5 Top AdWords Copywriting Tips

When you’re trying to write copy for your AdWords campaigns, it can sometimes be tricky to know exactly what to include. After all, you’ve only got a limited amount of characters you can use to win over the potential customers and get them to click your ads. AdWords’ limit is 170 characters - 30 in your headline 1, 30 in your headline 2, 80 in your ad description and 30 for your URL. So what exactly do you need to do to make sure people click your ad and not the competitions?

Here are the top 5 AdWords copywriting tips you need to know:

1. Be relevant

The first thing you need to do is make sure you use the right keywords. Otherwise, you won’t be attracting the right target market, and your campaign will ultimately not be a success. Before you start your campaign, make sure you undertake keyword research to make sure you’re using the right keywords. There are many tools you can use to undertake keyword research, including:

• Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool
• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Google Trends

When you go to write your ad copy, make sure to include these keywords. This will cause your ad to be triggered and display to the correct audience.

2. Personalise the ads

While you are aiming your ad at a certain group of people, it’s not how you should write your ads. You want to personalise your ads. How can you do this? Simply by directing your ad at the individual by using the word “you.” This makes the ad speak more to the individual, rather than just addressing the general public.

For example, when you Google “lawn service”, you are presented with the following ads:

The middle one is the only one that tries to personalise their ad by using “you”. This makes their ad far more interesting than the other two, which are just repeating the business name and including standard wording about quotes.

3. Be specific

Being specific within your copy can often be a powerful persuasion tool. Rather than just including general promises such as an increase in traffic or leads, it can be best to include a specific number. You don’t necessarily have to use this within your headline, you can take advantage of the word limit within your description.

When Googling B2B marketing, you get this ad, which states specifics such as 44% increase in leads and 51% faster collaboration. This ad was far more engaging than the others which did not include any promising figures.

4. Think about the user’s objective

When compiling the copy for your AdWords campaign, you always need to have the user’s objective in mind. You want to help solve the problem of the user. They’re never going to click an ad that is just about your business and doesn’t state how you can help them. It’s best to always to ensure your ads address the user’s objective.

When looking at ads that appear when Googling “sell your car”, it’s easy to see they’ve thought about the user’s objective. They outline how quickly you can sell your car with their business, which would appeal to lots of people who are trying to sell their car with little hassle. Furthermore, all three ads have also use personalisation, by using the word “you” or “your”, further strengthening the connection to the audience.

5. Use emotions

People are emotional and will be spurred into action with the use of the right emotional triggers. This is a tactic that is not just effective with clickbait material, it can also work with your PPC campaign.

Before using this tactic, think about what emotion you’re trying to evoke. If you evoke negative emotions such as anger, this could end up backfiring and resulting in little to no clicks on your ad. If the ad is too negative, it can also have the potential to damage your brand’s reputation.

You can also consider using emotional triggers such as humour. However, this can be tricky to get right, as some people might find the ad humorous, while it might fall flat for others. If you’re going to try and use humour in your AdWords campaign, it is always a good idea to undertake some market research to make sure your ad is going to be effective.  

Using these AdWords copywriting tips will ensure your campaign will be more successful and should see an increase in clicks.

Do you have any other AdWords tips? Let us know in the comments.