SES NY – Creating Compelling Search Ad Copy

I attended the “Creating Compelling Ads” session this afternoon. This is what these sessions should be about — actual examples were given to attendees on what to do and what not to do. Some of the sessions I’ve attended so far have been very high-level and overly vague presentations about topics with little-to-no substance. Thanks to Vic Drabicky of Rangeonlinemedia.com, attendees were treated with some very helpful tips for SEM campaigns. Here are the key takeaways from this session:

5 Rules to live by when creating ad copy

1. Include the keyword in the title and description
2. Write tailored, clear, factual creative (avoid vague and non-descript phrases like “best deal,” etc.).
3. Avoid symbols, exclamation points, numbers, and general “cutesiness” (i.e. we sell dog toys & cat treats & other things — use and instead of &, etc. avoid exclamation points)
4. Avoid non-specific calls to action (i.e. “book now,” “save now,” *** now)
5. Don’t be “salesy.” Nobody likes the used car dealer, so don’t act like one. The best thing you can do is write a description and sound informative. Act like you are selling to a trusted friend or family member and talk (write) normally.

Bottom line: Make the creative informative. It will differentiate you from the other competitors who are claiming the best deal on earth with the lowest prices and largest selection of products.

SEM Title Strategy
Titles are the most important part of the paid results creative. Use keywords in your title, use dynamic keyword insertion, use param2 and alt text to further customize (Yahoo! and MSN only), and always be grammatically correct. Differentiate yourself from your competition wherever possible. A sea of sameness will only confuse the potential buyer.

Bottom line: The goal is to get every profitable click, not every click.

SEM Description Strategy
Descriptions are just as important as titles. People read them. Customization per keyword is key — setup adgroups by creative, not by keyword. Tell your story, include your brand, and clearly indicate your unique value proposition (price, selection, etc.). Price points are hit and miss — pick and choose your battles wisely.

SEM Display URL Strategy
Slight changes to a display URL can drastically change your CTR. Always test! Here are some examples:

1. www.Travelocity.com = 5.82% CTR
2. www.travelocity.com = 5.27% CTR
3. Travelocity.com = 4.84% CTR
4. travelocity.com = 4.36% CTR

SEM Creative Rotation Strategy
The Good: The engines will automatically optimize your creative.

1. Use no fewer than 3 and no more than 4 pieces of creative per adgroup
2. Make each piece definitively different
3. Test tracking conversion at the crative level (assign different landing pages to it)

The Bad: Engines punish you for any change you make to your creative.

1. Quality score drops even on insignificant changes (even removing a “.” can drop your quality score)
2. Try keeping one piece of creative constant while you sprinkle in additional test creatives

Three Rules and Three Theories to Live your SEM Life by

• Rule #1: Use alt text and param2 for MSN and Yahoo!
• Rule #2: Test often, but not often enough to hurt your quality score. Test your creative, but don’t test it every day.
• Rule #3: Get a second opinion, then a third opinion, then implement.

• Theory #1: The goal is not to get every click, but get every profitable click.
• Theory #2: Remember that searches may think differently from you and thus need different creative than you need.
• Theory #3: Be aware of competitors — don’t chase them.

Bottom line: Figure out your value proposition, what you offer, where you are better than the competition, and tailor creative accordingly.

Related posts

• Where does SEM fall in your organization? (0)
• Top spots in search equate to branding (0)
• SES NY 2007 – Search Engine Optimization Workshop Key Takeaways (0)
• SES NY – Getting Your Site Found (0)
• Post on SearchEngineWatch claims “branding is dead” (0)