Launching a successful search network campaign on Google Ads relies on several variables and ongoing optimization, but the most important factor is arguably the ads themselves. After all, this is the messaging that users will see in the search results, which will determine whether they come to your website to become a lead or sale. To create effective search ads, you must test compelling ad copy while keeping Quality Score in mind.
Themed Ad Groups
Start your ad copy strategy by first ensuring that your keywords are separated into themed ad groups. This is an important step to improve your Quality Score, which will help your ads show more often, in a higher position, at a lower cost. By grouping common keywords together, you can create ad copy for those keywords that address search more specifically.
Include Keywords in Ad Copy
Now that common keywords are grouped together, focus on using the targeted keywords in your ad copy. Google Ad’s Quality Score depends on ad relevance, landing page relevance, and historical metrics. This means that it is important to include the targeted keywords in your ad copy to make the ad relevant to the user’s search intent. For landing page relevance, work the targeted keywords into your landing page copy as well. An effective search ad has the targeted keywords in the ad copy, as well as in the landing page. This should help your ad’s Quality Score and will ultimately improve performance. Google wants to serve the best fit ads that match users’ search intent, so following these best practices is vital.
Write Ads For Your Audience, Not For Robots
While it is important to include keywords in the ad copy and landing page, keep in mind that you are writing these ads for humans, not simply to pass Google’s algorithm with a good Quality Score. Do not stuff keywords into ad copy or landing page copy unnaturally. Make an effort to include the targeted keywords in at least 1 headline and 1 description line, but don’t sacrifice readability. Ad copy and landing page copy should still prioritize compelling messaging that makes sense to the user over keyword inclusion.
Test Ad Variations
Try to create at least 3 ad variations to test per ad group and let them gather a significant sample size of data before analyzing their performance metrics. When creating ad variations, it is acceptable to create multiple ads that are entirely different, but it may be helpful to test keeping some constants with your variables. If all parts of your ads are different, you may not be able to tell which aspect of the ad led to better performance. However, for example, if you tested 3 ads with all of the same description lines and different headlines, you will know that the difference in performance is related to the headline copy. Analyze the click-through-rate and conversion rate metrics on your ads over time and choose the better performing ads to run more often.
Try Responsive Search Ads
Responsive search ads allow you to test multiple headlines and description lines at the same time. Google will automatically test different variations and use machine learning to determine which combinations are most effective. This can save time and simplify the process of creating ad variations, while also improving performance. You are able to enter a maximum of 15 headlines and 4 description lines, as well as pinning headlines and descriptions to specific positions. Pinning is a helpful feature as you can ensure your call-to-action, brand name, or other message point is always pinned to show in the ad variations, while the other headlines or descriptions rotate. Try mixing in one responsive search ad alongside regular expanded text ads to see how they affect performance.
Use Creative Strategy!
Use creativity and think strategically to test ad messaging that is likely to resonate with your audience. Is there a main benefit to your product or service that you can call out in a captivating way? Does it make sense to draw attention to a problem that your product or service solves in the top headline? There are many ways to grab the attention of your target audience, so form a creative strategy to test in your Google search ads messaging.
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