear in. But that’s not all they do. First, you simply upload your ad assets, including your headlines, descriptions, images, and brand logos. Then, Google combines those assets — with a dash of machine learning — in various ways to help your ads be more successful.
Thanks to this flexible functionality, the same ad can appear as a large video ad in one place and a small banner ad in another. Responsive ads can even match the format of the website they’re appearing on to feel more native and less like an ad to the user.
Responsive ads are the default ad type for Display Network, and they’re used in both Smart Display campaigns and traditional display campaigns.
Benefits of Responsive Ads
Why should you add responsive ads to your paid search strategy? Consider these four benefits.
- When you use responsive display ads, your paid search campaigns get to leverage the power of Google’s machine learning. Based on how your ads have performed in the past, Google automatically creates ad combinations optimized to perform in various placements.
- If you’re a marketer, you’re always strapped for time. With responsive ads, you can get your time back and let Google do the work for you. All you need to do is upload your initial set of assets, and Google will take it from there.
- Manually creating your own ads can take forever — especially if you don’t have in-house design resources or the budget to create dozens of images in various formats and sizes. With responsive ads, you can get started quickly with the assets you do have and add more later.
- The world is your oyster with responsive display ads. Because you’ve given your assets to Google, they can create the perfect combination of assets for a particular ad placement — whether it’s a huge image ad, a small banner ad, or a video ad. This allows your ads to appear in more websites in just the right format to make people click.
How to Set Up Responsive Ads
Ready to get started with responsive display ads? Follow these instructions.
- Login to your Google Ads account and navigate to Display campaigns.
- Click Ads & extensions and then the blue plus button.
- Click Responsive display ad and choose your ad group.
- Next, you’ll upload your assets. Add your images, logos, videos (they must be YouTube videos), headlines, and descriptions. The more assets you add, the better.
- Preview and save your ad!
Note: You don’t have to upload videos to get started with responsive ads. However, uploading video allows Google to determine whether images or video will perform better, and optimize your ads accordingly.
Add Responsive Ads to Your Campaigns Today
You can start driving clicks today by setting up responsive ads. It only takes a few minutes to create a campaign.
Responsive ads can save your team lots of time. However, the more campaigns you’ve got running, the more there is to manage — and the more opportunities you may be missing.
Don’t let that happen. Partner up with the paid search experts at Your Marketing People to improve your ROI and achieve your ROAS goals.
