AdWords Adcopy Variations – New Ways To Get Attention

Writing AdWords adcopy (with some thought behind it) is something that many PPC account managers don’t spend enough time doing, it’s far to easy to fall into the trap of just doing the obvious statement headline, a first line that covers a feature, then a second line with a call to action and on to the next adgroup, rinse and repeat.

This kind of adcopy can and does work but there is so much more that you can do with AdWords adcopy so it’s worth testing a few variations to see what resonates with each account’s potential customers to see what they will click and if they will convert from those clicks.

Below are a few different types of AdWords adcopy variations that you could try, they won’t be suitable for all accounts but it’s worth trying a few of them to see what difference it makes, at the worst case you’ll confirm that your current style of adcopy is the best attention grabber and converter.

Also take note of what your competitors are doing, you can copy, do the opposite, add a twist etc. so for example, if all the competitors are using short ads then a fully used headline, first and second line may stand out a bit more, or you could mention the benefits of using your service or product instead of your features.

Telling searchers what to do is often a good idea so a call to action can work, or you can also bribe users with a discount offer but ensure your offers are real and it’s not just a fake permanent discount or you could lose credibility with searchers if they keep looking over several weeks or months.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) is a great way to increase relevancy and it will bold up your ads when someone searches for your keyword, below “PPC Professional” has been inserted into the headline and second line. You could also go for a fun approach, it may resonate with some users, it’s worth a test at the very least.

To add a bit more relevancy you can even use the URL field to boost the Advert’s use of your target keyword by using either a subdomain so it shows before the URL or using a folder name so it shows after the folder, below we used “PPC Management” as our keyword of choice.

You can differentiate your adcopy by using spacing such as hyphens rather than full stops or commas, Hyphens act like bullet points to separate content. Another way to stand out is to use quote marks, this can work on phrases but also testimonials.

You can take up a bit more space by using extended headlines, this is easily done by ensure that you have a period (full stop) at the end of line one, this will then move line one into the headline if the advert appears in the top three ads across the headline of the google page. The opposite of more space is less, if everyone is doing big adverts then try a small one to stand out, you may get more clicks from a lower ad position than you normally would.

Sometimes you may be selling a product or service that others are advertising for so to clearly mark you are the official site can boost your click through ratios and conversions. You can also try point out why you are different to your competition, what you do differently or what results are different from your competitors etc.

Studies have shown that people believe a story told by a third party more than they do than someone who was there as a third party has no investment in the story, they are merely retelling it objectively and that’s why customer testimonials are very powerful in marketing so it’s worth trying some in your adcopy (assuming you have some good ones!).  You can also tell people what your USP is, what is unique about you, in our case we started managing PPC when google hit the UK shores but prior to that we were doing PPC on other search engines, our MD was the first person in the world to pass the Google AdWords professional qualification way back in 2004!

Asking questions can be a good approach too, most ads shout why you should click them, what they’ll do, what features they have, what price they offer etc. but it can be worthwhile focussing on questions, hone in on a problem and write some adcopy around it. You can also direct customers, make them feel like they are missing something unless they speak to you.

You can use your AdWords adcopy to scare users into action, focus on something that will make them feel like they need to act or they will be losing money, suffering hassle or wasting time etc. Social proof is also a great way to push you service or products as you can use social media stats or something like the advert below that implies success.

Remember to take seasons or events into account, Christmas, Valentines day, holiday season etc. are all opportunities to hit searchers with a new, more relevant angle in your adcopy. One other way to hit with a different angle is to use symbols where you can such as Trademark, Copyright or Registered to add legitimacy to your product or service.

The above are only a few examples of the things that you can do with your AdWords adcopy, the important thing is to try a couple of variations, see if anything positive happens as a result, if not try another variation until it’s clear what works and what doesn’t. Don’t just sit there with bland AdWords adcopy and accept that 1/2/3 or 5% Click Through Ratio is your lot in life as it’s possible to hit double figures with a well targeted adgroup with well tested adcopy, 20%+ CTR is attainable so don’t just settle for what you have! get testing now!