Are you better off with multiple rotating ads?

One man's meat is another man's poisson

[adamas]

Are you better off with one well performing ad in an adgroup or with additional differing ads on the basis that on repeat/refined searches (or content pages) a different advert may attract somebody's attention where the first displayed ad didn't?

[webdiversity]

Yes.

Both scenarios will work well for some. Horses for courses, each advertiser will have different results based on their message, product/service, geographical market.

You could always try dynamic titles and that way you have a different ad every time anyway, that the visitor helped to create.

[eWhisper]

I'm a strong believer in multiple ads. Not only for catching visitors who may search multiple times, but you always want to continue to use what's working, and an ad that might get a high CTR for a couple months, might change over time, and you want to stay on top of a new ad which can take it's place.

[dragonlady7]

<OFFTOPIC> I'm sorry, I just had to post to say that in my delerium at Friday morning I actually read this as "Are you better off with multiple rotating heads?"

And I spent several moments considering that, and then it occurred to me that it couldn't possibly mean what I'd initially thought, and so I was considering what else it could mean... and... Yeah. Whoo...
</OFFTOPIC>

Back on topic, since I'm here, as a totally ignorant user I'd have to say that I'm more inclined to click on an ad I've seen before, figuring that if it turns up again, it's probably more relevant.
But, again, that depends on the situation, and I'm still working on overcoming my banner-blindness to actually click on the adwords ads in the first place.

[skunkmark]

Variety is great as a concept but you have to use what works best. A new campaign with new ad groups you should use 2 or 3 ads per group to see what's getting the clicks for those keywords. It's easier for me to figure out the math when I just have two ads. If your CTR is 10-to-1 then you need to rewrite or ditch the loser ad. It may just belong better to a different set of keywords, look at what's getting the clicks. I think ultimately you want to refine your campaign so you have many more ad groups than when you started, highly focused ad copy with keywords that resonate, and just one ad per group. If you're two ads are split 50/50 after thousands of impressions then leave them both up. Also, the dynamic titles are indeed a powerful option that can produce eye-catching results and should definitely be experimented with.