Effective copywriting in Google Ads

Text ads in Google Ads

Text ads are a form of marketing communication used by advertisers who wish to promote their products and services in Google.

Such ads can be displayed not only in the search results but also in the whole Google network which comprises search partners and search or advertising networks. In each case, you’ve only a limited number of characters at your disposal. Recently, Google introduced changes to expanded text ads in the search network and consequently advertisers have more space to communicate with their potential clients. Additionally, you can also use a third headline and a second description, moreover each ad can be up to 90 characters long.

The tables below compare the number of characters available in standard text ads in the search engine and in the DSA and GDN ads.

Text ads

GDN Ads

Many experts consider headlines to be the most relevant elements of Google Ads. Why? Well, most people don’t even read the text below the headline and decide whether to click the advertisement only on the basis of its heading. Therefore, already at this stage it’s very important to:

• draw the attention of potential customers,
• show off USP – a unique sales feature that distinguishes your product or service from others,
• apply keywords,
• sell value.

The principles described above apply also to the texts of advertisements with more characters which give you much more possibilities. The displayed URL should convince users that after clicking on the link they’ll be redirected to the exact website they’re looking for. In the subsequent parts of our article we’ll discuss how to maximally benefit from the available advertising space and what to focus on when creating specific elements of text ads.

Personalizing texts of your ads

Write for users, not for yourself. It’s a rule that needs to be followed if you want to be successful in reaching your potential customers.

However, before you start creating advertisements, you should answer a few very important questions concerning your recipients:

• Who are your potential customers?
• What language do they use to communicate?
• What are they looking for online?
• Is it a good idea to use specialized language?
• What are their interests and needs?

You can retrieve this kind of information from your everyday communication with customers or from analytical tools such as Google Analytics. Thanks to this knowledge, you’ll be able to tailor the message and line of argument to specific recipients, interact with them or profile your offer as a dedicated product or an individual service. Consequently, potential customers will definitely comprehend your ads and perceive the offer as more valuable.

Unique Selling Points and selling value

Advertising texts should outline benefits of purchasing a product or service, affect the decision making process and encourage users to take action that is desired by your business. First and foremost, the content of your advertisements ought to answer the most basic question “why should I buy this product?”. Here, it’s very important to expose your Unique Selling Points, meaning all the features that make your products or services stand out from the competition on the market. These can be elements such as:

• unique services or products,
• free shipping,
• same day delivery,
• wide product range,
• price,
• free gifts,
• extraordinary functionality or efficiency,
• unique packaging,
• the selected good or service available only for exclusive use,
• recommendations

There are numerous methods to maintain your competitive edge and outline the uniqueness of your offer, that’s why it’s essential not only to take into consideration elements which affect the decision making process but also to focus on the most prominent assets of your offer.

AIDA – what is it and how to apply it in e-marketing?

AIDA is an initialism of four words that reflect four possible purchasing stages that your customers can currently be at. You’ll need different communication methods depending on the sales funnel stage your customers are at.

A – Attention – it’s about building brand, product or service recognition. The advertisement is supposed to engage customers. Here, you should use inspiring quotes and catchy slogans.

I – Interest – it’s about focusing on the customers’ interest in given products. The recipient is already familiar with the brand and its offer but hasn’t specified the exact models or services they’re looking for. At this stage, the advertisement is supposed to appeal to the customer through a wide range of products or unique features and help in choosing the right model.

D – Desire – at this stage you should do your best to convince users that they have to purchase a given product or service. The advertisement serves as a measure which aims at persuading customers that they really need your goods. Now you should present either reasonable or emotional factors that will make customers want to possess your products or services.

A – Action – this is the final step consisting in purchasing the product, making an inquiry or filling in the form. At this stage, your customers know their expectations and needs, therefore, they enter a specific model or service name in the search engine. They expect advertisements to meet their requirements and the websites to offer the specific goods they’re looking for.

