Six@Six: Tips for Successful Search Ad Writing

May 15, 2012

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is all about catching Web users’ attention with a message that is highly relevant to what they are searching for. Of course, you only have 130 visible characters with which to work (that’s less than a Tweet), so it’s not always easy to fit everything you want to say about your business in such a small space. That means you have to make every word count in order to ensure you are driving the right audience to your website and attracting those that are most likely to convert.

As such, ad copy should be written after you have already built a keyword list and organized the terms into very succinct, categorized ad groups. The more succinct the ad groups are, the easier it will be for you to draft clear and concise messages. To assist in your search ad writing efforts, this week’s Six@Six outlines several tactics that can be used to make ads informative and attention grabbing, while also maintaining a high quality score and search rank. Do you have additional tips? Share them with me @katiebertram.

1. Highlight what makes your business, product, or offer unique.

Be very transparent about what makes your business stand out from the competition. Do a Google search for similar services or products to find what other companies are stating in their ads and what they are missing. Web users typically just scan over the search results, so you want your ad to stand out and make it easy for people to instantly understand the benefits. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage your target audience to click the ad while simultaneously filtering out those who aren’t serious. Because you pay for every click, you only want clicks coming from those who are actually interested in your selling proposition.

2. Incorporate relevant keywords.

Incorporating keywords from your ad group into the headline and description of your ad copy helps to increase relevancy. Terms that users are searching for will catch their attention and show that your ad is related to what they want. Track the top performing keywords that drive the most traffic to your website and include them in the copy. Another effective strategy is to use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) when writing ads. This allows you to write your ad so that a user’s actual search query keyword will be inserted into the ad text, making it appear even more relevant to the searcher.

3. Include prices and promotions.

If you have something special to offer, make sure your customers are aware of it by including specifics whenever you are able. If you are offering a discount, include the specific price. If you have a limited-time offer, include dates to establish urgency. If you have new information available on your website, let Web users know they can be the first to access this information. Give them what they need to help make it an easy decision to click on the ad. Including promotional details gives online users a great reason to visit your site and helps them better understand what you are offering.

4. Match your ad to the landing page.

Pull key messages and terms directly from the ad’s destination URL into the ad text so people know what to expect when they arrive on your website. This will also help to ensure a high quality score, which ultimately allows you to achieve a higher position on the results page and lower overall cost-per-click. You want to ensure that people are getting what the ad promised. If visitors don’t find what they to expect to see when they reach your site, they will just bounce off, which will not only deter visitors from returning but will also affect the ad’s quality score and could prevent it from being triggered.

5. Tell your customers what they can do.

A strong call-to-action will make it easy for Web users to understand exactly what they should do. Using strong verbs such as “call”, “buy”, “order,” or “browse” increase the likelihood of people clicking on your ad. Make sure to repeat the call-to-action on the landing page as well. By clearing stating the desired action and making the process to convert on the landing page easy, visitors will be less likely to drop off the site and click on a competitor’s link.

6. Feel free to experiment.

Because it can be difficult to determine which messaging will be most effective, it is best to create three to four ads per ad group and test them. Schedule ads to rotate evenly when first establishing the campaign and track performance. This will enable you to understand what type of messaging is the most effective in attracting your intended audience. Once the ads have been running for a while, you can let Google do the work and change the scheduling setting to optimize for clicks, so that it shows the ads that will drive the most traffic. Keep in mind that testing ad copy is an ongoing process. Try to keep at least two ads running per ad group at all times, and continue tracking which message performs best.