The PPC landscape is ever changing and can be confusing for even the most seasoned marketer. While the fundamentals of creating a powerful and efficient ad haven’t changed much since the days of 35 character descriptions and 25 character headlines, search is more versatile, personalized and fluid than ever, which completely changes how advertisers need to formulate their ads. People now have to think about which device users will be seeing the ads from, ad extensions, audience types and many more things that weren’t needed just a few years ago.

The Advent of Mobile Search

Mobile search is probably the most disrupting thing to have happened in the world of search lately. As a matter for fact, mobile devices have now surpassed desktops for the sheer number of searches. But does that mean that people should tailor their ads specifically for mobile?

Well, it all depends on your needs. If you want to access device specific performance data, creating mobile only ads is a good idea. However, you shouldn’t create mobile only ads unless a significant portion of your readers access your site this way. And when creating ads for mobile, headlines take centre stage, so you should keep this in mind when creating ads for mobiles.

Ad Extensions and Text Ads

It is no secret that the headline should be the most important aspect of your ad, not just for mobiles. The first thing people will look at when they see your ad is the headline; the text and URL only work as a complement. And this fact is even more accentuated by the advent of double headlines.

The headline should feature your main keyword if you want to make the best impact. If you can include a call to action into the headline it would be even better. For example, if you’re searching for stainless steel hammock stands a good headline could read:

“Stainless Steel Hammock Stands – Shop our Complete Selection”

The description text again should only work as a complement, but be descriptive and repeat the keyword as well. A description like this would work:

“From wood to brass, you will love our line up of stainless steel hammock stands!”

As you can see, the message includes the keyword and information that is relevant to the user.

Extensions also play a major role when formulating your ad. They should provide information that is nice for readers to see, but not necessarily essential. Using the same example, if you want to set up sitelinks, you could use links such as all “hammocks stands”, “hammock stands on special” or “hammock stands under $50” for instance. You should also include callouts such as “free shipping over $30”, “we take PayPal”, or “Free Returns”.

Audiences

With PPC, you have the ability to change the message people see depending on the audience. For instance, you can group your ads by demographic or according to whether a person is a first viewer or someone who has visited your site before. For instance, a first viewer may see an ad pertaining to your product selection while another one might get a coupon offer. One of the issues with this is that segmenting can complicate management. However, not taking advantage of this feature would be quite a mistake in my opinion. You should at least have different sets of ads for different age groups and for repeat visitors if you want to get the best results.

Ad writing should be never viewed as a “one size fits all” solution. The more personal and relevant the ad is, the more powerful its impact will be. This is why it is important to split test your ads as much as possible and take advantage of all the targeting options available at your disposition. Also remember the importance of tailoring your ads according for demographics and the devices from which they are accessed from.