Write and save a responsive Search ad in Google Ads

Write a truthful Search ad that matches what people want, check its combinations, and save it for review before launch.

• Outcome: Paid acquisition
• Tools: Google Ads
• Responsible: The person writing a new Search ad for a business or client.
• Estimated time: 45 minutes

Scope

This SOP covers:

• One new responsive Search ad in an existing ad group
• Choosing a destination and writing truthful headlines and descriptions
• Checking combinations, required wording, previews and saved details

This does not cover:

• Creating campaigns or changing keywords, bids, budgets or audiences
• Editing existing ads, launching ads or measuring performance
• Text customization, dynamic keyword insertion and other automated text features

Requirements

• Access to create ads in the intended Google Ads account.
• An existing Search campaign that is paused, with the intended ad group and its keywords already set up.
• A campaign with AI Max, Text customization and Final URL expansion turned off by the campaign owner.
• The business owner’s confirmed product or service facts, intended customer action, brand wording and any compulsory disclaimer.
• A working website page for the offer, with an action visitors can take after reading it.

Related SOPs

• SOP 018: Audit a Google Ads Search account and create a prioritized action plan
• SOP 016: Grant an agency user access to a Google Ads account
• SOP 029: Prepare an existing Google Ads client for a campaign handoff
• SOP 129: Review Search terms and add negative keywords in Google Ads
• SOP 131: Create a monthly Google Ads Search client report

01. Choose the message and destination

1. Open Google Ads, choose the intended account, and open Campaigns > Ad groups. Select your ad group.

   1. Check the account name and customer ID (the number identifying the account) at the top, then the campaign and ad-group names. Create a note called Ad plan in your usual document or notes app. Add Account/customer ID, Campaign and Ad group, and enter these names.

   2. Open the campaign’s Campaigns view and read its status. Confirm Paused before creating the ad. A saved ad in an enabled campaign may start serving after Google approves it.

      • Warning: If the campaign is enabled, stop and ask the account owner to provide a paused campaign for this task.

   3. Open Audiences, keywords and content > Keywords for the ad group. Read its keywords: these are the phrases Google uses to match the group to searches. In Ad plan, add Customer need and describe the shared need in one sentence.

      • Warning: If the keywords describe different products or needs, ask the campaign owner which existing group fits the offer before continuing.

2. Check the campaign is set up for the exact page and text you will write. Open Campaigns > Settings, choose your campaign, and open AI Max.

   1. Read the Optimize your campaign with AI Max setting and confirm it is off. AI Max can change how the campaign matches searches and chooses pages. With it off, its ad-group URL rules do not apply.

   2. Read Asset optimization and confirm Text customization and Final URL expansion are off. Text customization can create extra ad wording; Final URL expansion can send a click to another page and override pinned wording. In Ad plan, add Copy/page settings and record the three settings as off.

      • Warning: If a setting is on or you cannot check it, ask the campaign owner to provide a paused campaign with all three settings confirmed off before continuing.

3. Open the offer’s website page and choose the exact page that answers Customer need.

   1. Check that the page clearly shows the product or service and the intended next action. A search for bike puncture repair needs a repair page with a booking or contact option; a page selling new bicycles does not answer the same need. In Ad plan, add Final URL and Visitor action. Enter the page’s full URL and what the visitor should do. Use the same website domain as any existing ads in this ad group.

   2. In Ad plan, add Supported claims. Write the useful facts you can prove from the page or the owner’s confirmation, with their source beside each. For example: Puncture repairs; source: repair page. Remove uncertain claims from the ad plan; ask the owner to confirm them before using them.

   3. In Ad plan, add Required wording. Copy any exact wording the owner says must always appear, and state that requirement. If none is required, write None. Ask the owner when this is unknown; continue drafting but wait to save until it is confirmed.

02. Write text that works in different combinations

1. In Ad plan, add Headlines. Write 8–10 distinct options where the confirmed facts support them; each can contain up to 30 characters, including spaces.

   1. Write two options that clearly name the customer’s need, then add different useful facts, the business name and an action. Each headline must make sense on its own. For a fictional bike repair shop, assuming these facts are confirmed: Bike Puncture Repair, Bicycle Tyre Repairs, Oak Street Cycle Workshop, Local Bike Repair Workshop, Repair Your Bike Tyre, Find Us on Oak Street, Book a Repair Visit, Ask About Repair Options.

