Creating an ad for contextual advertising: TOP rules and recommendations

Advertising is the engine of progress. This statement has remained relevant for a long period of time and will remain so in the foreseeable future. And this is against the background of the fact that, as many experts say, modern users have developed banner blindness. However, not every advertisement meets the expectations of those who launch it. There are often cases when you diligently work on your creatives, make a selection of key queries, set up targeting with high accuracy, provide good impressions, but you get very few transitions and conversion actions. And here a natural question arises: what went wrong?

In many ways, such problems are caused by the excessive saturation of the modern market with advertising. Users encounter such ads everywhere, wherever they are, whether online or on the streets of the city. They simply stop noticing them. This is an important, but not the only reason for the decrease in advertising effectiveness. We must not forget about the direct content of such an ad. If you pay due attention to its development, if you can create something attractive, catchy, something that will stand out against the general background of similar banners, you can be sure that the audience will definitely pay attention to it.

That is, contextual advertising thought out to the smallest detail will provide the desired conversion rates, and will also attract an audience ready to make a purchase to your website or other official representative office. It is also important to remember that higher quality advertising will help reduce the cost per click, which means that the return on investment will be higher.

Today's review will be devoted to how to create high-quality contextual advertising that will be positively noted by users and search engines. We will talk about how to correctly create the ad itself for advertising, and provide a number of practical tips that will help increase the effectiveness of your work. We will reveal the secrets of creating truly working and effective marketing practices that each of you can implement independently within the framework of your own campaign.

What should a high-quality ad for contextual advertising be like?

By such a concept as a high-quality ad for contextual advertising, we mean its benefit for the target audience, as well as high marks from search engines. To get such a solution at the output, it is necessary to rely on the following points:

• Make a portrait of the target audience and orient your advertising to it. You must understand who your text will be directed at. It is important to take into account gender, age, average income indicators and other socio-demographic indicators, individual preferences, interests, needs. You must understand the pain points of potential buyers and show that you can solve them with your product. Understanding who exactly your target audience is, you can adapt to their communication style and language. So, when working with young people, you can use terms and slang that they understand, while when interacting with more mature buyers, it is better to stick to classic polite address, use literary language.
• Focus on the advantages and benefits, but not for yourself, but for your buyers. In the text of the ad, indicate what a person will receive if he buys your product. A couple of examples will be enough to convince a person that in front of him is the product he was looking for. Tell him why he should choose you? Here it is important to move away from the techniques and methods that competitors demonstrate, and to show your own creativity, uniqueness. Think like a buyer, determine what people are looking for in similar products and demonstrate exactly this benefit.
• Set yourself a specific task. You should launch an advertisement understanding what you want to get in the end. And it should be only one specific goal, such as increasing sales of a particular product item, increasing brand awareness in the market, increasing traffic to the company's official online representations, receiving requests for feedback, etc. In any case, it should be something achievable and important that you can measure it. If everything is clear with sales figures or requests here, then how can you evaluate the increase in brand awareness in the market? Here it is worth focusing on indirect characteristics, such as the same website visit numbers, an increase in the number of mentions of the company on the Internet. And based on this task, select the most correct words when writing an ad. Do not try to cover in one text all the global tasks that you set for yourself and your business as a whole.
• Bet on brevity, but do not forget about the capacity of your ads. It is important to consider that contextual advertising texts have serious character limitations. That is, you have a limited number of words to convey important information about yourself and your product to the audience. Avoid long introductions, complex, ornate phrases. That is, write specifically, concisely and to the point. If you fail to interest the target client in a few words, they will simply pass by your ad, and the publication itself will simply merge with other advertising, which the modern Internet is massively saturated with.
• Check the effectiveness of your advertising before launching it on the market, make adjustments, increasing the chances of good results. The best option would be the initial launch of A/B testing. It is carried out on a limited number of audiences, but allows you to get average results and identify a number of errors that prevent you from achieving your goals. But even if you conduct such testing, it is still very important to monitor its effectiveness with enviable regularity after launching advertising. Here you should focus on such indicators as CTR, cost per click, number of conversions. It is better to look at these indicators in dynamics, understanding whether they are positive or, conversely, negative. It is also important to compare real numbers with predicted ones. If you see that the result leaves much to be desired, experiment. You can change the title, the ad text itself, make adjustments to the link. Try until you see the desired numbers in the report.

