Welcome to part one of our two-part series on AdWords tips from our very own pay-per-click (PPC) experts.
In this week’s post, we have our Director of Digital Marketing, Molly Nash, and Senior Account Manager, Alexa Rozzi, sharing tips on writing and tailoring ad copy in AdWords.
[UPDATE: You can read part two of this series by clicking here.]
In AdWords, you only have so much room to work with when writing your ads. That’s why it’s important to know how to write clear and concise ads that still appeal to potential customers. Here’s how:
Tips for Creating Effective Ad Copy
By Molly Nash
1. Make sure ads relate to the keywords in your ad group.
Consumers are more likely to engage with ads that appear to be most relevant to what they are searching for.
2. Keep ad copy simple with a clear call to action.
What sets you apart from your competition? Do you offer free shipping or 24-hour service? Including these items in your ads may give you the advantage over your competitors and make your business more appealing to the consumer.
3. Split test your ads.
Not sure which message would connect best with your audience? Have multiple landing pages? Try testing two ads at a time to see which generates more clicks and conversions. Give the ads time to produce significant data, or set your campaigns to optimize automatically. Having strong ad copy will also help to improve your campaign’s quality score!
4. Don’t forget Ad Extensions!
Sitelinks, Location, Call Out, and Call Extensions, when added, tend to boost click-through-rates (CTRs). They also provide additional messages and information that may help your ad stand out.
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Now that you have awesome ad copy to work with, remember to tailor the copy to different audiences.
According to Google, more searches now take place on mobile devices, as compared to desktop computers. So it’s important to test and tailor your ads for those browsing on a phone or tablet. Here’s some tips on how to target and test mobile ads:
Testing Ad Copy on Mobile Devices
By Alexa Rozzi
In May, Google officially reported that more searches now take place on mobile devices compared to desktop computers. To maximize return on ad spend, it’s important to consider the mobile platform when optimizing campaigns.
Figure 1: How to segment your campaigns by device to improve mobile search ad conversion. (Click to expand).
One trick I like to implement with my accounts is to create separate ads for users searching on mobile devices.
These ads are geared toward the mobile user: the morning commuter browsing the web on their phone, the intern running errands for their boss who needs to find a product or service as fast as possible, the mom running errands and trying to find the nearest sporting store with the most competitive prices.
Using shorter ad text, emphasizing promotions and sales, and adjusting bids on mobile devices are three easy ways to drive conversions from users searching on their smart phones.
- Short text makes ads easy to read for the user on the go.
- Promos and special announcements grab the user’s attention.
- Mobile bid adjustments help boost ads to top positions, so your ad is the first one the user sees when performing a search on their phone.
AdWords provides reports right within the interface to show stats on your mobile traffic. (See Figure 1, above). These insights help identify opportunities to optimize your campaigns for mobile devices.
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So there you have it, how will you implement these new tips in your AdWords campaigns? Do you have any other tips you would add for these topics? Leave us a comment below or share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Facebook.
Remember to stay tuned for the second part of this series, which will be published next week. In the meantime, check out this article on mobile search for further reading.
[UPDATE: You can read part two of this series by clicking here.]