Effective CTA in Google Ads

CTA – Call to Action – is supposed to encourage users to click on the advertisement and perform a specific action on your website. If you want your CTA to convert, or to put it simply to be clicked on, you need to make sure that it attracts visitors’ attention. As if often happens that looking at the advertisement and making a decision to click on it takes several seconds, it’s a good idea to place your CTA already in the headline. CTA buttons like “learn more”, “check out”, “read”, “make an appointment” or “sign up for” suggest users what they should do after seeing the ad and encourage them to take specific steps after being redirected to the website. The AIDA principle can be really helpful in selecting appropriate CTAs. A customer who is at the first stage of the sales funnel will need slogans such as “check out”, “earn more”, “find your dream home” or “find perfect gifts” to make sure that your offer is indeed so unique. On the other hand, if you’re dealing with persons who are familiar with your brand or offer, you can use CTAs like “buy now”, “order online” or “call today”.

Effective methods of attracting customers’ attention

In today’s world most companies and portals are doing their best to attract customers’ attention. It’s not easy to push yourself forward through so much information and ads of your competition, even once your advertisement has been displayed. Above we’ve discussed a few methods such as CTA, selling value and content tailored to the recipients that might be really helpful. However, this isn’t the end. What more can you do to ensure that your advertisements achieve satisfactory results? Below you can find a few valuable tips that are worth considering:

• Appeal to emotions – people are emotional, therefore, an emotional message is more versatile and effective than the one referring to reason. Apart from being more efficient, it’s also understood by a larger part of users.
• Experiment – even if you run a very small campaign, it’s worth applying different variants of text ads by, for example, using various CTAs, headlines and URLs.
• Use captivating phrases – Inform about free gifts, special offers for selected customers, free delivery or longer guarantee.
• Use keywords – Thanks to keywords, customers know that the advertised offer will provide them with everything they’re looking for. Consequently, they click on the ad much more willingly.
• Ask intriguing questions – a properly asked question allows you to personalize the text and interact with the customer. Make sure that your CTA indicates that clicking on the advertisement will provide the recipient with the answer to the asked question. For example: Do you want to be in TOP 10 in Google? Contact us.
• Be brief and specific – while creating your advertisements, you should be specific and focus only on relevant reasoning. Provide information about the most important assets of your products such as being approved, offering special guarantee or 24-hour delivery. Get rid of unnecessary words that don’t contribute to the content.
• Make sure everything is up to date – emphasize the topicality of your offer and take advantage of seasonal trends, holidays and events that can promote your offer.

Google Ads extensions

Extensions allow you to include in your ads some extra information and assets that can encourage users to choose your company. Moreover, an advertisement with extension takes up more space in the search engine which translates into your marketing activities being more visible in Google. Extensions usually increase CTR by several percentage points. Extension formats include call extensions, location information, links to specific subpages of the site, price or special offer extensions and many more.

To find out more about extensions go to: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375499?hl=en

The ad content vs. quality score

The quality score comprises the quality of advertisements, keywords and landing pages. More valuable ads can ensure lower CPC and bids, and more importantly, higher position of your advertisement, that’s why it’s worth working on improving your quality score by, for example, making your ad content more substantial. The accuracy of the advertisement determines the extent to which its content corresponds to the keyword used. The more your ads and landing page correspond to the users’ search queries, the better your quality score.

To make your advertisement more accurate, you can:

• tailor the ad text to the users’ search queries,
• place keywords in smaller groups of advertisements with more precisely targeted ads,
• identify groups of ads with strongly different keywords that can’t be displayed on a single ad, and place keywords with a “below average” rating in the new group of ads that better meet users’ requirements,
• tailor the content of the advertisement to the intentions visible in the search query,
• apply negative keywords to make sure that ads aren’t displayed on inaccurate search queries.

Copywriting rules in Google

You should always take into consideration Google’s editorial requirements when creating your advertisements. If you fail to comply with these principles, your ads probably won’t be accepted.

In Google Ads, it’s forbidden to:

• create ads with linguistic errors,
• create incomprehensible and meaningless advertisements,
• use symbols and punctuation marks inconsistently or incorrectly,
• use capital letters and spaces incorrectly or inappropriately,
• include the phone number in the text of the advertisement (except for call extensions),
• repeat names, words or phrases in an unusual, gimmicky or unnecessary manner,
• apply banned words and trademarks.

If you want to find out more, go to https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6021546?hl=en

The discussed Google Ads copywriting rules certainly don’t cover all the possibilities and functionalities you can take advantage of in order to create effective and valuable advertisements. However, thanks to knowing some basic mechanisms and principles which govern Google Ads advertising, you’ve a perfect starting point for further analysis and experiments. You’ll be able to create and work out the most effective advertisements for a given industry or a target group using only your own experience and collected data.