AdWords Expanded Text Ads could get even longer with second description line test

If you thought the 80 character description line available in expanded text ads already afforded a lot more room to get your message across, you could soon be seeing double that character count.

Valerio Celletti noticed the option to add a second description line to expanded text ads in the AdWords web interface earlier this week in a US account. The additional optional line also has an 80 character limit.

There is currently no information provided in the information popup next to the Additional description (optional) line in the UI.

Celletti says he started testing the second description line in ads two days ago. So far, CTR on the extra long ads are slightly lower than the average expanded text ad, says Celletti, but he’s continuing to test.

Asked about this test, a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land only that, “Google is constantly testing out new products and features to improve user and advertiser experience.”

Since their introduction last year, the promise of ETAs has been higher click-through rates. Some reports have shown mixed results on that front. We’ll have to wait to see how far this test to add even more real estate to text ads gets. It will come down to CTR lifts.

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About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.