When you pay for an ad you want a healthy return on investment. But are you getting the most you can out of your ad? Here are some suggestions for creating ad text that will be a hit with both customers and Google bots.
Follow Google’s Guidelines for Punctuation
If you want your ad text to impress customers, you must first impress Google. Following a few simple rules will keep your ad out of Google jail. Don’t use repeated punctuation marks in a headline like “Act Now!!!!” or “Who Else Has Our Prices???”; these repeated punctuation marks are a sure to garner a red flag. Keeping punctuation marks in mind, do not use exclamation points in your headline, only use them in the description. Asterisks, pound signs (hashtags), and other symbols that are not standard should not be included. Misleading symbols and numbers should be avoided as they are not allowed. It goes without saying that you should capitalize the first letter of each word in your headline so it stands out, this will grab a customer’s attention, but it does not extend to writing it in all caps.
Create Engaging, Coherent Headlines Using High Volume Keywords
Making sure that you are using high volume keywords doesn’t mean that they are being used correctly. Writing a headline that uses keywords to attract your target demographic is not the only consideration, it also must fit their reading style. A headline such as “Cheap Mattresses: Latex, springs, twin, full, Queen, King”, gets all the relevant keywords in, but it does not create a very appealing sentence if you are trying to reach a higher end clientele. Conversely “Affordable Mattresses: Luxury and Comfort” is much more effective in reaching an affluent customer base.
Another way of reaching your demographic is to separate keywords into individual ad groups for mattresses, king size, queen size, twin size, latex mattresses and spring mattresses. Not only will this increase your impression share, it will drive up your quality score. Remember, you are limited by the number of characters you can use in a headline (30) so you want to use them all. Lengthening your sections increases your SERP standing while lowering your competition’s SERP at the same time. This also gives you a chance to tell your customers as much as you can in the thirty characters allotted. Some other rules for expanded text ads are: headline two is limited to 30 characters, path one and two are limited to 15 characters each, the description is limited to 80 characters total.
When you use the 80 characters to write your description, make sure to include high volume keywords. You can use the space to list sales or specials; conversely you could use it as an extension of your branding to relate an idea to the customer. Keeping with the thoughts on restricted character counts, site-link extensions, callout extensions, and structured snippets should be give the same consideration.
Top Keywords for Paths
Keywords need to be used often; this includes paths, although some forethought should be applied. If your ad regards latex mattresses you should use a sub category that has another keyword to attract the desired demographic. Here is how it would work: Latex Mattresses/Pillowtop. It is a similar concept to subdomaining a website.
The Importance of Ad Extensions
If you want your ad campaign to be successful than ad extensions are crucial. Having numerous quality extensions will improve your ad’s standing with Google. It also gives customer essential information about your products or services.
Get Your Customer’s Attention Fast and Finish with a Strong CTA
In the digital age everyone’s attention span has been greatly shortened, and you only have a moment to get a customer’s attention. Make sure headline one is arresting and interesting enough that the customer reads the ad and clicks through. Obviously, this means having a strong call to action at the end of the ad, after all it is ultimately about the customer purchasing your goods or services.
Trial and Error
It may take several re-writes of your ad before you get the results you want. The best way to determine how to re-write the ad is to initially have a group of up to five ads. Watch which nomenclature works best and extend it to future ads. This does not mean an ad should languish there, keywords and structure should be adjusted at least once a quarter.
If you follow these guidelines you should see an uptick in the performance of your ads. Always stay ahead of the competition by adjusting your ad based on Google’s Search Term Report. The time and effort you put into your ads will pay dividends. Let MosierData help you get the results you want with your Ads.