In theory, all this sounds quite simple, which cannot be said about practical application. Now we will give a number of tips that will allow you to create truly effective and working ads for contextual advertising.

TOP recommendations for creating good contextual advertising

To significantly simplify the work associated with the preparation of ads for contextual advertising, it is important to pay attention to a number of specific points, as well as tricks that modern marketers have learned to effectively use in practice. With their help, you can really get the most out of your campaigns in Google Ads, ensure excellent click-through rates, effectively stand out from the competition and avoid the most common mistakes. In this case, you should pay special attention to the following elements:

1. Title and text of the ad.
2. Key phrases.
3. Price.
4. Call to action.
5. Non-target audience.
6. Extensions.

Now we will consider each of these points in detail, we will tell you how to implement these works as correctly as possible, while avoiding the most common mistakes.

Recommendations for composing the title and text of the ad

If we talk first about the title, then here it is first of all important to understand its main task - this is to attract the attention of the target audience, as well as the desire to follow the link and study your offer in more detail. To ensure a good user experience, to avoid dissatisfaction from people and search engines, it is important to ensure high relevance of such a title. That is, what the search query contains, what will include the text of your ad, must be present in the title. The simplest solution is to use the most frequent keyword in the title itself.

Let's say a potential customer is looking for a summer women's dress. If you write "Summer dresses on sale" in the title, then your ad will most likely attract more attention than the title "Women's clothing online store". At the same time, it is important for you to maintain high information content and ensure that your offer is accurately displayed. You should also avoid getting too carried away with creative, unusual wording if it can seriously affect clarity. We remind you that in this case, you should only fit into 30 characters with spaces. That is, choose words so that each of them makes sense to the audience.

Now let's move directly to writing the text for contextual advertising. Here you will already have more characters, namely - up to 90. In principle, this number of characters will be enough to briefly present the advantages and features of your product, service or brand, add a call to action. To write a good ad that will work in practice, pay attention to the following recommendations:

• Focus on the benefit for the potential buyer, present the unique technical offer of your company. That is, you must answer the question: how is your product better than others? What is so unique that you can offer your customers? Why should they pay attention to you, and not go shopping at your closest competitors?
• Try to back up your words with numbers, facts. You should not write that you offer this or that product inexpensively. Write why you have a 40% discount on it. In the same way, you do not need to write “Fast delivery”. The phrase “Delivery to any city in 3 days” will have a much greater effect on users.
• Remove cliches and general words from the text. Phrases such as “Low prices”, “Best quality”, “Individual approach” have already ceased to affect the target audience. They do not inspire confidence and desire to delve into the essence. Therefore, it will be much more reliable to write more specific phrases, such as: “summer women's dress for 3000 rubles”, “40% discount”, “official manufacturer's warranty for 2 years”, etc.
• Focus on simplicity and brevity. Complex, ornate phrases, long sentences with an abundance of turns of phrase - this is what will not allow a person to literally visually understand the essence of your offer. Otherwise, they will not even strain themselves and read, but will simply pass by.
• Start the text of the ad with a capital letter, since according to statistics, this is the easiest way to attract attention, to indicate the importance of the content.

So, if we return to our example about a women's dress, then the title of the ad may look like this “Buy a summer dress at a discount”, and the text itself will be like this: “Over 500 models. Natural materials. Delivery in 3 days with fitting. Bonuses for regular customers”. Such an ad contains facts indicating the benefit for a potential buyer, there is a call to action. It does not contain ambiguous and unreadable phrases. This means that such a version of the title and text can be considered high-quality, such that they will give excellent results in practice.

Add keywords to the ad

Here we would like to draw your attention to one nuance: in contextual advertising, it is a priori prohibited to use bold letters or any other highlights, with the exception of the first capital letter. But if it turns out that the keyword that you add to the title of your ad or its text matches the phrase entered by the user in the search bar, the system will automatically highlight it in bold. This means that such advertising will immediately stand out from its analogues, and accordingly, the audience will pay attention to it.

