Online Advertising
Thirty characters a headline, ninety a description. Inside that frame it is decided whether your budget works or is merely spent.
Ad copy is the only part of your advertising a searcher sees before the click. It has two jobs that pull against each other: attract as many suitable people as possible and deter as many unsuitable ones as possible.
You supply up to fifteen headlines of thirty characters and up to four descriptions of ninety. The system assembles three headlines and two descriptions and keeps testing.
That means every headline has to stand alone and combine with every other. Writing "Call now and" and "save 20 per cent" as two headlines guarantees nonsensical combinations.
| Count | Job | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | query verbatim | Bathroom refits done properly |
| 3 | differentiator | Fixed price, 14-day build |
| 2 | trust | Master trade since 1994 |
| 2 | call to action | Book a free survey |
| 2 | objection | Rented flats welcome |
| 2 | area or audience | Serving Leeds and district |
| 1 | urgency, if real | Slots from August |
That spread gives the system material for every situation and prevents fifteen variations of one sentence.
"High-quality bathroom refit" asserts what everyone asserts. "Bathroom refit in 14 days" is checkable and therefore credible. Numbers work for three reasons: they are short, they stand out typographically, and they force the sender to commit.
Every business has usable numbers: years trading, projects completed, response time, lead time, build time, guarantee period, number of locations, team size, review average and count.
Exclamation marks in every headline, which read as shouting and are sometimes rejected. The company name in several headlines, outside brand campaigns. Superlatives without proof, which carry legal risk. Questions as headlines, which rarely earn more clicks and often worse ones. Identical copy across all ad groups, which costs relevance directly.
While the headline attracts, the description sorts. This is where anything that should deter an unsuitable click belongs: minimum job value, service area, audience. A click that does not happen is money in the bank.
An example: "We refit bathrooms from £15,000 within 40 km of Manchester. Fixed price after survey." That sentence costs clicks and earns money.
Never change more than one thing at a time, and give each ad at least 100 clicks before judging. The built-in rating by click-through rate is a hint, not a verdict: an ad with a high click rate and a poor conversion rate has cost money, not made it.
Judge on the level you pay for: cost per enquiry, not click-through rate.
Two responsive search ads is the optimum. At three or more the data spreads so thin that no judgement is possible.
If you are cheap in your market, absolutely. If you are not, a price filters out the wrong prospects and saves click costs.
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