The most tempting thing to do when your Search Ads launch is of course, go to Google and search terms that would trigger your ad to show up. It’s a simple check and balances right? My marketing agency told me my ads are live, let me search some of the keywords we agreed upon and ensure I have a presence to the audience I am trying to reach. While it seems innocent, I strongly advise against this.
In the world of Google search ads, advertisers know the drill. Twenty-five characters for a headline, and thirty-five characters for description lines 1 and 2, as well as the display url. It seems like a very limited amount of space for a company to get their message across, until now. Google has recently opened up Ad Sitelinks to all advertisers.
According to Google, “Ad Sitelinks allow you to extend the value of your existing AdWords ads by providing additional links to specific, relevant content deeper within your sitemap.” Ad Sitelinks give companies the power to share more about their business and what it has to offer. In the examples below, 1-800-Flowers is able to show searchers that they offer birthday flowers & gifts, gift baskets and even Martha Stewart flowers & gifts. These are all options that might not have been promoted without Ad Sitelinks.
There are two format options for Ad Sitelinks. There is a one line format and a two line format. Google determines how your sitelinks will appear based on ad relevancy and other factors. Let’s take a look at how site links show with a search ad. Example 1 shows a one line format and Example 2 shows a two line format.
Example 1:
Example 2:
In both examples the Ad Sitelinks appear in blue below the paid search ad. Keep in mind advertisers have to rank between positions 1-3 and be in the light peach colored box above the organic listings in order for Ad Sitelinks to be eligible to show.
Ad Sitelinks empowers advertisers to set themselves apart from the competition by letting them present more services and options to searchers within a search ad. Plus, it gives more real estate on the page and most advertisers will gladly take it.
If I said peanut butter would you think of jelly? If I said Fred would you think of Ethel? If I said Batman would you think of Robin? What if I said search ads? What do you think of now? How about display ads. Display ads are a great compliment to search ads. Effectively using search and display ads together can improve click through rates and onsite interaction.
When most people think of internet advertising they think of just search ads. However, pairing search and display ads is highly underrated. Display ads add an extra boost to search ads. According to an article on Search Engine Land “display ads can have a major impact on search and consumer engagement.” The internet has many articles that support this fact. It goes back to a simple fact of traditional advertising; frequency. The more people see a product or service advertised, the more aware they become, and we all know a picture is worth a thousand words. By combining search and display ads, a consumer is being exposed to a product or service and therefore becoming more aware of it.
One important note when setting up display and search ads is to make sure they are consistent. If you’re advertising one message in search and another in display, you’re working against yourself. When your messages are cohesive, whether a consumer sees your search ads, display ads or both, the message is being reinforced. Even if a consumer doesn’t click on your display ad, they’re seeing the visual and if they are interested, they will come looking for you in the future. There have been many times, I’ve been reading an article and stopped to view a display ad. I didn’t click on it, but later on when I had free time I did a search for it. Don’t just go by my experience; let’s look at a client example.
We have a client that sells unique office chairs online. Their search campaigns were bringing in traffic but no conversions. I added a campaign for display ads and within a few days they received a conversion. Here’s the catch, they received a conversion from their paid search efforts. One might think the search ads paid off by themselves, however here’s where it get’s interesting. The next month their display ads were paused and the client only ran paid search ads. They didn’t get any conversions. At the beginning of the next month, the display ads were resumed and like clockwork the client received conversions for their paid search ads. The display ads haven’t received any conversions on their own yet, but whenever they are running, the paid search campaign receives conversions.
Search ads and display ads are the perfect combination, especially when they reinforce each other’s message. Display ads can help improve the results of paid search campaigns.
If you want a consumer to be more aware of your product or service, consider running display ads that are complimentary to your search ads. The results may be a nice surprise.
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