But along with this, the use of keywords in contextual advertising also solves a number of other related problems, namely, it improves the relevance of the ad, increases its quality from the point of view of the search engine. This is what will have a positive impact on the ranking of such ads, will help reduce the cost of clicks during the auction. That is, the higher the relevance, the more often your ad will be shown by the system at the top of the search results. At the same time, the cost per click will be more profitable than for advertising where keywords were not used.

But here it is very important not to overdo it, but to maintain a balance between the usefulness, information content of the ad and the number of requests. If you insert such phrases every other word, it will look unnatural, not only for ordinary users, but also for the system itself. And this means that clickability and conversion rates will significantly worsen. That is, keywords are important and should be used, but they should be organically integrated into the text itself, not disrupt its readability and usefulness. They should be used in order to convey a specific marketing message.

It is also very important to choose the right keyword. Do not try to cover a huge number of areas in one ad. So, if your ad is dedicated directly to the sale of women's summer dresses, then the key phrase should be appropriate. You don't need to write about women's clothing in general, add accessories, shoes here even if they are in your store's assortment. That is, promote only a specific category from your catalog. Thanks to this, you will be able to cover all low- and mid-frequency phrases, and it is through them that most of the audience that is really interested in this product comes. This means that the conversion rates of the generated traffic will be quite high.

Indicate the price of the product in the ad

This is relevant for absolutely all advertisements. Even if your pricing policy is slightly higher than that of your competitors, you still need to indicate the cost. Yes, the overall clickability may decrease here, but you will receive targeted traffic, show potential buyers your honesty, openness, and willingness to share information. Moreover, modern consumers have already learned to understand that a low price is often associated with a number of hidden nuances, which for the most part make themselves known only after the purchase of the product. Moreover, you can show the price and explain what exactly it is due to: high quality of goods, availability of additional options, other benefits, etc.

Here it is important to understand that phrases such as “Find out the cost by phone”, “Current prices upon request”, “I am sending the price list by mail/direct” very annoying to potential buyers, arouse suspicion that you want to hide something from them. Modern people value their time, efforts, nerves. They want to receive the information they need here and now, literally on the go making a decision on the advisability of a particular purchase.

If your prices are lower than those of your competitors, then it is even more important to demonstrate them. But in any case, even if you offer premium products at a higher cost, then by indicating it, you will filter out those who are looking for cheap goods, thereby saving your own advertising budget.

In practice, various promotions, bonuses, discounts show themselves well in contextual advertising. But again, everything should be as honest and open as possible. If you write that you have a 50% discount on a particular model, then each of your clients should receive it. Eliminate empty promises or excuses such as that such a promotion applies to the first 5 purchases. This is what will reduce the level of trust, and with it the conversion. In practice, seasonal sales, providing an additional discount when buying a product for a certain amount, free shipping and other options that contain a real benefit for people show good results. And here one of the most important tasks is to formulate everything correctly and present it so that literally in the first words people can already see the benefit for themselves.

Be sure to add a call to action

A call to action is the message that gives potential buyers a clear understanding of what you expect to receive from them literally now. That is, this is the action that you motivate them to take. But the main thing is to act as unobtrusively as possible, systematically pushing them to go to the site. That is, phrases such as “Only today and only here”, “Buy right now” should not be used. Too intrusive actions and words will irritate the audience and reduce trust in you. Therefore, think about writing the most correct, unobtrusive call to action, but at the same time encouraging it. As an option, it could be the following:

• «Download the catalog for free»;
• «Compare prices»;
• «Book a table online»;
• «Get a specialist consultation»;
• «Leave a request for a discount».

Such phrases have one thing in common - a call to a simple, unburdensome action for the audience. One that will not require serious decisions from them, but will facilitate the implementation of the first step. Experience shows that this approach actually produces the best results.

