How To Write Great AdWords Ads
An easy-to-follow 3-part Guide for Aspiring Google AdWords Writers
Jun 6, 2007
PART 1
It is one of the basic principles of optical science that the human vision first spots the objects or elements placed on the top right-hand corner of its optical field. And then the eyes travel through the panel-like right hand top-to-bottom visual area, making it the most promising and strategic visual field for anything or anybody who wants to grab visual attention. This being the reason why advertisers all over the world want to have a piece of this visual pie in both the physical and virtual media – may it be newspapers or periodicals, or a computer screen.
Ditto for Google AdWords ads. They can be found there, on the top right hand corner of any Google generated search page, vying with each other to grab the attention of the viewer.
A Google AdWords ad is deceptively short and sweet, at least to the viewer. But for its writer, it is a tough job trying to be short and sweet. To use an apt simile, an Adwords ad is like a commando’s emergency ration kit. Hardly a mouthful, but so powerful that it galvanizes the searcher into instant action.
The constitution of an AdWords ad is divided into three distinct parts: First, the headline, which is a single line of not over 25 characters. Then, the body of two lines not over 35 characters. The character count includes the space count. Finally, the URL (web address) line which will lead the searcher to the relevant web page of the advertiser’s web site. Google aptly calls it the landing page.
A good AdWord ad conveys the full message logically and coherently in fewest possible words. It is telegraphic in nature. That’s why it requires a crafty writer to compose a result-centric compelling AdWords ad. Such an ad improves the click-through-rate (CTC) and reflects the search parameters very accurately in its content, particularly in its keywords.
Keywords or phrases - They are the key to success for any AdWords ad. They must be precisely representative of the search parameters. If a searcher is looking for spades, it will be a good idea to call a spade a spade in the AdWords ad. It’s no point calling it a garden implement. A good AdWords ad never beats around the bush. It hits the bull’s eye straight away.
Such a well-conceived AdWords ad gets instant approval from Google (yes, all AdWords ads need to be pre-approved by Google before its publishing), offers a better click-through-rate (CTR) and earns better cost-per-click (CPC).
The central aim of a good AdWords ad should be to persuade the searcher to perform that all-important action of clicking on it. This, the searcher only does if he has found the exact search criterion/criteria in the content of the ad. So, it amounts to deriving and incorporating the most appropriate keywords in the ad, which the searcher may be using in his search field.
PART 2
A very important thing to remember by aspiring Google AdWrods writers is that less is more. This part of the series provides a well-tested set of guidelines that explains how to achieve the ability of writing AdWords ads judiciously yet effectively.
Guide1: An aspiring AdWords writer may think he is a surgeon and his vocabulary is his kit of tools. Before using these tools, he has to study the diagnosis and examine the case thoroughly. In other words, the writer has to give his 100% application to the case study and come up with an analytical hypothesis on how to carry out the ‘operation’. Google AdWords writing is more of a precise science than art.
Guide2: Every product and service has its USP, Unique Selling Proposition, the feature of any advertised subject on which its selling pitch is based.This is generally the most obvious and important strength of the subject of the ad. The writer has to be adept at digging out this USP, transforming it into a unique user-benefit, and craft the AdWords ad with surgical precision and finesse.
Guide3: A writer should never over-hype the subject so that it creates over expectation, or indulge in jugglery of words, or use gimmicky phraseology. Instead, it is best to be truthful to the subject. This will help in facilitating a realistic aspiration level in the searcher’s mind, which will not let him down when he lands on the landing page.
Guide4: An aspirant may experiment economizing his verbal communication in every-day life. A conversation that would take ten sentences to verbalize may be consciously compressed into five sentences, without compromising on the quality of communication. It will be an amazing discovery for the writer how well this experiment works when its benefits are applied to writing Google AdWords ads. It then becomes easy to create compact and concise but power-packed AdWrods ads. Besides, a writer should realize that the searcher is always going to have options of AdWords ads to click on. And if these options are better than the writer’s, he does not stand a chance worth a click. Hence, an aspirant should precisely understand what the searcher is looking for, articulate his search intentions in keywords, fine tune them to both the searcher’s needs and Google’s editorial policy, and then draft out a sure shot AdWrods ad.
Guide5: It can’t be repeated enough times: It’s all about keywords. The writer can actually ‘simulate’ his AdWords ad by using the split testing facility offered by Google. The writer can also edit or redraft the ad using newer keywords or phrases if an ad does not produce the desired results.
Guide6: Please, please do away with unrequited a, in, an, it, of, etc. It’s allowed.
Guide7: The writer should utilize the dynamic keyword programming facility offered by Google. The writer can precede the most appropriate keyword with the word ‘keyword’, then encase it along with the actual keyword in square brackets. This becomes a search field. Whenever a search matches this field exactly, Google automatically converts the keyword into bold.
PART 3
In this third and final part, the language of Google AdWords content and its related issues are explained. Various aspects like setting the tone of language, no-nonsense approach, correct grammar and spellings, and avoiding promotional gimmicks are covered below:
The tone of language: This must be factual, professional and concise. The emphasis here is on being effective rather than being impressive.
No-nonsense approach: Google disallows any type of promotional gimmicks or scams, which are practiced or malpracticed on the net.
All claims by advertisers regarding quality, competitive pricing, superior performance, freebies, discounts, incentives, free offers, etc. have to be supported and substantiated either on the landing page, or within two clicks of that page. So, while claiming superiority over the competitor, or using superlatives like ‘the best’, or claiming numeric one-upmanship like ‘#1’, the advertiser must prove it.
Google says no to instructive ‘call-to-action phrases’ (a persuasive phrase that compels the searcher to perform the click action on the ad) like ‘click now’. Instead, a writer can use a subtler phrase like ‘act today’.
Use of inappropriate or indecent language is strictly prohibited. No offensive, abusive, provocative, racial, sexual or slang language is allowed in AdWrods ads.
Apart from these language-specific norms, Google also insists on a few other things like adhering to its no pop-up policy which disallows pop-ups on any activity done by the searcher in and around the landing page, ensuring exact URLs, smooth functioning of the landing page address, secure and safe URLs, and proper adherence to trademark guidelines.
Grammar and spellings: Google is grammatically correct. Always. No writer’s liberties here. Overuse of punctuations like exclamation and question marks to invite attention is disallowed. No exclamation mark in the headline, and only one in the body. The body should not continue or imply to be continued in the URL line. No fully capitalized words like FREE should appear anywhere in the ad. However, first letter capitalization is allowed in nouns, pronouns, etc. and in URL address. Capitalization of abbreviations is allowed in the body. Gimmicky repetition of words like ‘act, act, act’ is a strict no-no. Besides, it erodes the precious character count. Phrases should be logically and sensibly formed so that they are easily understood. Spacing must be grammatically correct. Chat lingo is certainly not allowed as a means of economizing on character count. The writer must not spell ‘you’ as ‘u’. Use of symbols and numeric must denote its true meaning, and nothing else.
The article ends here on a gramatically correct note. But the writer's journey begins here. Perhaps the most appropriate way of ending this article would be by wishing the aspiring Google AdWrods Writer clickfuls of success!
