Comments on: 5 More Ways to Improve CTR

By: PPV Traffic

PPV Traffic — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:49:32 +0000

I really agree with this article. However for me SEO is just keeping my website fresh with new articles from my ghostwriter, backlink building and social bookmarking. I learned that there isn’t a secret code to doing SEO but I still can’t rank for terms, or how to earn a high page rank. I tried using PPC but it just ran up a huge drbt and didn’t make any sales.

By: Deborah Cohen

Deborah Cohen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:01:17 +0000

Thanks Dave! Really insightful work. And good proof demonstrating the difference that small changes can make. I also write some articles on SEM basics. If you want to read about PPC, paid listings, and Google Adwords basics you can read my articles.

Keep the good work coming!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:27:52 +0000

Hi,
I’ve being using adwords for a while now, but never thought of using the seasonal headline, I’m amazed at how the Xmas one stands out when it’s put beside its no-seasonal equivalent! And it’s just the right time of year to start adding them to my campaigns :)
Thanks
Stephen.

By: Dave Davis

Dave Davis — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:36:26 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Dean.

The limit is 25 chars. There used to be an exception to this rule by using dynamic keyword insertion but GOogle has only this week plugged that hole.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:17:37 +0000

I read your post at just the right time – thanks. Recently, we added the trademark symbol to our company logo, and I was looking for some differentiating factor for our ppc campaign too. This could be the perfect match. I’ve also been looking into dynamic keyword insertion and searched high and low for the maximum number of characters allowed in the title. I’ve seen ads that exceed the standard character limit – do you know what the max is?

By: Real wood blinds

Real wood blinds — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:48:13 +0000

Great article, any oppurtunity to increase CTR is a must and should bve implemented with immediate affect. Very helpful information here, thanks.

By: Compare iPod Speakers

Compare iPod Speakers — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:57:05 +0000

Great tip on the trademark symbol.

I’ve never come across this before, but it sounds like a lot of people use it and rate it.

This is definitely going to get tested in my Christmas PPC campaign. Thanks

By: Internet Dollars - Brad

Internet Dollars - Brad — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:41:22 +0000

I agree. I have used the TM symbol in my Adword ads with good results. Good post.

By: Dhir@Fastmoney

Dhir@Fastmoney — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:50:45 +0000

Dave,

You have pointed out good tips to improve CTR. I think the method “Price In Headline” is best for improve CTR of any ad.
Thanks for your useful post.

By: Wine of Month Club

Wine of Month Club — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:16:44 +0000

Thanks for the info. What I’d love to see next is how to improve click through rates on places like ezine articles where you leave a author bio box etc.

Thanks for always sharing your info, it is extremely helpful

By: Dana

Dana — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:15:39 +0000

Great post. Thank you for this great idea. I will apply this useful advice because I am sure that they will have to increase CTR and improve my work.

By: william

william — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:24:18 +0000

Bravo, Dave. I spent over hundreds of dollars in the adwords, but the CTR is very suck (less than 0.5%). It looks like I’ve done it in the wrong ways!

Thanks for the mind-provoking lesson, I’ve already bookmarked it.

By: dawn

dawn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:55:54 +0000

Hi, what’s you opinion on www & non www versions of display URL, which one works better?

By: Ecommerce Help - Tyrone Shum

Ecommerce Help - Tyrone Shum — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:20:13 +0000

This has been a very interesting read regarding on how you can increase your CTR. After all. almost all of these 5 tips are quite effective especially the price in headline since this would be the things people would usually look for before deciding to purchase something. It also makes your ad look professional yet interesting to click.

By: Neill Richie

Neill Richie — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:31:44 +0000

Great, some good advice in plain english. I’ve just designed another PPC campaign in google to have most keywords disabled due to poor CTR. It is getting tougher to spot search keywords groupings without ads which drive up the CPC! The google help advice is impenetrable compared to this blog. Excellent work.

By: Sid Savage Auto Dealer Supply Forum

Sid Savage Auto Dealer Supply Forum — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:48:16 +0000

Thanks for these great tips, very well written.

By: Bold Endeavours

Bold Endeavours — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:30:34 +0000

Recently i came across an oppinion that one should be very careful with displaying the price of the product unless you are 100% sure your competitors don’t offer such discounts. for if a person finds high prise from the beginning he will not click to your site. though on the other hand this will bring you only people who are really interested.

