You can buy great placement, but great copy is what really drives users to click on your search ad. Here's how to write it.
Creating search ads dumbfounds advertisers who normally rely on whiz-bang visuals, flashy graphics and sound for attention, because only two things really drive clicks from search listings: placement and copy.
Your wallet controls your search ad’s location, but if you want to control its success, you’d better have an excellent grasp on how to write effective search copy.
Creating great copy is not only a matter of stringing the right words together. As uncomplicated as a text-only environment may seem, the right recipe involves a lot of planning and experimentation. Here are some ways to focus and tighten your search copy that you can implement right now.
Include keywords in the headline and text.
By including keywords within the ad, Web users know for certain that you’ve got what they’re looking for. In fact, a study by AC Nielsen in August 2002 reported users were almost 50 percent more likely to click on listings that included the keyword in the title and description.
Todd Daum, vice president of marketing at Overture.com, says what generates the highest clickthrough is when a user perceives the highest relevance to what they’re searching for. “If a user keys in a search term and actually sees it appear in the title and description, it really enhances their feeling that ‘hey, this is relevant to me,’” he says. “Relevance is a key driver for click-through.”
Get to the point.
Since you only get a headline and only two lines of text, there’s no room to dawdle. So don't be cute. People buy benefits, not features, so simply say what your product or service is going to do for the searcher.
Understandably, whittling your message to the bare bones can be tough when there’s so much you want to communicate. David Fischer, director of AdWords, Google’s search advertising program, recognizes that wordiness is a natural tendency when it comes to selling a product or service, but it just doesn’t work for search.
“As an advertiser you think, ‘I have lots of different products; therefore, I want to set up an ad that makes that known.’ That’s a reasonable way of thinking about it, but our experience is that it’s much more effective to get specific,” he says. “People aren't looking for consumer electronics [in general]; they're looking for a precise product. I’m not going to respond as well to someone who says ‘I have it all’ as to someone who says ‘I have exactly what you're looking for.’ Focusing several ad groups that speak about each product line will be much more effective.”
One way to do this is to identify specifically what the audience is looking for, and then try to match those needs.
“Highlight the two or three key benefits that you provide relative to your competitors,” Fischer says. “You may feel like you have five or 10 benefits to your business, but nail down the top two or three. Don't worry about being everything to everyone. Searchers want someone with a specific answer for them.”
Avoid gimmicky language.
In the same way they won’t work at your local bar, strong come-ons don’t work in search, either. Users were more than 50 percent likely to click on listings that used a factual style, as opposed to a “salesy” listing, in the AC Nielsen study.
This isn’t limited to parts of speech. Avoid using exclamation points and all capital letters. Also avoid ampersands (&) and numerals -- Overture says those decrease the likelihood that a user will click, and they lower perceived quality.
This just-the-facts preference is due to the nature of search engine use, Overture's Daum says. “When people search, they’re looking for information. Even if they’re looking to buy something, they’re still looking for information. They’re looking for a factual depiction of the product or service, and that’s what they tend to click on. You want a little oomph in there, but if it’s too salesy, people won’t click because it feels too much like an ad, and that’s not what they want to click on. The most clear and factual really produces the best results.”
Present a unique call to action.
“Click here” and “go to [URL]” are lame terms. In a limited space where every character matters, each word must be efficient. Emphasize the value proposition that sets your offer apart.
“A unique call to action incorporates what you have to offer and what the searcher is looking for,” Fischer says. “‘Click here’ is pretty generic. But if you say something like ‘we will beat any price on running shoes’ or something like that, it speaks to what I’m looking for, and it’s going to pull me in more than a general expression like ‘best selection, best prices.’”
Identify geographical limitations.
If your product or services are only available to a specific area, you don’t want to lure someone you can’t reach. Therefore, if applicable, state your location to target local searchers.
“For instance, if your services are only good for California -- let’s say you’re a lawyer --California should definitely modify your listings and be in the title description,” Daum says. “Include ‘serves 25 cities across California’ or something like that so people will understand what they’re going to get.”
This isn’t only common sense; it can save you money as well.
“You want to generate click-through, but you only want to generate relevant click-through because you are paying for each click as an advertiser,” Daum explains. “So you want to be very specific about location if it makes sense.”
Take users to the page they want.
People use search engines to link to specific pages -- not to land on a home page and continue to dig from there. Keep this in mind with creating your search ads. Be sure you direct users to a page that relates to the keywords they sought.
“Make your landing page URL as specific as the product you’re selling,” Daum says. “If your store sells bags, and one set of products are leather handbags, and that’s what the listing is about, the URL that’s attached to that listing should direct users to the leather handbag page. You don’t want the user to come in and figure out how to get there.”
Experiment with more than one ad.
You can easily figure out which phrasing works best if you post several ads with different copy. Then manage and edit those multiple search ads to perfect your approach.
With regards to Google’s AdWords, Fischer says, “Running multiple creatives is really powerful. You might have several key selling points that you want to make -- free shipping, a low price guarantee, etc. -- and you’re not sure which will draw in users most effectively. Set up to five different creatives for one keyword, and we’ll give them an equal number of impressions. See how each performs, and turn off the ones that aren’t proven effective. Figure out what’s working and do more of that.”
Another way to take advantage of multiple units is to set up different ads that are very specific to one particular product or service. Many advertisers tend to include many keywords and brand names all in one ad. Instead, Fischer recommends that if you have five different brands of running shoes, for instance, create one ad per brand.
“I'm going to be more drawn to someone who tells me in their ad, ‘I sell that brand of running shoes and I have a great selection’ rather than someone who just says ‘I have lots of running shoes,’” Fischer says.
Overture’s Daum agrees, and says testing is also a great way to understand what doesn’t work with your audience.
“If you’re getting high clickthroughs but low conversion, then maybe something you’re saying is misleading; people may be misreading your listing and think they’re getting something different from what you sell. So you want to continue to look at those kinds of trends and then act accordingly.”
Lastly, think like a searcher.
The common thread among all these ideas is that search advertisers must think a little differently from banners, pop-ups and the traditional online fare. The most basic way to grasp this difference is to evaluate your message from the audience’s point of view.
For more information, see Google's Editorial Guidelines and Overture's "Write More Effective Search Listings."