Writing effective ads in Google Ads is a real challenge. Not only do you have to synthesize the value of the product or the company in a handful of characters, but you also have to make the result stand out from the competition and seduce the user’s eyes.

The way to achieve this is to create ads that evoke, excite and convince. In other words: ads that use copywriting techniques.

Article table of contents:

11 copywriting tips for Google Ads

1. Identify the search intent

2. Write short and direct sentences

3. Don’t repeat what the user already knows.

4. Use the message to filter your audience.

5. Emphasize benefits and sensations

6. Tell it with numbers

7. Give visibility to the keyword

8. Use CTA

9. Create a sense of urgency

10. Work on sales objections

11. Avoid spelling mistakes

Don’t forget to test

Each advertising has its particularities and accepts different copywriting strategies. The ones in this article are focused on Google Ads, although you will be able to reuse them in other platforms that support text ads, such as Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads).

11 Copywriting Tips for Google Ads

1. Identify Search Intent

Before taking pen and paper (or approaching the keyboard) you must be clear about what information the user who uses your keyword wants to find. Otherwise, your ads will not work.

It is best understood with some examples. Let’s think about the searches “veterinarian in London”, “veterinarian at home” and “urgent veterinarian”.

In this first case, the user is telling us that he is looking for a veterinarian in his city. Although in the ad we say to our virtues (that we use the latest technology, we do surgery…), the first thing we will make clear is that we provide service in London.

Identifying the search intent requires a good dose of psychology, but it is also related to the structure of the campaigns. Keywords with very different search intentions should not be in the same group.

2. Write Short and Direct Phrases

The goal is for the ad to be perfectly understood on a first (and perhaps only) reading. Avoid long constructions, replace bombastic words and make sure that nothing sounds ambiguous. If you have trouble composing understandable and straightforward sentences, you can always hire a professional copywriter and pay for paper help.

A Google Ads ad is a couple of dance: we take the user by the hand in the first title, and we take him, sentence by sentence and step by step, until the previous description.

3. Don’t Repeat What the User Already Knows

Some advertisers think that their ads will work better if they squeeze every last character in titles, descriptions, visible URLs, extensions… To achieve this, they end up resorting to filler phrases and advertising clichés.

To avoid boring your prospects, spend some time studying what level of information the user who uses your keyword has and omit unnecessary data from your ad text. 

4. Use the Message to Filter Your Audience

In the Google Ads Search Network, you show your ads to thousands of people. Can you consider them all potential customers just because they have searched for a specific word? No way.

Just as you use keywords to filter search engine users, you can use the ad message as a second filter, trying to get clicks only from those users that fit your prospect profile.  

Here are some ideas on how to apply this strategy:

  • Use a specialized vocabulary that only your customers understand.
  • Show the price in an obvious part of the ad.
  • Specify product details to save the user a click.

5. Emphasize Benefits and Emotions

Although you sell products or services, your customers buy solutions to their problems and, ultimately, emotions. 

If you are looking for travel insurance, you need security. If you are considering taking a course, you are looking for improvement. Whoever goes to a psychologist wants to feel better.

Study the benefits of your product and how your customers feel before and after buying it.

It doesn’t matter if there is hardly any differentiation in your industry: the way you communicate your ability to solve your customer’s problem can make you unique.

6. Tell It with Numbers

Figures and percentages break the monotony of blocks of text and capture the user’s attention. In addition, they give the ad a rational and logical weight, a plus of credibility that can help you get the click.

If your client were an Internet service provider, instead of advertising with “fly with our fastest fiber”, you could say “fly with our 600Mb fiber”.

7. Give Visibility to the Keyword

Unless you are working on a branding campaign, your users will see your ad while searching for something. Make sure that “something” occupies a prominent space in your ad.

Here you should try to find the middle ground between constantly repeating the keyword (with the risk of boring the user) and barely mentioning it (resulting in an ad that may seem ambiguous or unclear).

8. Use CTAs

Calls to action are very short commands that tell the user what to do after reading the ad. They are a practical resource to increase CTR in Google Ads.

There is an infinite number of CTA formulas. Here are some examples:

  • Find out more.
  • Call now.
  • Book today.
  • Register for free.
  • Make an appointment.

If you think that the best CTA would be “click here,” you might be right, but you’ll never know: Google Ads doesn’t approve ads with this call to action.

9. Create a Sense of Urgency

It is another classic advertising resource that works very well. It consists of warning the user that he is about to lose some buying advantage to make an impulsive decision (in this case, to click).

At the copy level, we can create this sensation by including in our ad formulas such as “limited places”, “last units”, “only for X”, etc.

10. Work on sales objections

Sales objections are the doubts or refusals that stop a customer from buying. They are subjective and vary from person to person. 

Some examples:

  • The product seems too expensive to me.
  • The competition gives me more for the same price.
  • I don’t know this company and I don’t trust it.
  • I don’t think I need it.

We have no trouble imagining these phrases in a conversation between seller and buyer because we ourselves have uttered (or thought) them hundreds of times.

When reading a text ad, a potential customer may have these same thoughts. What if you were able to respond to these sales objections in the same ad? You would be conveying more confidence to the user and they would be more likely to click on it.

Study the main sales objections and elaborate solid and convincing arguments.

11. Avoid Spelling Mistakes

Your Google Ads ads are business cards. And as such, they must convey an impeccable image that convinces that your company is the best option.

Some advertisers use ads with mistakes, “typos”, as a visual resource to stand out from their competitors. If you share my opinion and want your ads to be free of mistakes, add these two pages to your favorites:

Don’t Forget to Test

Although this article is about writing ads, keep in mind that Google Ads is a platform designed for experimentation. Make the most of it by adding data analysis to your creativity. Create different ads combining copywriting techniques and measure their performance.

If an idea is not working, you can always stop the ad. And if it is performing very well, you can extend it to other ad groups or campaigns. The important thing is that you never stop creating and looking for the best result.

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