Initially exclude non-target audience

Practice shows that some advertisers and marketers, in pursuit of high CTR rates, prepare ads with provocative titles and even content. This is what will really attract a large number of people, but the problem is that they will all be random. That is, in the end, you get a large number of clicks, but the number of orders for goods and services here will be minimal. That is, what benefit will you get from a person who a priori was not going to buy anything? But you will have to spend your advertising budget on him.

To prevent this, it is recommended to initially cut off the audience that will be non-target for you in the ad text itself. This is a chance to increase conversions and minimize advertising costs. You can do this by adding specifics to your ad, namely:

• gender, age of the potential buyer, for example, “strong clothes for expectant mothers”, “educational toys for children aged 1-3”;
• special characteristics of the product, terms of purchase, for example, “stylish haircuts in Lyubertsy”, “1 year warranty”, “only for private entrepreneurs and legal entities;
• price range, positioning, possibly “premium furniture”, “elite real estate”, “budget tours around Europe”.

Such solutions will be enough for a person who is not interested in all this to simply pass by, without wasting your money on advertising, not reducing behavioral factors on the site.

Using extensions in advertising

Here we are talking about using ad extensions on the Google Ads service. This is what will make your advertising as informative, clickable, and attractive as possible. With their help, you will be able to add much more valuable information to your ad, while staying within the allocated limits of the ad unit. And this means that the efficiency will increase significantly. Thus, according to information from search engines, the use of extensions will contribute to a noticeable increase in CTR. And here, in principle, everything is clear: the more information a person can see, the more balanced their decisions will be, and the higher the chance that you will interest them and literally force them to follow the link.

So, today Google Ads provides the ability to use the following extension options:

• Clarifications. These are small blocks in which you can write a phrase up to 25 characters long. They will be displayed directly under your main text. Mostly, they are used to demonstrate key benefits, unique technical or promotional offers to potential buyers. Alternatively, these can be phrases such as “Discounts up to 50%”, “Free shipping”, “Consultation as a gift” etc. What is convenient here is that you can provide up to 20 such clarifications, which will change among themselves during the advertising campaign and will be displayed to a particular user depending on the context of their search query.
• Structured description. Here we are talking about a set of ready-made templates designed to add unique product parameters depending on its category. Alternatively, these could be blocks such as “Brands”, “Services”, “Courses”, “Models”, “Amenities”, etc. Here you will be able to select up to 10 different values for each parameter. The result is a structured offer that allows users to clearly evaluate what you are ready to provide them and, based on this information, literally in real time, make a decision about a purchase.
• Quick links. Along with the main URL on the landing page, you can add up to 4 additional links as extensions that lead to any other pages of your site. Alternatively, this could be the page “About Us”, “Home”, “Blog”, “Payment and Delivery”, etc. Thanks to this, potential buyers will be able to immediately study both the main and additional information, which will also help increase the viewing depth and improve conversions. Please note: for each such link, you can add an additional description in 2 lines, each of which is 90 characters. Imagine how much more important data you can provide to your potential customers.
• Contact information, addresses. For a local business, be it shops, services, cafes, beauty salons, such a solution will be indispensable. With the help of extensions, you can directly show your audience the address of your office or point of sale, directions, working hours, contact phone numbers. This will not only make it easier to contact you, but also increase the trust of potential buyers. And another significant advantage in this case is that when viewed from smartphones, such links will be clickable.
• Promotions. Here you can add information about your sales, discounts, those products that are covered by additional offers. This is your chance to interest your customers, because few will agree to pass by a profitable offer. Be sure to indicate the validity period of your promotions, provide the amount of benefit that your potential client can receive. This is what will ensure higher CTR rates for your ad.
• Cost. This option should be used by all online stores, as well as by individual product catalogs. Thanks to this extension, prices for certain items will be displayed directly in the ad. Thanks to this, users will immediately evaluate their own benefit and make a decision about the purchase.
• Links to related applications. If you have a separate mobile application, you can add a link to it here. On smartphones, such an extension will be presented as an icon and a button for the fastest and easiest installation.

One of the most significant advantages of such extensions is that they are offered to users in Google Ads absolutely free of charge. You do not need to allocate additional funds from your own budget for such impressions or for clicks on other links, buttons. But at the same time, the extension significantly increases the visibility and attractiveness of advertising, provides users with increased convenience and a positive experience when interacting with the ad itself, as well as with the business as a whole.

