(Note - I originally started this on one of my blogs last week. However, since I rarely update the blog and nobody reads it, I wanted to try posting it here in order to start a discussion on this topic. I have expanded upon the original post below.)

I was doing some keyword/competitive research for one of my client's Google AdWords Pay-Per-Click account last week and I noticed some competitors' ads were exceeding the 25-character limit for the ad titles. It appears only to happen on [exact match] keywords for ads that use Dynamic Keyword Insertion, but this is the first time I have noticed this. I am bidding on the same exact match keywords, yet my default title is served because it exceeds the 25-character limit.

The official Google AdWords Help site (http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6095) specifically states that a maximum of 25 characters are allowed for Ad Titles:

Ads can contain, including spaces, 25 characters for the title, 70 characters for the ad text, and 35 characters for a display URL.

Another page on the official Google AdWords Help site about using dynamic keyword insertion (http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74996) specifically states that if the keyword searched would cause a title longer than 25 characters, the default text would be used:

"In the following example of an incorrect use of the default text, the keyword motorola silver razor could cause a title longer than 25 characters, so the default text is used instead."

Clearly, Google isn't practicing what they are preaching by allowing ads to be displayed with titles longer than 25 characters.

Here’s an example of a query I tried - “oklahoma medical malpractice” (Note - this is just an example, I’m not bidding on this keyword!)

You can see that an ad is shown with a 28-character title, obviously exceeding the 25-character limit.

Why Does This Matter?

In this situation, if I was bidding on this exact keyword and I was using Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) for my Ad Titles, I would want my ad to display the exact keyword for maximum relevancy. Otherwise, my keywords' Quality Score could potentially be downgraded and the Click-Through-Rate of my ad could suffer since a competitor is able to serve an ad with the exact keyword in its title.

I tried searching to see if anyone else has noticed the same thing and I did come across one other blog post at http://www.blogation.net/2009/02/26-character-headlines-is-adwords.html, but he notices an ad with a 26-character title.

Has anyone else noticed this before? Why is it happening? How can I get my ads to break the 25-character limit?