In this article we aim to reveal the ad writing secrets that will help you improve conversion and lower campaign costs.

We’ll start with the AdWords ad copy guidelines and show you some examples of good adwords ads. We’ll then move on to expanded text ads and how they can skyrocket your click rate.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

AdWords Ad Copy Guidelines

A good ad is one that makes the user click. Simple as that.

So how to get the user to click?

Make your ad relevant

The first thing someone notices about an ad is the headline. If the headline matches the searched term, Bingo - you have the searcher’s attention.

But there’s a catch here. Notice that I’ve said the search term, not the keyword.

Here’s the thing:

AdWords says: “Give me the list of keywords for which you want me to show ads for you.”

And you give AdWords the list of keywords. Let’s say you have one for restaurant delivery montreal, with an ad for your Indian restaurants with delivery in Montreal.

Now: someone searches for sandwich delivery montreal. Your ad pops up, after broadly matching with restaurant delivery montreal. Obviously, the click will not happen. The ad might be optimized for the keyword, but the ad is not relevant for the search term.

So make sure you use the right keywords match types to target exactly the keywords that are relevant for your business. Then group very similar keywords into ad groups. Only then you can start writing the ads for each ad group, using the keyword in the ad copy.

Yes, we know it’s a lot of work. Try our Free AdWords Generator Tool to get some help and inspiration.

Make your ad attractive

So you’ve got the searchers’ attention through the headlines. Now, what can add to the copy to make them click?

  • Mention your special offers. If you are running promotions, let them know from the ad. For example: fixed price menu during lunch time, combos, special price for a new dish… whatever you have going on. Don’t wait until they get to the website, cause they might not get there.
  • Highlight what makes you special. Through in your best arguments for why they should choose you over your competition. For example: 30 minutes delivery, free delivery, options for vegetarians, ingredients only from local producers.

Add a call to action

Any good ad needs to contain a call to action. An indication of what your potential clients should do next.

Let’s say you advertise a curry combo for $9.95 at your Indian restaurant. Book a table or Order online are great calls to actions to use. They sets the expectation for what the landing page contains. Needless to say, it is really important that your landing page matches the ad and the visitors’ expectations.

Your AdWords Ad Copy Checklist

So each time you write the copy for an ad, have this checklist in mind:

  • The keyword is in one of the headlines;
  • You’ve mention a special offer (if you have one relevant for your keyword);
  • The description ends with a call to action;
  • You have used all (most of) the space available;
  • Everything is written with title case, including the description (Title Case Makes Your Text Stand Out More).


Important: Make sure you write more than 1 ad per adgroup. They will run in parallel and you'll be able to see what works better and how you can improve. Keep in mind that an ad that does wonders for one adgroup might not produce the same results for a different ad group (given you still match the checklist above).

Text Ads Examples

Following the AdWords ad copy guidelines above, here are 3 text ads examples for different keywords:

  • chinese restaurant new orleans
    text ad example 1
  • chinese food new orleans
    text ad example 2
  • chinese takeout
    text ad example 3

Ad Extensions, the true benefit of the expanded text ads

Once you’ve written the ads (like above), you’re basically good to start.

But it would truly be a pity.

Look how small the text ads are. You can get A LOT MORE real estate by using ad extensions.

So you can get from this:

text ad example 3

To this:

text ad example 3

Ad extensions cost just some extra time and effort. But it’ totally worth it. The difference in click rate is huge.

So let’s take a loot at what extensions work well for restaurants.

Sitelink extensions

In my opinion this is the first one you should add, because this one increases your real estate and makes your ad stand out. Moreover, you can also guide your potential clients to specific areas on the website according to their needs.

Links you can add:

  • Menu - this is probably the most interesting content for of your website, so it deserves a direct link;
  • Special Offers - if you are running promotions, it’s another great opportunity to make the visitors aware and curious;
  • Order Online - great way to show your customer that you offer this service;
  • Table Reservations - for those who want to dine-in.

It’s worth adding a description also for each link. Again, the benefit is that they make your ad bigger.

Callouts

When you write your ads, you get very fast to the conclusion that 140 characters are not much to drop a keyword, mention your cuisine and add USPs.

Callouts have been invented specifically for this. They give you additional space for specific benefits that you offer. Like: free delivery or 30 minutes delivery.

Location extension

When someone is interested in food delivery, he/she might not really care where you are, as long as you can deliver the food to the desired location and in a timely manner.

But there are A LOT of searches for restaurants “nearby”. Like “pizzeria near me open now” or “best chinese near me” or “food takeaway near me”. In this case, the person might want to come to your place.

In this case, it’s a very good idea to use the location extension, which shows a link with your address below the ad. Not only that your customers will like that, but Google will as well. You will get a better quality score for keywords that include “near me”.

Expanded text ads examples

Heads up: Like usual, Google is the ultimate judge of what gets displayed where. So don’t be surprised if you see only 2 out of 4 sitelinks on the results page and no description whatsoever. Same goes for the callouts or any other extension.

Google’s official statement is that the extensions are shown when relevant for the search. It’s so out of your control that can be very frustrating at times. But even so, it’s totally worth used the ad extensions.

Here’s a preview tool from Google. You can test your campaigns and see what shows up in the results page.
https://adwords.google.com/aw/diagnostic/AdPreview

Finally, here are some examples of how an ads could look like:

  • desktop - callouts and sitelinks with description
    etended ad example 1
  • desktop - callouts and sitelinks without description
    text ad example 2
  • mobile - callouts, sitelinks (description is not shown on mobile) and location
    text ad example 3



That’s it for today! Good luck with AdWords!