When you’re a writer, sometimes it’s like a hot knife through butter or even that perfect cup of coffee. The words just flow so smoothly. Other times it’s like trying to break a diamond with your teeth. You wind up in pain, gumming your food wondering if it was all worth it. Sometimes, the words just aren’t there. When you’ve got an ad to write, what the hell do you do?
I have to admit, when I found out about this neat little trick, I couldn’t believe it. People have to be using this all the time. And if they aren’t, why not?
Part of the reason is probably that little thrill you get when you realize your headline, words you carved out of nothing actually compelled someone to click on your ad.
Now that the moment has passed, here’s the little cheat I mentioned. It’s called Keyword Insertion.
So what is it?
Keyword Insertion let’s you automatically use the word that triggered your ad as your headline. This makes your ad more relevant and can result in a higher CTR. Of course, as long as the other elements of your targeted advertising align, you can reap the benefits of this little trick.
How does it work?
Well, say one of your keywords is steampunk novel. You use { in the first line of your text ad and that triggers a contextual menu. Select Keyword insertion. In the text box, enter your keyword/phrase.
The choices of case:
Title Case*: The first letter of every word is capitalized: Steampunk Novel
Sentence Case: Default. Only the first letter of the first word in a sentence is capitalized : Steampunk novel
Lower case: no capitalization: steampunk novel
Once you’re done, hit SET and the first line of your ad is ready. You do have to write the other lines, though.
The great thing about this is that you’re sure to have higher CTRs because your headline will match what the reader is looking for. I have about one or two in a couple of ad groups and I see double-digit CTRs. Time will only help the situation.
Keep in mind the following:
- Make sure that your keyword/phrase isn’t too long but is short enough to accommodate what a potential reader is looking for.
- While AdWords accepts misspellings, they can’t show ads with misspellings.
- