The Best Adwords Text Ads Have All of These Elements

Writing compelling text ads in Adwords is an amalgamation of both art and science; art because it requires thinking from the customer’s point of view and science to support that thinking.

Intelligently written ads result in higher click-through-rates, more relevant clicks, higher Quality Scores and reduced costs.

If you have been managing Adwords campaigns, you would know that writing good ads require a lot of thinking especially if there are multiple small ad groups or single keyword ad groups.

In this blog post, I am going to explain the most important aspects to pay attention to while writing Adwords text ads.

1. Relevancy

As basic as it sounds, relevancy in your ads will attract potential buyers and reduce the number of irrelevant clicks.

You must make sure that your ads are relevant to the query made by the searcher AND they are relevant to the searcher itself.

Take a look at the screenshot below. I searched for startup business and an ad from Regus, an office space provider, popped up. The ad is irrelevant to me as I was not looking for office space. I might click on it out of curiosity but it will be a wasted click as I was not looking for an office space.

adwords text ads relevancy

So relevancy in the ads will not only result in relevant clicks but also improve click-through-rates and conversion rates.

2. Include Keywords and Semantic Terms

Presence of the searched keyword(s) in the ad increases the chances of a click. It also indicates that the ad is relevant to the query and looks promising to the searcher. Finally, it helps to attain a high Quality Score.

In addition to the keyword(s), you should also try to include closely related (semantic) terms in your ads. If it’s not possible in the ads, you can insert them in the extensions. Read more about extensions in the 4th point.

Where should you include keywords in the ads?

  1. In one of the headlines but the first one is more important. The second headline can have a call-to-action.
  2. Display URL – Especially when there’s not enough room in the description and/or headlines. It gives the searcher an idea about what she would see upon clicking the ad.
  3. In the description – Since this part of the ad has more room, explain your offer and try to include the keyword naturally. Don’t force (and try a variation instead) if the language and flow of sentence are getting compromised.
  4. In callout and site link extensions

3. Include CTA

CTA (Call-to-action) is a text/phrase which promises something valuable to the searcher. CTAs are defined by your offers. For example, Request a Free Quote, Request a Free Consultation, Get a Free Demo, Download the Free Report, Free Tutorial, etc.

Generally, something that is offered for free attracts more eyeballs. Try to come up with offers which are free and can be monetized later in the buyer’s journey.

Including a call-to-action (CTA) in the ads improves click-through rates and conversion rates.

CTA should ideally be included in the headline itself. But if it is not possible then it should be included in description and display URL.

4. Include Ad Extensions

Ad extensions support your ads by providing more valuable/additional information about your business. Google Adwords has multiple ad extensions which are useful for almost every type of business.

Using ad extensions improves click-through rates and also improves Quality Score.

Once set up in the campaign, extensions appear along with your ads when Adwords’ systems find that extensions can add more value to your ad. It is decided on multiple factors like the location of the user, device (phone or computer), etc.

Ad extensions offered by Google Adwords:

  1. Sitelink extension
  2. Callout extension
  3. Location extension
  4. Call extension
  5. Lead form extension
  6. Structured snippet extension
  7. Price extension
  8. Promotion extension
  9. App extension
  10. Affiliate location extension

5. Meet Editorial Guidelines

“We only allow ads that are clear, professional in appearance, and that lead users to content that is relevant, useful, and easy to interact with.” – Google

From the above statement, it is clear that Google is getting stricter when it comes to providing their users with quality information through ads.

Your ads must meet all the editorial guidelines detailed by Google here. Although there are multiple guidelines, below I am listing the most important ones.

  1. Proper use of language and grammar
  2. Be specific with your message
  3. Avoid using unnecessary punctuation marks and special characters
  4. Avoid all capital letters and unnecessary repetitions
  5. Use extensions properly. For example, use a call extension instead of putting the phone number in the ad

6. Optimized for Mobile

More than half of the searches on Google are done on mobile devices. It’s imperative to optimize your ads for mobile devices.

A big number of mobile searches are local and many people are looking to interact directly over a phone call while searching on phone. Hence you should consider every aspect of the mobile journey of your audience.

Pay attention to:

  1. Headlines – Headline appear in 2 lines on mobile devices. Make sure they are easily readable
  2. Include necessary ad extensions like call extensions, location extensions, app extensions (if you have an app), sitelinks, etc.
  3. Consider running call only ads
  4. Make sure that your landing pages are responsive