- Starting 30 June 2022, you’ll no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads.
- Expanded text ads will continue to serve, and you'll still find reports on their performance going forward.
- You'll still be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads, or remove them if needed.
- We strongly encourage you to transition to responsive search ads.
- Learn more about this change to expanded text ads
- Add a third headline
- Add a second description
- Use up to 90 characters for each description
To get started with using the new optional fields, try adding a third headline and a second description to your existing text ads.
For example, if you’re a retailer using two headlines that show your brand name and official site, you can add a third headline showing shipping details, promoting special offers or a call to action for customers to buy your product or service.
Expanded text ads overview
Expanded text ads are similar to the text ads that you’re used to, but with a few key differences.
- Expanded text ads have three headline fields. The first two headline fields are required, while the third is optional. The extra headline field allows you to include additional text in your ads. You can use up to 30 characters per headline. The headlines will appear next to each other, separated by a vertical pipe ("|"). Depending on the size of your potential customer’s screen, they may wrap to a second line. The third headline can appear more often on wide mobile devices.
- Expanded text ads also have two description fields 90 characters each, giving you more control over your ad’s messaging.
- The domain of your display URL is based on your final URL domain. Google Ads will use the domain from your final URL and show it as your ad’s display URL. For example, if your final URL is example.com/outdoor/hiking/shoes, your ad’s display URL will show as example.com.
- The display URL can include two optional 'Path' fields. You can combine your display URL with up to two new optional 'Path' fields. These fields are added to the display URL after your website’s domain, so you can add text that will help people who view your ad get a better sense of where they’ll be taken when they click it. The text that you put in the path fields doesn’t necessarily have to be part of your website’s URL, but it should be related to the content on your landing page. So if your Final URL is example.com/outdoor/hiking/shoes, you might want your path text to be 'Hiking' and 'Shoes', so that your ad’s Display URL becomes example.com/Hiking/Shoes.
- Expanded text ads are mobile-optimised. In fact, a preview of your ad in both desktop and mobile format is generated for you while you’re creating your expanded text ad.
Expanded text ads are available on both the Google Search Network and the Google Display Network. Ad assets (both automatic and manual) are fully compatible with expanded text ads, too. Learn more about writing successful text ads
Frequently asked questions
How do expanded text ads work on mobile?While you can't create expanded text ads within your Display campaigns, you can copy an existing one from a Search campaign.
Also consider using responsive ads instead of expanded text ads for your Display Network campaigns. Responsive ads can show as several different formats – including text ads – helping you to reach people better across apps and sites on the Google Display Network. Learn more
In most scenarios, if your final URL has a subdomain, it will be added to your display URL. In rare scenarios, your subdomain may not be added to your display URL. For example, if your subdomain uses a trademarked term, your display URL may exclude your subdomain.
Usually when your ad shows, all the ad text that you’ve entered in Headline 1, Headline 2 and Description 1 fields will show along with it. The third headline and second description fields are optional fields that can show when there's enough space, but aren't guaranteed to always show. In some situations, Google Ads needs to shorten your text, usually with an ellipsis ('...'). For example:
- If you use call assets, the 'Call' button may take the place of some of your ad text.
- If your ad text frequently uses wider characters (like 'm') instead of narrower characters (like 'i'), your headline text may be wider than the space available for it on some browser sizes. With most Latin languages, you can avoid this by limiting your combined headline character count to 33 characters in total.
- If your expanded text ads show on the Google Display Network, 'Headline 2' may not show in some ad formats.
If you have text that should appear in every ad (such as a legal disclaimer), then you must include that information in either Headline 1, Headline 2 or Description 1 fields.
Automated longer ad headlines automatically move the display URL and parts of the ad description to the headline and separates them by an em dash '—' when they’re relevant and when space permits. Learn more about automated assets and how to remove them.
Expanded text ads give you options to have multiple headlines that are separated by a vertical pipe '|'. At this time, they don’t support automated longer ad headlines.
Your final URL (or landing page URL) reflects the page that the user ends up on after clicking your ads. Your display URL is the URL shown in green on your ad below the headline and above the description. It’s made up of the domain from your Final URL plus any content that you’ve added in the ad’s path fields.
You can edit multiple text ads at once with bulk editing. You can also select multiple ads and pause, enable or remove them through the Edit menu.
Bulk upload by spreadsheet is also available for expanded text ads. Learn more about bulk uploading
Using Google Ads Editor
You can also create and edit expanded text ads in bulk using Google Ads Editor. Learn more about Google Ads Editor
How do I fix an error when creating or editing expanded text ads?If you received an error message when trying to save your ad, this typically means that the text in the ad has to be changed to meet one or more of the Google Ads policies. Here are some tips:
- Use the correct character limit for each field
- Check the proper use of punctuation and symbols
- Make sure that your ad text doesn't contain incorrect grammar or spelling
