Search Marketing Ad Copy
Choosing what to include in ad copy is often one of the most complex part of the paid search marketing strategy. Ad copy is what searchers see before they are directed to your landing page. It is important to put your best foot forward to attract visitors and to turn those visitors into customers. I’ve come up with a few examples to help build ad copy that works.
To Brand or Not to Brand? Brand awareness is important. Announcing the brand without giving up precious advertising real estate is important. This American Eagle sponsored link contains four versions of their name. Fortunately, their brand is recognized by a two simple characters, AE.
Vick’s cough and cold medicine includes their brand name front and center AND includes a registered trademark symbol. Some companies often include (Original) or (Official) after their brand name to prompt the authenticity of the advertisement.
Local Ads - Google does a great job assisting local businesses by adding an extra line under local ads highlighting the geo-targeted location. Even with that lower indication, I encourage advertisers to promote the fact their business is local by adding the City, State or Region in the top header. Going a step further I would even promote any differential messaging such as “Toledo’s Family Dentist”, “Pediatric Dentist Toledo.”
Promotional Message or Search Term in the Header - If you are like most online shoppers you skim when you read. I am no different, most of the time I’m looking to get what I want and get going. Zappos.com has a great offer, Free Overnight Shipping! Yet, they choose to advertise that second. Moving this promotional message up to the headline may increase offer awareness and improve clicks. If the intention of the message isn’t all about a promotion but rather a product or service this example of Zappos.com works perfectly. I would suggest adding more terms to the header; you can say a lot with 25 characters.
Examples of alternative to this advertisement:
Promotional Message Second:
Clothing, Shoes, Handbags
Free Overnight Shipping On
All Apparel at Zappos. Shop Now!
www.Zappos.com
Promotional Message First:
Free Overnight Shipping
On all Apparel at Zappos. Shop Now!
Clothing, Shoes and Accessories.
www.Zappos.com
Automatic Keyword Insertion: Automatic Keyword Insertion is a great tool to make your ads more relevant to the search query. Automatic Keyword Insertion inserts the keywords from the query into the ad where you specify. A visitor looking for ‘Pink Socks’ will see ‘Pink Socks’ in the ad copy. A warning for those looking to improve ad copy by using the Keyword Insertion function: Keyword Insertion should be used with care, variations should be considered. Take Amazon’s Google ad for example. Low Prices on “Free Shipping”… WOW what an offer. Another item to be concerned with is the repetitiveness of a word or words. Notice how the “Free Shipping” message is duplicated three times within this message. Personally, this method takes up too much real estate. On the flip side this methods gets the point across loud and clear.
What will work best for your brand, products and/or services? Test a few versions of your ad copy to see which performs best. After you’ve tested and found the winner, keep on testing. Just like in an eye exam, which is better A or B? B or C? You’re results are more likely to get better the most you test.
One Response to “Search Marketing Ad Copy”
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