A quick way to increase your CTR in Google Ads

Google Ads search ads are a powerful tool for generating conversions. This type of advertising campaign is one of the most effective, but also the most difficult to set up. This raises many questions, including: “How do I set up search ad elements correctly?”, “What are the advantages of adaptive search ads?”, “How do I optimize headlines?”, and “How do I increase CTR in Google Ads?”. Today, as part of the ADV Advantage blog post, we will consider these questions and provide comprehensive answers.

What is CTR?

CTR (Click-Through Rate) is a term typical for the e-commerce sphere that describes the click-through rate of an ad.

The click-through rate in percentage terms is measured using the formula:
CTR = (number of clicks / number of impressions) x 100%

The ratio of clicks to impressions allows you to evaluate the quality of a search ad. Quality means the degree of elaboration of ad settings, the number of added objects and links, as well as the quality of negative keywords.

Click-through rates are also affected by external factors, such as user sentiment, location, and other factors. Sales competition and the way Google’s algorithms work also affect ad scores.

Types of search ads

Two types of adaptive search ads are currently available in your Google Ads account: standard and dynamic.

Standard involves creating a search ad that includes:

• up to 15 headlines of up to 30 characters
• up to 4 descriptions of up to 90 characters
• up to 20 images
• up to 4 links to the site
• and up to 7 other types of objects

Marketers manually enter all possible combinations of keywords and calls to action, and these sets are displayed to the user according to the relevance of their search queries. This somewhat narrows the reach of the target audience, but still allows you to get conversions. You shouldn’t enter titles and descriptions that take up all available space, as they often don’t fit on the screen and are replaced by the system with an ellipsis “…”.

To better inform the user and improve visibility, you should add company objects, including

• image;
• company name and logo;
• additional links (for example, to related product categories);
• footnotes with data;
• structured descriptions;
• phone number;
• forms for potential customers;
• address;
• prices;
• application.

These objects are not mandatory, and sometimes they can even be harmful, but in most cases, their proper configuration allows you to distinguish your ad from similar ads from competitors.

The dynamic type offers two descriptions of 90 characters each, and the Google system generates the title itself based on the data from the website pages. In this case, the search engine algorithms are responsible for the relevance of the search results, so you have to rely solely on them.

The same rules apply to both types of ads:

• combinations of titles and descriptions are constantly changing according to the query;
• the keywords of the query are bolded in the text;
• the system itself determines the most effective combinations;
• the order of combinations can be fixed in a certain place.

How to optimize headlines?

At first glance, creating headlines for search campaigns is a simple task. It is only after they are written, the campaign is tested, and the results are analyzed that a number of mistakes that have been made and led to budget overruns become apparent.

Basic requirements for search titles and descriptions:

• titles must be unique;
• no meaningless phrases/words are allowed
• it is not allowed to write words only in capital letters;
• exclamation marks are prohibited;
• spelling rules should be followed.

Not all accurate titles and descriptions automatically become effective, so let’s look at the main tips for improving CTR:

• the use of keywords increases the level of relevance;
• dynamic titles can often match the search query more accurately;
• long titles and descriptions should tell about the brand’s advantages over competitors. These can be special purchase conditions, delivery methods, warranty, or product returns.
• It is worth adding calls to action (buy, check prices, book, etc.). However, the system can be trusted to determine the effective type of call to action.
• additional objects contribute to the information content of the ad and its visual appeal. Users usually trust ads that contain the most useful information. Additional objects can be of the following types: additional links, clarifications, phone number, images, promotions, prices, etc.
• minus words significantly improve the quality of incoming traffic by precisely targeting the target audience and eliminating irrelevant impressions.

Conclusions

Search advertising is one of the fundamental types of advertising from Google, so it is characterized by some archaism and restrictions on its use. The search giant Google is constantly experimenting with the format and placement of ads, but the basics of optimization remain unchanged. Adherence to the above recommendations will help you increase your CTR, reduce budget expenses, and achieve the goals of your search advertising campaign. However, you should also pay enough attention to data analysis, changing or excluding those groups of titles and descriptions that are not popular with users. It is important to remember that PPC is a dynamic and competitive field that requires special knowledge and experience.