Responsive search ads (RSAs) in Google Ads adapt to show more text and more relevant messages to customers. When creating an RSA, multiple headlines and descriptions can be used and over time, Google Ads will automatically test different combinations and learn which combinations perform best. By adapting the ad’s content to more closely match potential customers’ search terms, RSAs may improve a Search campaign’s performance.
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There is an Asset Report available for RSAs which compares the ad’s assets and shows which of those to replace and which are most effective to enhance the performance of the ads.
To see the asset report for RSAs:
Sign in to your Google Ads account and click Ads & extensions from the page menu. Find and click on the relevant RSA. Click View asset details at the bottom of the relevant RSA.
Cross-campaign asset reports are generated if there is one or more RSAs in Google Ads. Only active assets show in the cross-campaign asset report (i.e. assets in active ads in active ad groups and in active campaigns that have had impressions in the last 30 days).
To see the cross-campaign asset report for RSAs:
Sign in to the Google Ads account. If available, click Search campaigns in the black navigation menu bar on the left. Click Ads & extensions from the page menu on the left, then click Assets. View each asset by clicking it.
Details within the assets report:
– Filters and views
If there is a long list of assets, they can be filtered by enabled state, asset type and performance. The report can also be downloaded.
– Assets
The content of each asset.
– Asset type
The ‘Asset type’ column defines how each asset is used. These are the types of assets:
– Headline
– Description
– Position pinning
The ‘Position pinning’ column shows where the headlines and descriptions appear when pinned to specific positions. Read more about position pinning.
– Impressions
An impression is counted each time the asset is shown in an ad on a search result page, or other sites on the Google Network.
– Performance
The ‘Performance’ column helps to compare how assets perform relative to others of the same type within the RSA. This enables the prioritising of the optimisation of RSAs by adding or replacing assets based on their performance.
Note: RSAs usually need around 5,000 impressions in the ‘Google Search: Top’ segment over 30 days to display a rating in the ‘Performance’ column. Changing the date range does not affect the ‘Performance’ column – the rating shown is always the current rating.
Once an asset is added, a ‘Learning’ rating will appear while the system reviews its performance relative to others. When the asset has enough traffic, it can receive a ‘Low’, ‘Good’ or ‘Best’ performance rating.
A dash (‘–‘) means that a performance rating is not available for this asset. This can happen if there are not enough assets of the same type to compare it against, the asset isn’t active, or if the asset doesn’t get enough traffic to determine its relative performance.
Important optimisation
‘Low’-performing assets should be replaced. Keep ‘Good’-performing assets and use ‘Best’-performing assets to help you improve the RSAs.
The more assets added to the RSAs, the better, as there will be more options for creating high-performing ads. Assets can be edited by selecting the edit (pencil) icon above the assets report.
View the different performance ratings.
– Ad strength
The ad strength indicator provides feedback to help focus on providing the right messages to customers. It has two components: the overall rating that indicates the effectiveness of a relevant ad, and the specific action item(s) that can improve the strength of the ad.
The ad strength column is in the “Ads & Extensions” window for a campaign and shows an overall rating such as “average” or “excellent”. The rating can be clicked upon to see feedback on improving the ad along with a link to where that change can be made.
Read more about how to create effective responsive search ads.
If you want to know more about how improving the effectiveness of RSAs can help your Search Ads campaign please get in touch. We have extensive experience as Google Ads / AdWords consultants since 2002.