Improving CTR on Adwords

Suggestions for writing more compelling ads

[trigate]

I was hoping someone here might have a suggested resource for writing ads that improve CTR% on Adwords. I have spent quite a bit of time optimizing the my pages to improve the quality score, and interestingly enough that has been a HUGE success. But the new pages, smaller Ad Groups, etc, while yielding a better QS, and a much lower CPC, has severely beaten down my CTR. I know CTR is a major factor in a higher QS, but oddly my CTR was much higher when the QS was lower (poor). Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[steaprok]

Hello Try implementing Dynamic Keyword Insertion into your ads , which automatically place the queried word into your ad title, this helps increase ctr. Also consider using call to actions i.e. Save Now, Free, Buy Here, etc...

There is also a great book by one of the Eisenberg Brothers, oops! Call to Action! I think! Ill Post the link later!

Hope this helps!

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I have just a few minutes to post, trigate, so this may border on over-simplification - but typically a low CTR may be seen as an indicator that users are not finding the ad to be particularly relevant to what they have searched for. So be sure that your ads are highly relevant to each and every one of the keywords that cause them to appear.

Other possibilities might include:

* The ad is not particularly compelling (as steaprok is basically saying in a different way, I think.)

* There is something about the ad that is actually 'turning off' potential customers. Relatively common examples of this might be poor grammar, misspelled words, awkward phrases, uncommon abbreviations, and so on.

It's very important to remember that when a user sees your ad, they know absolutely nothing about your site. And, the entirely of what they know about your business is what the see in your ad - so really make it sing.

Others on this forum could probably tell you endless stories about this, but I've heard of many cases in which a single word in an ad being changed resulted in a dramatically different CTR. So I'd advise continually testing multiple ads within ad groups. Maybe start with two ads, let them run for a while, pick the best one and then test that ad against another new ad. Rinse and repeat. ;)

AWA

[netmeg]

Also take a look at your competitors ads. Are they good, or not terribly compelling? Do they seem relevant? Do you offer something they don't? Can you think of something that conveys the message you want, yet somehow sets you apart from them?

[smallcompany]

You have to compare a period when you had better CTR to the one when it went down. You need to bring this comparison to a keyword level, including differentiation between matches, exact, phrase, broad.
As nutmeg said, you have to take competition into the account. Were there any major changes in the results on the page where your ads are showing?

Important factor to think about in regards of QS is this one: While your efforts in improving QS may result in seeing your QS getting better, that should positively affect your CPC, not your CTR.

As AWA said, check ad text, test it. Since you’ve been focused on your CTR, keep in mind that your landing page has nothing to do with it directly. Indirectly, with better QS, you may achieve higher ad position with same max bid.

[Essex_boy]

Run two ads side by side with entirly diffrent text and see what happens.

I find I receive a higher click through if I use the search phrase in the title then use those words in a speech like way in the body text.

My highest click through rate is 5.4% using these methods.