The truth is, the more ad relates to the user's query, the more likely a user is to click on it.
A click-through rate represents a raio that shows how frequently people who see your ad end up clicking it.
You calculate CTR by dividing the number of clicks with the number of times that particular ad was shown.
A high CTR is often a good sign and implies that users find your ads helpful and relevant. CTR also contributes to your keyword's expected CTR, which is a component of Ad Rank. Another perspective of a good CTR is related to cost-per-click (CPC). As your CTR climbs, your CPC will most likely start to decline.
Sometimes having too high CTR can be a bad thing. The reasoning behind this is that, in cases where your CTR is high but your conversion rate (CR) is low, you're not achieving a return on your advertising investment. With significant CTR and terrible CR, you end up paying expensive clicks that don't turn into customers.
A/B testing is all about gaining insights into customer responses to the combination of wording you choose to use.
We will dive into all the things you could test within an ad to see what will improve your CTR.
You can do a:
- Headline content testing;
- Description content testing;
- Display URL testing.
Utilize the influence of certain symbols
One of the best practices is to use a (registered) trademark symbol (™ and ®) or a copyright symbol (©) in your ads, but only if it's applicable.
Symbols assist an ad to stand out when it is lined up against other similar ads selling the same product or service.
Strive to use trademarks or registered symbols in the headline, but whether you decide to put it in a headline or description, it will help you stand apart from your competitors on the SERP and presumably increase CTR.
Play with displaying price.
By displaying price and currency signs, you will attract customers who like to know exactly how much they have to spend without visiting a site and going into more detail.
Lower perceived risks with guarantees.
Many customers are risk-averse, and many companies have included things that minimize that risk and get them to overpass objective rising from it. You can offer a guarantee, free shipping, or returns to reduce uncertainty.
Measure the effects of different CTAs.
What do you want the person who views your ad to do? Let them know. You can reword, rephrase, try different CTA as long as it makes sense with your ad message and landing page. You can experiment with diverse CTA but bear in mind that it is essential to make a clear CTA. Test and see which one yields the most significant CTR.
Mix up the placement of essential keywords
Instead of trying to aim to fill in main keywords in your headline and description, you can test placement by putting some of the main keywords in paths 1 and 2 of your display URL as well.
Learn what is not allowed in the ad text.
When writing ads, you want to be sure that you don't write something that is not allowed. By getting compliant with policies, you'll avoid unnecessary flagging and disapproval.
Check out the following compliance techniques that are important to know:
- The exclamation mark - You can't put an exclamation mark in the headline; you can, however, put it in the description, but remember to put only one;
- All caps - You're not allowed to have excessive capitalization whatsoever, but Title Case is fine to use. If you want to highlight a single word (the most obvious example would be "FREE") and have it in all caps, you can't do it. The issue that arises is that capitalization is getting mixed with acronyms and confused for them, so plenty of advertisers can testify that their ads are being disapproved due to capitalization where in fact, they only have commonly used acronyms. Asking for manual review can be of help in these situations;
- Repetition - Whether it is a repetition of words, punctuation, or symbols that you want to put because it will direct attention to your ad, you are not allowed.
- Extra spaces and bullet points - Nothing that will make your ad stand out or look unusual merely from a visual perspective is permitted;
- Cursing - Not allowed;
- Vague CTA - Having a vague CTA like "Click here" will only get your ad suspended. Clear CTA leads to higher CTR;
- Character limit - Exceeding character limits is not permitted;
- Non-standard symbols or characters - While asterisks symbol (*) is not allowed, certain symbols are acceptable, like copyright or a registered symbol. We have discussed these above.
- Phone number - You can't put a phone number in the description nor in the headline; you have to use either a call-only ad or call extension if you want to have a phone number displayed.
Remember that what works for someone else doesn't mean it will work in your case. You probably noticed that, while managing different accounts, the identical tactics you implemented onto those accounts yielded inconsistent results. That is why it is essential to continuously A/B test your ads to uncork the right methods for achieving good CTR.