How to write PPC ad copy that converts

You only get one chance to make an impression on a customer. And when it comes to online searches, writing PPC ads is your chance to stand out at the top of SERPs.

After PPC keyword research and targeting, PPC ad copy is the most important factor that determines whether someone clicks your ad or scrolls past.

While smart bidding and automation are changing how you bid on keywords, how you manage campaigns, and even how you report results, good old-fashioned sales copy is still needed when it comes to convincing searchers to click your ad.

In this blog, we’ll give you some ad copywriting tips that will improve your PPC conversions.

What is PPC ad copy?

PPC ad copy is the content a user sees in your search results when they make an enquiry on Google or another search engine:

It gives you the chance to sell directly to a potential customer who is actively looking for your product, and it can affect every part of your PPC campaigns, whether that’s your click-through rate, quality scores or ad rank.

You can use all the automation and smart bidding you want, but if your ad copy isn’t engaging or hitting the right messages, your ad has no chance of making a sale.

Writing PPC ads that convert

Writing PPC ads is no different from writing print ads. Everything starts with the customer and finding the messages that will encourage them to take action.

While there are some technical aspects of writing PPC ads, much of the same principles apply.

Understand your buyers

Before you can start writing converting content, you need to know who you’re writing for.

Whether you have defined buyer personas, or know exactly who it is you’re targeting, this is where to start.

Think about the challenges they’re having, the problems they’re trying to solve, the information they need, and the words or phrases they use to describe what they’re looking for.

You can ask your sales or service reps about the conversions they’re having with existing customers or prospects to find out what matters to your audience, and this can help inform your ads.

What’s the search intent?

Every online search is made for a reason.

Whether it’s to find something out, or to find a product or service to buy.

The job of PPC ad copy is to match your advertisement to the user’s intent.

What stage of the buyer journey is the person at? Are they comparing products, looking to buy, or looking for a specific brand?

A customer who’s aware of a specific problem, not necessarily a brand, might be better primed to respond to ad copy targeting pain points, like:

“Stop wasting marketing budget” or “get 40% better returns on PPC spend”.

On the other hand, a customer now looking for a specific product or service might respond to different messaging, like “40% off for this week only” or “3 months free trial if you sign up today”.

By understanding customer needs and search intents, you’ll be able to match your ad copy and improve the chances of getting a click.

What goes into high-converting PPC copy?

There’s a lot that goes into writing PPC ads and a lot to fit into what is a relatively small space. Impact is everything. You have no words or space to waste.

So, these are the bits to focus on for the best PPC ad copy:

Headlines

The headline is the first thing anyone is going to see of your ad, and it’s also what Google uses to determine the relevance of your ad against the search, so you need to be clear.

Include the main keyword to show immediate relevancy to the user and include a strong USP, sale proposition, or key benefit.

For example, if you’re an emergency plumber your headline shouldn’t be something like:

“Here when you need us”

Instead it would be something like:

Emergency plumber in Liverpool – call us 24/7

If in doubt, don’t try to be clever with your headline, just be clear.

If you’ve got the space, use results or focus on important outcomes that would appeal to your audience. Phrases like:

“Issues resolved in under one hour”

“Save 40% on bills”

“Cancel anytime, risk free”

“Guaranteed next day delivery on orders before 1pm”

These should all be unique points about your product and service, not generic statements that sound like every other ad.

Here’s a good example of a headline that focuses on strong selling points:

Writing descriptions that get clicks

Descriptions are the content that appears under the headline, which lets you expand your sales pitch and include other relevant messages or selling points to entice a click.

This is where knowing your customers and their pain points really becomes important.

There are a few ways to frame your descriptions, and it can be worth running tests to see which message type delivers the best results. The first is to lead with a problem and a benefit.

You can see from the example below from Xero, how their ad focuses on the main benefit of their accounting software, mainly that it automates admin tasks (which any accountant will know can take a long time manually) and works anywhere (ideal when many accountants are now doing hybrid working).

The other option is to create urgency, using a limited-time offer. You can do this with any product or service when the goal of the ad is to drive immediate revenue.

You can see in the example below how an ad extension to include a 15% summer discount adds more incentive for a user to click and take advantage of the reduced price.

Use your URLs and ad extensions

We’ve just touched on this above, but you shouldn’t overlook the importance your URL and ad extensions can play in your ad copy.

Extensions allow you to add additional information to your listing that you can’t fit into your description, or that you want to highlight.

In the example above, you can see how ad extensions are used to include additional USPs and CTAs to encourage clicks.

Similarly, below you can see how ad extensions are used with highly detailed descriptions (packed with offers and USPs) to give users more options of where to click through to and to include additional information that wouldn’t fit in the description.

Key elements of persuasive PPC ad copy

That’s the structure of your ads.

But, all high-converting ad copy, whether it’s for PPC or print ads, focuses on proven sales psychology to direct readers towards an action.

When sitting down to write your ad copy, think about some of these triggers and how you can fit them into your content:

Create urgency: We don’t like the feeling of missing out on something. Creating urgency with phrases like “last chance to buy” or “offer ends at midnight” can encourage clicks and interest.

Create scarcity: Again, we hate the idea of missing out on something. Creating a sense of scarcity challenges readers and almost pulls on the strings of regret that if they don’t act now, they’ll miss out on something they want. You see this often in eCommerce with ad copy using phrases like “limited stock” or “only four items left”.

Provide proof: When it comes to persuasion in ad copy, nothing works better than a recommendation from a real person. We can do all the research we want, but seeing a review (positive or negative) from someone who’s bought and tried the product we’re interested in can be enough to change our minds or confirm our original decision.

Having said all this, what we’d never encourage is creating clickbait headlines or creating a sense of fear or panic just to get a click.

Clickbait might work for news websites that only care about audience numbers, but if your ad uses the tactic of scarcity and the user then finds out you have loads of stock, they’re more likely to get annoyed and bounce, meaning you’ve wasted click budget.

Test, review, improve

One of the best things about PPC ad copy, is your ability to constantly test messages, USPs, sales promos and pretty much anything else you want, all within a relatively short time.

Writing PPC ads really is just a process of testing messages to see which works best so, over time, you can really narrow down on the key things your audience cares about to deliver more clicks and conversions for your ads.

Test headlines using benefits vs outcome style phrasing.

Test CTA variations like get a free demo vs start your free trial.

Change how you frame offers; 50% off vs save £150.

If you are going to run tests (and we highly recommend you do) it’s important to keep these tests controlled.

Only test one change at a time.

If you try to run multiple tests on ads at the same time, you might never know which change actually resulted in the improved results and you could end up changing the wrong thing.

You can run experiments directly in your Google ads account through the campaigns tab on the right-hand side:

Once you’ve set up an experiment, let it run for a few weeks or months, measure all the campaign data (including click-through rates and conversions) and implement whichever ad performed best.

You can then set up another test, reviewing a different part of your ad.

Writing for conversions with PPC ad copy

The main goal of any ad copy in PPC is to get a conversion.

Before hitting publish on any copy, think about:

• Is this aimed at the right audience
• Does this hit the right pain points
• Is the CTA clear
• Does the ad and the landing page match

If you answer yes to these questions, then it’s just a case of reviewing your campaign data, making tweaks and running experiments to improve performance over time.

If you want to speed up the process and use the expertise of a PPC agency with more than 8 years’ experience delivering commercial returns for clients with high-converting PPC ad copy, get in touch.