• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 14, 2020

Microsoft announced Responsive Search Ads (RSA) in open beta in September 2019. Now they are available to all in Microsoft Advertising through the web user interface, Microsoft Advertising Editor, and Microsoft Advertising API.

RSAs are designed to work with Expanded Text ads. Marketers also can import RSAs from Google Ads accounts into Microsoft Advertising.

The platform automatically serves headlines and descriptions predicted to improve click-through rates.

Along with the news, Microsoft on Monday released a list of best practices such as creating RSAs within an existing ad group, recommending between two and three Expanded Text Ads and at least one RSA. Ad groups should be limited to five or less ads to get the best performance.

Other suggests include creating between eight and 10 short and long headlines to allow for maximum use of space on any device, and having between two and three titles that are closely related to the list of keywords. Use one dynamic keyword insertion and at least one brand title.

Microsoft also released numbers estimating that on average, advertisers using RSA have seen an increase of 10% in volume, 6% in conversion rate, and a decrease of 7% in cost per acquisition.

Measurement means evaluating performance. Microsoft suggests measuring and reviewing metrics one week prior and two weeks after the addition of RSAs.

Marketers should ensure there is enough data because a small sample size is unreliable. Marketers should have at least 1,000 impressions, but ideally there should be 5,000 impressions or more.