The Complete Guide To Writing Google Ad Copy That Sells
We’ve all seen good and bad ad copy as we peruse through the internet. We skim through search results until something finally catches your eye. You’re not sure, or are’t really concerned for that matter, what it was – but it struck a chord with you and you felt compelled to find out more.
So you click on the ad and visit the business’ website, learning more about their product or service. Maybe you’ll make a purchase, or maybe you won’t, but you’re far more likely to remember that business than something you just glanced over.
In fact, search ads have been proven to improve brand awareness by figures as high as 80%.
We don’t often think about what makes compelling headlines or Google ad copy, but so much of the digital world is driven by it. Brands all over the world run digital marketing campaigns that involve Google Ads to get more traffic to their websites, sell more products and find more clients.
As a strategy which reaps short-term results, running Google Ads is the perfect way to complement a longer-term SEO campaign – but writing them has never been easy. The following is a guide for putting together solid Google Ads that will attract clicks, find you sales and help drive growth in your business.
The headlines: your 3 tickets to digital success
Without a doubt, the primary goal of your headlines is to attract attention and drive clicks.
When writing Google Ads, you have the option to include 3 headlines. Each has a character limit of 30 for a combined 90. When users see your ad, they are either shown the first 2 headlines or all 3, depending on a variety of factors including whether they are on a mobile or desktop device.
This means that headlines 1 and 2 are by far the most important. At its core, your goal is to attract attention – typically done in headline 1 – and then encourage an action – typically done in headline 2. However, this kind of formulaic approach should not be religiously followed. Different audiences, markets and products will dictate how the best Google Ad copies are written – meaning there’s plenty of exceptions.
The descriptions: drive home the message
If your headlines excelled in doing their job, people will click directly onto your website and your descriptions won’t even matter. But in cases where your headline has simply attracted the interest of the searcher, your descriptions can prove pivotal in whether or not they click into your website.
Think of them as your opportunity to drive home the message you want to convey. With a character limit of 90 per description (180 in total), you’re able to say a little more about what you’re selling.
If your headlines are advertising an exhibition that has limited ticket availability, give them more information in the description and sell the exhibition better. Talk about dates, what’s being exhibited, who will be there along with anything else that’s unique and relevant.
Additional elements: glimpses into your website
When running Google Ads, you also have the opportunity to include additional elements like callout extensions and structured snippets. These provide you with the opportunity to add direct links to service or product pages within your website as well as list out what your business offers.
As with headlines and descriptions, write in the title case and focus on what makes your business unique whilst staying within the character limits.
10 Tips for writing clickable Google Ad copy:
1) Use keywords
Your ad shows up on search results when a user types in one of the keywords that you’re targeting. You can read our previous blog for more information on how you get your ad to show up above others.
It’s important to include keywords so that when people see your ad, they can instantaneously see its relevance. Since your ad will likely be targeting more than a single keyword, it’s vital to understand that you don’t need to stuff them in. Include them naturally in a place where they read nicely.
For some ads, this could be the headline 1, while in others it could be the headline 2 or even descriptions.
2) Use CTAs
If you’ve got any experience with copywriting in general, you’ll know just how important call-to-actions (CTAs) are. They encourage searchers to take action and have a proven track record of improving click-through rates.
In a study looking at the best performing ads, many of them had a CTA. Those that used words like “get”, “buy”, “try”, “shop” and “learn” in a clear CTA performed far better than those that didn’t.
Your headline 2 is a great place to start including CTAs, as it is clear and will always be shown alongside the headline 1.
3) Talk to your audience directly
Remember, when you’re writing Google Ads, you’re talking to your audience – not Google. To truly engage searchers, they need to feel like they’re being spoken to.
Include words like “you” and “your”, and avoid bland headlines and descriptions which are more descriptive than anything else.
4) Make your ad informative and factual
If you’re trying to promote a product or service in a highly competitive industry, it often takes a lot to persuade someone that yours is the best. Including some factual information or statistics is a great way to build credibility and gain a searchers trust.
This will of course work better in some cases more than others. Don’t try to squeeze statistics in where they don’t naturally flow.
5) Conduct A/B tests
A/B tests will help you discover exactly what’s working and what’s not. Copywriting is subjective by nature, and especially when considering your unique product and its target market, there is no detailed one-size-fits-all approach.
Remember to only have 1 variation in your A/B ad copies, or you’ll struggle to see which part is making the difference.
6) Make it relevant
Think about your choice of target keywords as well as what audience you’re selling to. If they read an ad that isn’t relevant to what they searched, they probably won’t click on it.
This will be the case even if the copywriting itself is brilliant. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential searcher and make sure your effort and skill are not going to waste.
7) Drive a sense of urgency
Another great way to make your ad more clickable is to drive a sense of urgency. For example, if you tell people that there are limited seats left to your seminar or only 10 days left to sign up, they will be far more likely to act on the spot.
This can be adapted to your product or service in a huge variety of ways. You could make them feel left behind and thus inspire a need to catch up with their competitors, or you could set a deadline to create more of a rush.
8) Understand your audience
The type of audience you are targeting should also dictate the tone of your ad copies. Some audiences will be more receptive to playful, punchy and emotionally engaging copywriting, while others might prefer a more informative, professional and statistical approach.
Do research into your brand’s audience and test out which gets you the best results.
It also helps to know what your audience’s pain points are. If you can be empathetic in your approach and clearly address their pain points, they’re much more likely to want to get your product or service.
9) Play on your strengths
Chances are, you have a solid group of competitors out there that promote similar products or services. Each brand will have its own strengths – even if some have more than others!
If you’re writing your own ad copies, it’s a given that you know your brand well. Play on its strengths, and leverage them to your advantage.
If you’ve just won an award in your local region, tell people you’re award winning. There’s no good in hiding it in some corner of your website.
10) Understand that people only care about themselves
This is one of the tips that often only experienced copywriters and marketers fully grasp.
Unless they’ve already got a level of brand loyalty, people simply don’t care about you and your brand. They care about what it offers them.
Tell people clearly what your product offers. How it will give them pleasure in some aspect of their life, or remove stress and pain in another.
In sum…
If you follow all of these tips and implement them where relevant, you’re well on your way to creating better Google Ad copies that sell. But without a doubt, hiring an expert to do this all for you is the best and most efficient way to get results fast. At First Page, we offer expert Google Ads marketing services that have a proven track record of getting results. Leave the hard and tedious work to us and focus your time on what needs your direct attention the most.
