02 December 2022

RSA combination report changes in Google Ads

In summary

• Google Ads will have an improved version of ads shown in the platform
• From 15 January 2023, the RSA combinations report will only retain the ad combinations for the current month and the preceding 11 months
• Advertisers should review their RSA combination reports and download copies of the combinations from Google Ads or via the use of the API

Improvement to combination reports

On 15 September, Google Ads announced on its Blog the introduction of new capabilities to the Responsive Search Ads (RSA) combination reports.

The RSA combination report in the search engine allows marketers to view the combinations of headlines and descriptions created by the machine learning algorithm.

Previously, the combination report provided visibility to the combinations of ads only. With this upgrade, Google Ads will be adding a more accurate version of ads shown to the users by adding the extension assets Sitelinks, Call Outs and Image assets triggered alongside the ads.

What are the changes?

Improved performance reporting

Extension report has been available individually since the launch of ad extensions. The ability to review their performance alongside a given ad combination is something marketers had to do without until now.

This is a positive evolution for marketers as it will allow for more scrutiny as to how the extensions complement the ads on the search network and how they impact customer behaviour.

Deprecation of historical data

This news came with the announcement that starting the 15th of January 2023, the RSA combinations report will only retain the ad combinations for the current month and the preceding 11 months. This implies older combinations will no longer be available in the Search Engine.

Louder encourages advertisers to review their RSA combination reports before the 15th of January 2023 and download copies of the combinations from Google Ads or via the use of the API.

Impact of the changes

• The updates in the combination report restricted the advertiser’s access to historical RSA data.
• At this moment, Ads Data Hub (ADH) only supports Display and Video ads while any type of Google Search Ads is not supported.
• With RSA or Search Ads not being supported, this means no historical data of the RSA combinations will be retained or retrieved in ADH.
• To alleviate the data loss, advertisers will also have to think about a solid process to store the historical data in order to analyse the performances of different RSA combinations.
• The combination report only provided impression data, which is not necessarily aligned with the objectives of most campaigns. Advertisers could use the combination report alongside the ad report to find ways to align new combinations with extensions to campaign results.

Keep across the changes by following the Ads Data Hub feature release notes and roadmap

For more information on the changes, get in contact with Louder.