A responsive search ad lets you supply up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google assembles them into different combinations for different searches. At minimum, one headline and one description will show. The second and third headlines and the second description appear when Google predicts they will perform or when there is space. Your job is to write assets that make sense in any order.
That last point is the whole craft. You are not writing an ad. You are writing parts that have to work in combinations you will never see in advance.
Most weak responsive search ads fail for the same reason: fifteen headlines that all say roughly the same thing, so every combination is the same ad wearing a different hat.
How many responsive search ads should be in an ad group?
Google recommends at least two responsive search ads with Good or Excellent Ad Strength per ad group. Google also states that advertisers who have two and add a third see an average 3.7% increase in conversions at a similar cost per conversion.
Three is a sensible target for most ad groups. Beyond that, you split the traffic so thin that no ad gets enough data to prove itself.
The three should be genuinely different from each other, not three drafts of the same ad. One built around your main benefit, one around a specific offer or proof point, and one around the objection you hear most. That way Google has real alternatives to test, not variations on a theme.
What makes a good headline?
Headlines have 30 characters each, which is less room than it sounds. The discipline is to make each one carry exactly one idea, so that any two of them side by side still read like a sentence a person would say.
Here is a way to plan the fifteen so that they cover different jobs.
| Headline type | How many | Example shape |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword match | 3 to 4 | The search term itself, worded naturally |
| Main benefit | 2 to 3 | What the customer gets, not what you do |
| Proof or credibility | 2 | Years in business, certification, volume handled |
| Offer or urgency | 2 | Free quote, same day, no contract |
| Objection handler | 2 | The reason people hesitate, answered |
| Call to action | 2 | Get a quote, book a call, see pricing |
What this means for you: if you can swap any two of your headlines and the meaning does not change, you have duplicates. Cut one and write something that covers a job on this list that nothing else covers.
Two more rules that come up constantly. Do not repeat your brand name in five headlines, because Google may show two of them together and the ad reads like a stutter. And write in sentence case rather than shouting, because Google’s policies restrict excessive capitalization and it looks worse anyway.
Should you pin headlines?
Pin sparingly, and only when something has to appear. Pinning tells Google that a specific asset must show in a specific position, which removes it from the testing pool.
Legitimate reasons to pin:
- A legal or regulatory line that must always be visible.
- A brand name that has to appear in position one for a specific campaign.
- A disclaimer required in your industry.
Bad reasons to pin: wanting the ad to read the way you imagined it, or not trusting the machine. Pinning everything turns a responsive search ad back into an expanded text ad and throws away the only advantage the format has.
If you do pin, pin more than one asset to the same position. Three headlines pinned to position one still leaves Google a choice while guaranteeing that one of your three shows there.
How important is Ad Strength?
It is a guide, not a score that Google charges you on. Ad Strength measures variety and relevance in your assets. It is not part of Quality Score and it does not directly set your cost per click.
The reason to care is that Google recommends Good or Excellent, and the things that move Ad Strength are mostly things that genuinely help: more unique headlines, keywords included, assets that are actually different from each other.
The reason not to obsess is that Ad Strength can be dragged down by pinning, and sometimes pinning is the right call. A Poor Ad Strength ad that converts well beats an Excellent one that does not. Judge on conversions, use Ad Strength as a checklist.
Quality Score is a separate thing entirely, built from expected click through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience on a 1 to 10 scale, as Google documents. Our post on improving Quality Score covers that side.
Where should the copy come from?
From your search terms report and from your sales calls, in that order. Both are records of how customers describe the problem in their own words, which is almost always better than how a business describes its own offering.
Open the search terms report, sort by conversions, and look at the phrasing. If people keep searching “24 hour” and your ad says “rapid response”, you are translating their words into yours for no reason.
The second source is objections. Whoever answers the phone knows the three things people ask before they buy. Those three answers, written as headlines, usually outperform anything invented in a meeting.
How does the landing page fit in?
The ad makes a promise and the page has to keep it. If the headline says free quote and the page opens with a long company history, the click is wasted even though the ad worked.
Google’s landing page experience guidance says it looks at whether the page has relevant and original content, is transparent about the business and how it handles personal information, is easy to navigate, and loads quickly. Those are the stated criteria, and there is no benefit to guessing at others.
Our posts on landing page experience and high converting PPC landing pages cover the page side in detail.
Common questions
Can I still run expanded text ads?
No. Responsive search ads are the only search ad format you can create now. Old expanded text ads that still exist in accounts can be paused or removed but not newly created.
How do I know which combinations performed?
Google gives an asset level report showing each headline and description rated Low, Good or Best, plus a combinations report showing which assemblies were served most. Neither gives you conversion data per combination, which is a real limitation. Use the asset ratings to prune, not to prove.
Should every headline include the keyword?
No. Three or four keyword led headlines are plenty. If all fifteen contain the keyword, every combination sounds the same and you have wasted the format. Relevance comes from the ad group being tight, which is a question of account structure.
How long should I leave an ad before judging it?
Until it has enough conversions to mean something, which for most accounts is a matter of weeks rather than days. Swapping assets every few days keeps the ad permanently in a state where nothing has been learned.
Do I need different ads for mobile?
Not separate ads, but remember that shorter headlines are more likely to show together on a small screen. If your headlines all run to the full 30 characters, mobile users may see fewer of them.
What about ad assets and extensions?
They sit alongside the ad and they matter. Sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets give your ad more space in the results and more reasons to click. Our post on Google Ads assets covers the full list.
Where to go from here
Pull up your best performing ad group and read its fifteen headlines out loud in pairs. If most pairs sound repetitive or awkward, that is the ad your customers are actually seeing, and rewriting it is the cheapest improvement available to you.
If you would rather have someone else do the rewriting, our Google Ads management page explains how we approach ad copy, and our free headline generator and headline tester are there if you want to start on your own. You can also get in touch and we will look at what your current ads are doing.
