It doesn’t matter if you’re using
Google AdWords, Bing Ads, or Yahoo Gemini, the process of creating an effective pay-per-click text ad is the same.
Key Elements of a PPC Text Ad
The typical Pay-Per-Click (PPC) text ad contains the following key elements:Final Url
The destination that a person reaches after clicking on the ad.
Headline 1
A maximum of 30 characters is allowed.
Headline 2
A maximum of 30 characters is allowed.
Path
The URL that will be displayed.
Description
The main body of a text ad. A maximum of 80 characters is allowed.
Ad Extensions
Additional information that accents the ad and can take up more room on the search results page.
You can see each element below as they appear in the entry point in the back end of AdWords and how they will appear in the search results.
Anatomy of a Text Ad – Back End
Anatomy of a Text Ad – Front End
Although there are many ways that you can improve the performance of your PPC ad, in this post, we will focus on the best way to generate more clicks by creating better headlines.
Creating Effective Headlines
In
PPC text ads, we are given a limited amount of characters. The ad consists of two headlines. For each headline, you are allowed a maximum of 30 characters. With such limitations, it can be said that a PPC text ad is very similar to a tweet on Twitter. You must make the most of what you have in order to grab the attention of the user. Here are a few helpful tips to help you stand out.
Use Keywords in the Headlines
Using keywords in the headline helps you ensure a better ad position, a higher quality score, and that the ad is more relevant to the user.
Ask a Question in the Headline
Asking a question in your headline helps increase conversions by leveraging the searcher’s intent. This helps with connecting the ad to the user.
Mixed Case Outperforms Lower Case
vs
Keep in mind that excessive capitalization, such as FREE SHIPPING, and inter-capitalization, such as No MoNeY DoWn, would cause your ad to be disapproved.
URL in headline
You can target one set of keywords in Headline 1 and other keywords by adding the URL in Headline 2.
Company Name in the Headline
Using your company name in the headline is great for brand awareness. Refrain from using competitor’s names in the headline as it could be considered copyright infringement.
ASCII characters, E.g., %,@,™,©
Using ASCII characters in your headlines makes your ads stand out visually and adds a sense of credibility.
Use of Location in the Headline
Utilizing a location + keyword structure can increase your click through rate by creating a hyper-targeted and relevant ad.
Display an Offer in the Headline
This strategy works because it stands out to the user. It’s clear and direct without any confusion.
In Conclusion
These are just a few ways you that could make your pay-per-click ads more compelling and creative.
One of the most important tips I could give you is to A/B test your headlines. It’s important to test your pay-per-click ads regularly to analyze which headlines perfom better and to ensure that you are getting the most clicks and conversions and find out what headline strategy you need to create that winning ad.
Tags: Paid Search Marketing
