Since its inception, the use of pay-per-click marketing has grown steadily over time as businesses realize that this is the fastest avenue for increasing your reach among your target online audience. The leading PPC marketing platform remains Google Adwords, and in most cases, this is the platform marketers are referring to when they talk of PPC. Other than this platform, there is also Google display network and other PPC platforms on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Expanded text ads (ETA) were recently introduced for Google Adwords. Without direction from a Raleigh-based PPC management agency, most businesses have no idea how to use this new feature to boost their ad’s performance. ETAs, unlike the traditional 15-character text formats, have a character limit of 65. This means you have more words to describe your product and service and entice your customer to visit your site. The following are the best practices for using ETAs for your PPC ad.
Use the Additional Characters to Add Something New to Your Ad
Most businesses are tempted to use the extra characters to add a second headline to their existing ad that is performing optimally. The problem with this strategy is that you will only be saying the same thing in different words and this will not make your ad compelling. When writing your ETA, use the characters to supplement your offers, add CTAs, and include value propositions. Firms which have done this have seen a CTR increase of over 200%.
Include the Most Important Message in Your Headlines
The message you include on your ETA’s two headlines will command the highest attention and determine your ad’s CTR. As such, include your most important message in your headlines. You should, however, remember that Google’s policies on PPC headlines have not changed. You cannot, for instance, include an exclamation point in your headlines. Though the two headlines will be 30 characters long, remember the first one is more important, as Google might truncate the second headline.
Do Not Immediately Pause Your Old Ad
ETAs will show all the keywords comprising your ad groups but do not immediately halt your old PPC ads. This is because the ETAs will not instantly outperform your old ads. Introduce the ETAs alongside running ads for some time and test them before pausing your old ads altogether. You might need to test different ETAs before finding one which outperforms your existing ad.
Include Your Top-Performing Keywords in the Character Path Fields
ETAs, unlike traditional ads, automatically use your final URL domain for their display URL. This means you don’t need to specify your domain in each ad. You can also have two path fields of up to 15 characters each to append to your display URL. Including a keyword on the display URL’s path field will boost ad relevance and improve its quality score, consequently reducing your CPC.
Online marketing platforms change continually, and without the right expert on your team, it is easy to lag behind your competitors. The above ETA guidelines will guarantee you reap the most from your online marketing efforts in Google Adwords. Incorporating them at random will, however, only hurt your company’s bottom line.
