When Google got rid of Expanded Text Ads back in June in favor of Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), hearts shattered across the digital advertising world.
Why?
Well, RSAs have problems: namely that they automatically rotate and test headlines and descriptions for us.
Fortunately, there are still a couple of ways you can test RSAs against each other. Our jobs haven’t been taken over—at least, not yet.
How to manually test RSAs?
There are two ways:
Play with pinning
Although it’s always a good idea to pin a relevant headline at position 1, you can also pin multiple headlines in the same position. Use this to test different discount angles. For example: percent off vs. dollar amount off.
Test different messages
Try testing messages that are still related to the ad group. Test a new angle.
This could be an indicator of how you can position yourself in the market. For example: create one ad highlighting the natural ingredients used in your product, and another centered around how clean your packaging is.
Great! Now what?
It’s time to determine your winning ad!
In the “asset” report, check how many impressions a certain headline (or combination of headlines) had.
Should I keep testing?
Not necessarily.
It’s always a good idea to think of new angles to test your ad copy, but don’t rush a test that has no true value intent behind it.
RSAs test themselves inherently, anyway. Let your winning ad run solo for a while!