Additional recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of advertising ads

Adhering to all the recommendations that we described above, you will be able to prepare a high-quality ad for contextual advertising, including a semantic core, correct headings and the text itself. By using extensions, you can significantly increase the usefulness of information for the audience, which will have a positive effect on increasing the number of clicks and conversions. This is what will make your advertising truly effective and minimize the material costs of its management.

But still, along with the key features, there are also additional points here, using which you can squeeze the most out of your ad and the money that was allocated. In particular, we are talking about the following aspects:

1. Run A/B testing. We have already mentioned that preliminary testing of an advertising campaign on a narrow category of users will allow you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy, as well as eliminate problems and errors before the ad goes to the masses. Here you can play with the title and content, calls to action, identifying which solutions are most appealing to the audience. It is important to understand that the search engine will more often show the ad that gives the best results, brings more clicks. By monitoring the testing process, you will be able to remove ineffective combinations, eliminating empty spending of the budget.
2. Connect the "if" operator to your work. This solution will allow you to make adjustments to certain elements of the text depending on the current conditions. Let's assume that your ad is shown to mobile users. In this case, the ad will immediately contain an offer to install the application. Those who have previously visited the site can be shown a personal benefit, be it an additional discount or bonuses. The "if" operator is connected at the settings stage. You initially need to make special markup in the ad text, highlighting the variables that you want to change using curly brackets. Then, the corresponding triggering rules are set directly in Google Ads. That is, you set the conditions under which this or that action will be launched. If desired, you can set up dozens of different rules, providing a corresponding text option for each of them. This solution will make your advertising campaign more flexible and ensure high conversion rates.
3. Use dynamic ads in your work. This option will be ideal when launching an advertising campaign for online stores with impressive catalogs of goods and services. Manually creating an appropriate ad for a huge number of key queries will be a really difficult task, but it can be automated using dynamic ads. The very essence of this method is that the Google search engine will scan your site, analyze the content presented on it, key queries, headings, and then independently generate ads that will be relevant to user queries for a particular product item. As a result, you will only need to create a text template for the future ad, remove those product items that you do not plan to advertise at the moment. Statistics show that dynamic pages can increase CTR by an average of 10-15% compared to other types of advertising campaigns.
4. Segment your target audience. One of the key secrets to the success of any advertising campaign is This is a focus on those buyers who will obviously be interested in your product or service, as well as the use of personalization. This means that it is in your interests to segment your audience with maximum precision, because in the end you get a large number of clicks and conversion actions. This point will be especially important when working with a fairly wide market. For example, if you sell clothes, then the query “buy a women's summer dress” will not be able to attract men, parents who are looking for new clothes for their children, those who are choosing fashionable accessories. This means that you need to launch different ads for women, men, young parents, etc. Moreover, here you can provide for communication with each segment of the audience in their language, ensure maximum relevance of your offers. Alternatively, you can also segment depending on the price of the product, dividing your range into premium goods, mass market, budget goods.
5. When choosing landing pages, bet on the most relevant ones. This means that the user you are calling with your ad must go to the correct page. That is, if your potential buyer is looking for a summer women's dress, then by clicking on the corresponding link, he should end up in the catalog with summer women's dresses, and not where demi-season clothing, accessories, shoes are presented. Otherwise, trust in your brand will decrease, you will receive clicks, but they will not go into conversion actions. Many online stores aimed at attracting a mass audience even launch separate landing pages for each of the groups of search queries. This, of course, is quite a costly process both in terms of time and effort, money.

Now you know all the secrets of the correct preparation of an advertisement. One that will be positively assessed by both the search engine and ordinary users, and will provide maximum conversion rates.

Let's sum it up

To make your work with contextual advertising as effective as possible, so that it really attracts the target audience, provides you with excellent conversion rates and direct sales, take a comprehensive approach to preparing the advertisements themselves. In today's review, we have considered in detail all those points that should be taken into account by everyone who would like to achieve maximum efficiency in the end.

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