Responsive Search Ads vs Expanded Text Ads (ETAs)

Pin sparingly — only brand name in position 1 if brand protection is needed. Over-pinning eliminates the AI optimization benefit of RSAs. If you pin all 3 positions, your RSA functions like an ETA (no optimization). Rule: pin 0–1 headlines maximum. Let Google's algorithm test combinations using the other 14 unpinned headlines.

Best practices for RSA headlines: (1) Include target keyword in at least 3 headlines, (2) Write benefit-focused headlines ("Get More Leads in 30 Days"), (3) Include social proof headlines ("Trusted by 500+ Businesses"), (4) Add urgency or offer headlines ("Free Consultation — Limited Spots"), (5) Include brand name headline for trust, (6) Write CTAs as headlines ("Get Your Free Audit Today"), (7) Use numbers and specifics ("Double Your ROI in 90 Days"). Provide 15 genuinely different headlines rather than slight variations of the same message.

Ad Strength rates the quality of your RSA from Poor to Excellent based on: uniqueness of headlines and descriptions, number of headlines and descriptions provided, inclusion of keywords, and variety of character counts. Improve Ad Strength by: providing all 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, writing headlines with varying lengths (short and long), ensuring headlines include your target keyword, using different messaging angles (features, benefits, CTAs, social proof). Ad Strength correlates with impression share — Excellent ads receive more Google AI-optimised impressions.

Ad extensions (now called "Assets" in Google Ads) add extra information to your ads — sitelinks (additional page links), callouts (brief benefit statements), call extensions (phone number), structured snippets (list of features), location extensions, and price extensions. Extensions are critical: they increase ad click-through rate by 10–15% on average, take up more SERP real estate, and are free (you only pay for clicks on the main ad). Fill out all relevant extension types for every campaign — it is one of the easiest high-ROI optimisations in Google Ads.

Best-practice campaign structure: (1) Separate campaigns by product/service category, match type, or geographic target, (2) Within each campaign, create tightly themed ad groups (Single Keyword Ad Groups or Small Keyword Ad Groups of 3–5 closely related keywords), (3) Each ad group has 2–3 RSA variants testing different messaging, (4) Align landing pages to ad group themes for message match and Quality Score. Avoid large catch-all ad groups with 50+ mixed keywords — tight themes improve Quality Score, relevance, and performance.