By: jame

jame — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:10:10 +0000

great I really appreciate these points.thanks foe giving these greate points.but the problem is that the quality of screen shorts are not good try to make it better.well thanks again.

By: Sheena Smart

Sheena Smart — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:18:20 +0000

Have been using Adwords now for just over a month and have really not done much experimenting with keywords. At the moment for certain keywords the CTR ranges from 3.89% to 6.45% and I am not sure if this is good or bad as I suspect a lot depends on how popular said keywords are, etc. I currently have a quality score of 9 which I have now discovered is quite good. Our January sales were up significantly so I am, all things considered pretty happy so far. I had however considered using the terms `Buy Now` as a prefix in the heading on some of my campaigns but am not certain if these words are proven to work in Adwords. Also I only have about 2 keywords per campaign – is that bad? Given the above CTR and quality score I am a little wary of interferring too much. I have read Jon Smith`s Adwords book which was quite entertaining but still a little baffled by the whole thing. On some forums I have seen people saying that they get 30% CTR – could this be true?

By: kimmy san

kimmy san — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:58:11 +0000

These are all great tips. This is like doing SEO on Adwords. I think using seasonal headlines is the best strategy of all. That’s how malls announce their sale (i.e christmas sale, midnight sale, halloween sale). It’s proven since people are just flocking in malls at these times. I never thought this concept is applicable online.

By: DNBOTS

DNBOTS — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:49:26 +0000

wow.. I just learn something new here. I didn’t know that putting keyword/trademark on sub domain gets a point. thank you for sharing.

By: Dave Davis

Dave Davis — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:47:12 +0000

Joe, I think your missing the point. Using the TM symbol with a SPACE before it allows the keyword to be bolded AND for it to appear more “official”.

By: Justice O. Omorodion

Justice O. Omorodion — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:33:30 +0000

Brilliant ideas as always! You’ve got another great killer ideas about how to make maximum profit from ppc without even adding more cent into advertising. Just some few changes in ppc campaign, boom more click through. Marvelous post man!

By: Jeff Gregory

Jeff Gregory — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:54:20 +0000

Thanks, Dave. Again, glad I found your site. Price in headline should #1, imo. (Though, I don’t think you intended to rank them). I’ve found that it’s not just the price, per se, but the “$” that helps. In my experience, CTR for “$0″ is about 20% greater than for same ads with “free” in copy.

And, yes, use $ only if you’re cheapest or equal.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:22:56 +0000

>>Trademark Symbol/Registered Symbol [in the title of your ad]<<
I find this rather hard to believe for search. The only way it work is if the user uses the trademark symbol in the search phrase. OTOH, perhaps the point is not search but rather content placement of an adwords ad. In that case, google is matching your ad with web page content in which case the ® or ™ signs would be relevant.

By: Travis

Travis — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:46:11 +0000

Awesome advice. I’m just about to start deploying ads on a few sites and this is the kind of info I’ve been looking for. One question: What are the consequences of someone clicking the back button and google knowing?

By: simon

simon — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:54:11 +0000

From my time at Experian/Credit expert we got the most conversions from really garish ads with bright colours. In A/B testing red always came out on top. I thought it would scare people off.

What you need is a good ctr but also a good signup rate, depending on the product.

By: Ad Hustler

Ad Hustler — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:36:29 +0000

CTR is by far the most important factor nowadays on the search engines. Good post.

By: raleigh web design

raleigh web design — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:38:48 +0000

First of all it’s great to see you back and some fresh tips. Second those are some great ideas for improving CTR. We are in the process of trying some of them for a couple of our clients campaigns. Thanks

By: Mal

Mal — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:31:12 +0000

The Trademark in the subdomain trick. We used to call that a “Niche site”. Google had to stop allowing advertisers to use trademarks in ad copy because they were sued. I am frequently wrong but I would guess sooner or later they will get successfully sued for the trademark in the url game as well. They have avoided it because they are making monstrous piles of money while advertisers continue to use the technique. Companies like Nike as Amber pointed out know their distributors may very well make a subdomain with their name as part of their organization. No big deal. It comes down to Google making a profit due to the unauthorized use of a trademark by another advertiser. Remember when Google claimed they had no control of the content in YouTube right after they bought it… until they got sued by the lawsuit kings of the world… the music industry. Would I make a few bucks using the old niche site in the url game – as long as it lasts. Regards,