   2. Compare your options before keeping them. Bike Tyre Repairs / Puncture Repairs / Bicycle Repair Service mostly repeat one idea. Replace a repeated idea with a different supported fact. Guaranteed 10-Minute Repair adds a promise: remove it unless the owner confirms it is true for every customer who sees the ad. Keep fewer useful headlines rather than inventing facts to reach a count.

2. In Ad plan, add Descriptions. Write 2–4 descriptions, each up to 90 characters including spaces, that explain the offer and next action.

   1. Give each description a complete message. For the fictional shop: Need a puncture repair? Ask Oak Street Cycle Workshop about repair options. and Visit our bike repair page to find our workshop and request a repair visit. Use your own confirmed details; these are examples, not facts about your business.

   2. Read each headline with each description. Then read groups of three headlines in different orders. Remove phrases that depend on another line: Only This Week plus Free Delivery could imply the wrong deadline if shown separately. Put any necessary condition beside the claim itself, or remove the claim when it cannot fit truthfully. In Ad plan, correct the affected text.

3. Choose how to handle Required wording in Ad plan. Google can rearrange the text pieces, called assets. Pinning fixes one piece to a chosen position.

   1. If exact text must appear every time, include it in one complete description and mark that line Pin to Description position 1 in Ad plan. Fictional example: an owner requires Repairs by appointment only. Put that wording in the first description. Do not put it only in a later description that may be omitted.

   2. If Required wording is None, write No pins in Ad plan. Pinning limits the combinations Google can choose, so use it for a genuine fixed-wording requirement rather than to force a favourite preview.

03. Create, preview and save the ad

1. Return to the selected ad group. Open Campaigns > Ads, select the + button and choose Responsive search ad. Select the intended campaign and ad group if Google asks.

2. Enter the text from Ad plan into the corresponding fields.

   1. Paste Final URL. The optional Display path is the short text shown after the website address; it does not change where the click goes. If you use it, enter a simple description such as bike-repair, up to 15 characters per path field. Add Display path to Ad plan and record your text, or Blank.

   2. If the editor contains suggested headlines or descriptions, use Clear prefills if offered, or clear that suggested text. Enter only the planned headlines and descriptions, each in its own field. Use the field’s counter to shorten overlong text without removing an important condition. Google requires at least three headlines and two descriptions to save. Update Ad plan with any changes.

   3. For the description marked Pin to Description position 1, select its pin icon and choose Show only in position 1 in the description’s menu. Pin no alternative description to that position unless it contains the same compulsory wording. If the plan says No pins, check the entered text is unpinned.

      • Warning: If Google warns that the pin applies only to the original URL, stop before saving and ask the owner to check the campaign’s copy/page settings.

3. Review the preview and Google’s feedback before saving.

   1. Use the available preview controls to inspect different combinations and device layouts. Check that the offer, business name, required wording and visitor action are understandable. The preview shows examples, not every possible display. Recheck the text-pairing exercise from step 2.2 for combinations the preview omits.

   2. Fix required-field errors. Read Ad strength, Google’s feedback on the variety and relevance of your text. Improve repeated or vague copy using confirmed facts. The rating is not a sales forecast; keep compulsory wording and truthful claims even if the rating stays lower. Update Ad plan with any correction.

4. Select Save and find the new ad in Ads for the intended ad group.

5. Reopen the saved ad using its edit control and compare its fields with Ad plan.

   1. Read the saved Final URL, display paths, all headlines, all descriptions and pin positions. Confirm each matches Ad plan. Open the saved Final URL in another tab and confirm it still shows the offer and visitor action. If anything differs, correct that new ad, save and repeat this check.

   2. Return to Campaigns and confirm the campaign still says Paused. Reopen the campaign’s AI Max settings and confirm AI Max, Text customization and Final URL expansion are still off. In Ad plan, add Review handoff with the saved ad’s headline, campaign, ad group and visible status. Give this note to the person who reviews the ad before launch, or keep it as your own review record. Saving is complete; launch is a separate decision.