SESSION NOTES #016. The not-so subtle art of making a sexy search ad.

Kicking off today’s article with the ad that inspired it all.

I once considered THE ICONIC the gold standard for performance marketing but this one really made me wince:

I fear my frown lines are deeper than they were before I saw this. I don’t need to launch an investigation to know what happened here.

This is 100% PMax neglect. A “women’s fashion” ad put into an asset group with no further finessing for the searches it’s showing for. It’s basically a branded ad that’s showing at the wrong time and place.

I believe in the art world they call this a flop.

I may not be Da Vinci, but in my own way, I can still teach you how to create a masterpiece.

On to the good stuff, crafting a search ad 🎨

In today’s explainer I’m showcasing the ads I wrote for my husband’s magic business - Magic Mike (Not A Stripper).

Partially because I think they are pretty sexy ads and partially because I’m trying to get his website more mentions across the web (the ultimate 2 birds 1 stone scenario).

Now the first thing you may notice - against Google’s “best practice” - is that I have chosen not to use the full 15 headline positions available to me. Why?

Simple: the budget is too small.

If you’re spending under $150 daily and you “leave it up to the machine” to find the best combo for 15 headlines - that’s too many possible permutations for me to have confidence that Google has selected the right ones.

The math doesn’t math.

The better way is launching 8-10 headlines and then every few months cutting the worse performers and adding some new ones into the rotation.

You might also notice that I’ve used pinning even though Google would prefer me not to. I don’t care what they want. I have seen ads in the wild that combine headlines that don’t make sense together and, even worse, no target keywords at all. It’s not good work.

Trust your instincts. Pin the headline whenever it makes sense to.

Target Keywords - look at data from the last 90 days and choose the top performing searches from your search terms report (e.g. highest conversions or highest conversion value).

If you’re building a new campaign from scratch, start with relevant keywords with the highest monthly search volume in keyword planner.

Try to keep some distinctness between the headlines otherwise you will fragment that data over variations that are essentially the same. For example “best magician” and “top magician” would have been too similar.

Brand Name - Whilst I’d typically prioritise the target keyword in headline 1, for Magic Mike we decided to include the brand name in position 1 instead because it’s a bit cheeky and helps differentiate him from other magicians.

Note: you may choose not to include your business’s name at all if you have more keywords to target or need that prime real estate for another compelling message, such as a sign up offer or Unique Selling Point.

Call-to-action - This is simply what you want the person to do or something that might spark them to act. A lot of people looking for quotes want quick responses so “Replies in 24 hours” is there as reassurance that you will get what you want quickly.

For e-commerce this could be “Same Day Dispatch” or “Next Day Delivery” if you offer it. Tap into the things that customers actually care about - check your reviews / customer feedback surveys for inspiration.

✏️ A quick note on what customers don’t care about:

Social proof - This one is an optional for headlines. It’s only there for you to use if you have something juicy that will make your ad stand out against competitors or something that will help legitimise your brand if you’re newer in the market. For example:

For Magic Mike we went with “100K+ Instagram Followers” to help build credibility and that perception of being “in demand.”

Headlines are the focal point of your artwork and the descriptions are your background.

Descriptions are the extra details that add depth and credibility to your piece but are only seen if the headline succeeded in drawing the eye. This may look like:

End with a call-to-action so the sentence feels complete no matter what order Google decides to show your descriptions.

When I first learnt how to build search ads it was a simple game of relevancy.

All you had to do was include the exact keyword you were targeting (it was one ad per keyword) and add “shop” or “buy” alongside it. We built ads with excel formulas and we didn’t care about sounding too robotic. Why would we when it worked?

But that was the old way. The ad formats changed on us and we had to adapt:

Relevancy still matters but it’s not enough. It gets you a pass.

Adding a unique selling point and social proof to your headlines is what will earn you a distinction. But remember, it has to be genuinely unique or impressive to customers.

You can’t say what everyone else is saying and expect to be clicked on.

Cheers,

Sarah Arvela Webb

_{Brought to you by Ginger (tea, kombucha, beer) single-handedly keeping the winter plague away from my house.}

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