Natural language testing on AdWords expanded text ads

As of 31 Jan 2017, Google stopped the creation and editing of standard “text” ads – enforcing the creation of the expanded text ad format introduced in May 2016. The expanded text ad format uses 2 headings to create a longer conjoined heading, with a single description line, to produce a uniform format working over a range of devices with differing screen sizes.

One of the smaller changes seen with this new ad format is that keywords in the heading matching the search query are no longer bolded, a feature that used to highlight ads by drawing the viewers eye to ad messaging that matched their search query.

While reflecting the users search query wording is still important, with no bolding to draw the eye to ad headlines reflecting the matching keywords we wondered – might this be the time to give ourselves more lateral space to create headings that describe the offering in a more accurate and compelling manner, rather than constraining ourselves by trying to reflect the keywords used in the search query?

While not departing hugely from the keywords employed in the search query, we constructed some tests comparing ads with identical description lines and domain paths but different headings – one set using the highest-performing ad copy variant reflecting the search query, and a second variant crafted to describe the product offering in the most accurate manner possible using a slightly more “natural language” description (with an eye to user search query keywords, but not constrained by them).

We created an ad copy test running across nearly 300 ad groups, for a period of over 100 days, and while the results were not as clear-cut as we would have expected, analysing the results ad groups with statistically significant volumes of traffic showed the following:

“natural language” ad messaging had a higher click-through rate 78% of the time
the average performance for “natural language” ads was an increase in CTR of 0.86%
the highest increase seen (a brand ad) was of over 5% CTR above the best-performing variant that reflected the search query
where the “natural language” ad performed best, the average increase was 0.95%

The bottom line – we have seen an average of a near 1% increase in CTR by using natural language messaging in the ads, in some cases higher.

As a result, while not necessarily appropriate for all situations, this is an approach we are now starting to apply as part of our ad copy strategies to help improve client PPC performance.

10 Questions and Answers About Our 4.5 Day Work Week

In 2022 we took the bold move to introduce a 4.5 day work week and we’re often asked about how the change has worked. So we’ve answered the top 10 questions we're always asked in his handy FAQ guide. Useful for those considering a similar scheme. 1) What motivated...

Google’s Travel Goals for Performance Max

As we move further and further away from the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for travel continues to increase. To help capture this increased demand, Google has introduced Performance Max for travel goals. If you are unaware about Performance Max, you can read our...

Microsoft Ads UET Tag Update

In May, Microsoft Ads launched a significant update to its Universal Event Tracking Tag (UET Tag). The UET Tag has always been a fundamental part of conversion tracking, audience building for remarketing and automated bidding strategies. The latest update from...

Let's chat. Tell us a bit about your project.

If you prefer to speak with someone, call 01202 203160 or if you'd like to book a 30 min meeting to see if we can help just let us know and we'll arrange a call with one of our Directors.

Attraction Marketing Using Google

Brunel’s SS Great Britain is Bristol’s number one visitor attraction and a top 10 UK museum (TripAdvisor 2022). It is home to the world’s first great ocean liner, the SS Great Britain, the Being Brunel museum, and the Brunel Institute, which houses one of the world’s finest maritime and Brunel collections. The charity that manages and maintains Brunel’s SS Great Britain and collections is the SS Great Britain Trust.

Charles Stanley Direct PPC

Charles Stanley set us the challenge of delivering improved performance from their PPC campaigns. In a highly regulated industry, with multiple stakeholders to govern marketing activities and an ever changing market, the brief called for exceptionally high levels of service, reporting and flexibility.

Avery WePrint – Content Strategy

We were tasked to increase revenue from new and returning customers by delivering a content strategy with objectives to improve SEO for article pages and produce engaging content to link to from their emails..

Google Grant PPC Management

Digital Marketing: Google Grant PPC Management IntroductionThe Centre for Ageing Better is an independent charitable foundation, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. It creates change in policy and practice informed by evidence and works with partners across...

Legoland Discovery Centre Launch Campaign

We were delighted to win the brief to help Merlin Entertainments’ launch Legoland Discovery Centre, Birmingham.

The ultimate indoor playground was the second to be built in the UK and opened just outside the centre of Birmingham.

SEO and Social Success for Holiday France Direct

Like many businesses, Holiday France Direct wanted to increase the number of visitors to their website from non-paid traffic and increase their social reach and engagement. They came to us with a brief to upgrade their website and to run a programme of monthly SEO and Social activity.