“On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. When you have written your headlines, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” – David Ogilvy
The above quote from the father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy is as useful in newspaper ads, direct mail, Facebook ads, and YouTube Ads as it is useful in Google Ads headline writing. Headlines are the very first thing people read before they click and browse their search engine for a product or service. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the crafting of your search ad headlines because it has a very strong effect on pulling visitors to click and land on your page or to skip your ad altogether.
In setting up your Google Search Ads campaign, knowing that your headlines are the most important part of your entire search ads campaign setup, you must choose the right words, use the right tone and share the right information relevant to the search intent of your potential visitors. For a start, Google will give you some important ideas and suggestions. As you build your search ad headline, Google will begin and continue to give you some good headline ideas and suggestions and Google will also continue to grade your ad strength.
Based on your URL, Google will give you some headline ideas, popular keyword ideas, some unique headline ideas, and ideas about how to make your descriptions unique. You do not have to accept all or any of the ideas but remember that these AI-generated ideas are drawn from the URL of the site you intend to drive your visitors to. Google also recommends that you generate 5 headlines.
In generating your search ads headlines, the following suggestions will help you generate magnetic headlines:
Know Your Prospect's Desired Outcome
Think about your prospects' desired outcome when they are clicking, browsing, and searching the web. Remember that search ad visitors have very high buyer intent. This is because they have a pain point they are trying to address. Ask yourself what your visitors really want. What are they looking for? Identify their problems. Perhaps they have a weight management problem and want to get in their best physical shape ever. Perhaps they want to save money on their energy bill or they want to buy a healthy ready-to-eat meal or they want a top-of-line sports sedan or original designer perfume for themselves or for a loved one or as a birthday or wedding anniversary gift. So, think deeply about your prospects' desired outcomes. Craft your headlines with the most magnetic headlines that will draw your prospect to your site. At this point, a caveat is in order: Be certain that your catchy or magnetic headline has relevance to the landing page of the search ad where you want to lead your website visitors to. Google will punish you if your headline has little or no relevance to your landing page.
Offer Clarity in Your Headline
Be very specific about what you want to offer or what you are offering. Are you offering free consultations about weight management? Then state this in very clear terms and let it be known that there are no hidden costs. Are you offering discounts on particular items of stock in your inventory? Then make your discount as specific as possible; for instance, a 10 percent discount on the first 4 Firestone tires purchased before a certain date. Is the offer limited for your e-commerce business? Then say that the offer will last till a particular date (for instance, the 26th of June or October, etc.)
Give Your Customers Reasons to Buy from You
Why should your visitors pick you to buy from? For a start, you know your business better than anyone else. One reason to buy from you could be that you are open 24/7 every week. Another reason could be that you offer a lifetime guarantee for the particular product. Maybe, you offer an instant solution: Having a plumbing problem? We can fix it now. Do you offer home delivery at no extra cost? Then start it. What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? What is it that you can do better than the competition? What makes you stand out? Maybe you have a 5-star review. Maybe you have a unique locational advantage. Maybe you have a patent that gives you an exclusive right. Brag about it. Maybe you have over two decades (20 years) of experience in your line of service. Let your prospects know it.
Keywords
Get as many keywords as you are targeting in your headlines. Based on your website, Google will suggest a number of targeted keywords. Decide the keywords that are relevant to the search query of your visitors. Consider using Keyword Planner. This is a great resource tool for generating and later sieving keywords that may be relevant to your headlines. You desire to achieve a high Click Through Rate (CTR). Higher CTR will definitely translate to cheaper or lower Cost Per Click (CPC) for your business. The more people engage with your ad, the more Google will notice this and will reward you with a lower CPC.
Use Many Ad Groups
When it comes to Ad Groups, the more Ad Groups you can create the better, and the more specific each Ad Group is, the better. Each Ad Group should ideally contain no more than 6 keywords. The fewer the keywords, the better. Instead of clubbing together too many keywords in fewer Ad Groups, do the opposite. Create more Ad Groups and club together fewer keywords together in each Ad Group. You may have as many as 10 or even 12 Ad Groups. There is no downside to it, except that you will spend more time creating ads This technique is best when you are employing Dynamic Keyword Insertion as this will help with searches being much narrow to the clubbed keywords. Google provides 5 headline spaces. There is no downside to using all the 5 headlines
Address Objections
As much as you can, address your prospective visitors' objections. Your headline may contain statements like ‘Deadline met or money back’ if you are a contractor. If your product or service is IOS certified state it in your headline. Address your visitors' concerns about their privacy in your privacy policy statement. Install ISL certification by using “https” instead of “HTTP.” HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol and the letter ‘S’ stands for secure. For e-commerce, use only the most secure payment portals like…………….
Avoid Using “Dead” Words
Dead words are overused words that do not mean anything anymore. For instance, “Award Winning….’ is overused. Almost all products are branded or described in ads as ‘award-winning’. {As it seems like every product or business is now an award-winning product or business;} ‘High Quality’ does mean much as everyone now uses it; The word ‘Guarantee’ may also be meaningless in some industries and for some products. However, it is meaningful for automobiles and heavy pieces of machinery, and high-cost products. As a common rule, do not use any word or phrase that everyone uses as they may have become meaningless or lost their capacity to impress and attract.
Numbers and Statistics
These should be included in your headline where appropriate. For instance:
‘4 ways to manage your hair loss '
‘70 percent of the user of Product XYZ….’,
‘Number one gynecologist in ZYX county.’
Statistics, numbers, and percentages work well in headlines as long they are included in your landing page.
Research Competitors’ Ads Headlines
Find out what keywords and headlines most of your key competitors are using. If your product or service is almost a match, consider rephrasing and using the words or phrases your competitors are using, especially if they use such words and phrases frequently in their headlines
Call-to-Action
Tell your visitors what to do next. People don’t like the unknown. For instance, your call-to-action may be: “Get a Quote Now!”, “Schedule an Assessment”, or “Call Us Now for a Quote.”
Another caveat is in other here: If you instruct your visitors to get a quote now, please, be sure that when they click, they will get a quote immediately.
If you ask them to call and get a quote and they call and can’t find a phone number to call to get a quote or a form to fill to get a quote, they will be upset and may immediately exit and Google will punish you for such an action with a higher Cost Per Action (CPC) because your landing page is not related to your ad or it has no relevance to your ad and this will affect your ad ranking and your CPC.
Test and Test and Test Again
Create tons of headline options and continue testing them and documenting their effectiveness.
In the final analysis, always remember that Google Search Ads campaigns represent one of the most effective online adverting tools. The reason is simple: with search ads, visitors browse because they have a definite need or a definite pain point and their buyer intent is very high.
