In our last article, we covered How to Ensure Your Advert Has a High Quality Score as part of our Google AdWords ‘How To’ series. We discovered that improving ad relevance is well worth your effort. It results in overall improvement in the performance of your AdWords campaigns. In fact, if you improve your advert relevance, then your campaigns receive a higher Quality Score, which means your ads show in a higher position, which translates into a lower cost-per-click, saving you money and getting you more clicks for a smaller price.
This week, we’re going to delve into another element that can help improve the relevancy score of your Google AdWords advert: how to write a compelling, relevant AdWords Advert.
The Google AdWords Advert
Your AdWords advert is comprised of four elements:
The Heading (25 character limit)
Description Line One (35 character limit)
Description Line Two (35 character limit)
Your URL, which links through to your landing page
If you need help with character counting while writing your AdWords advert, then take a look at this handy tool. I use it all the time!
A good ad will include the relevant keyword in its heading. For example, if the main keyword you are targeting is ‘green widgets’, then a good heading might be ‘Buy Green Widgets.’ A bad heading would be ‘Murphy’s Car Yard’. This doesn’t refer to your keyword, which will affect its quality score and make it less likely to appear in the search engine rankings. There is a 25-character limit for your heading.
The description in line 1 and 2 can only contain 35 characters in each line, so you need to make sure you get your message out in a succinct fashion. Again, it is important this section is relevant to the keyword and to the landing page. This section should also include a call to action.
The URL and landing page are crucial aspects of the success of your ads. Instead of just giving your domain URL, include the particular offer you’re advertising in your URL and create a corresponding, specific landing page. For example, instead of listing ‘www.murphyscaryard.com’, create a specific landing page so that your URL is ‘www.murphyscaryard.com/greenwidgets.’ By creating a dedicated landing page you will create more relevance between the ad and the landing page (increasing your quality score) and you will also be more likely to generate a sale from the click through, as you’re taking the customer directly to the product they were searching for.
Tips for Top Notch Google AdWords Adverts
Keep in mind that you should approach Google AdWords adverts in the same way as you would any other advert. So, make sure you:
Highlight your uniqueness: what is it that sets you apart from your competitors? What is your unique selling point? Your point of difference? Do you offer free shipping? Or 24/7 customer support and service? Or a 10% discount on orders over $100? Whatever it is, make sure it’s clear in your ad copy.
Promote your promotions: if you’re running an offer that your customers simply cannot refuse, then include it in your ad copy. Discounts, giveaways, prizes, two for one offers, whatever the case might be, get it in your advert.
Tell people what you want them to do: make your call to action obvious. Let your potential customers know what they should do if they want to avail themselves of your products or services. Should they call? Email? Click now? Book online? Sign up today? Whatever it is, spell it out.
Then, there are some more Google-specific tips when it comes to writing the perfect advert:
Include your main keyword: make sure that your advert includes the main keyword that you are targeting. Ideally, include the main keyword in your headline, and then a variation thereof in one your lines of description text. That way, people know that your ad is relevant to their search.
Incorporate mobile considerations: these days, people are performing just as many (if not more) searches on their mobile phones. So make sure you take this into consideration. Offer specials particularly for mobile users. Maybe even set up and advert specific for mobile, and then create a specific landing page for mobile devices.
Match your advert copy to your landing page copy: if your advert copy is all about red widgets, then your landing page copy should not be about green widgets. Keep all your copy consistent, across every element of your campaign. This helps increase relevancy, thereby reducing your cost per click.
Check your grammar and rules of English: all your adverts must adhere to all common rules of grammar. Google will not approve your advert if there is too much capitalisation, or weird punctation.
Experiment: the beauty of Google AdWords is that it is fully customisable, and you can pause and tweak campaigns at any time you like. You can run multiple adverts (with different wording) for the same campaign, with all the same settings, and all the same keywords to determine which works best. And, the reporting features are second to none.
Google has a series of questions that you ask yourself before you start writing your ad, including:
What do you have to offer? Take this opportunity to list the specific products and services that you want to promote in your advert.
What do you want to accomplish? Work out what your main advertising objectives are, and what you’d like to people to do as a result of seeing your ad. Do you want them to sign up to a newsletter? Buy Now? Subscribe?
Who are your customers? Work out exactly who your customers are. Even break them into smaller groups if needs be. Then work out what their goals and motivators are, and appeal to them in your ad copy. If you think they’ll be motivated by discounts, include them. If they’ll be drawn to experience and customer service, then focus on that.
Sally has worked in marketing, communications, and PR for over 15 years. She is the Chief Wordsmith at Wordly: a copywriting and content marketing agency that works predominantly with WordPress powered websites.
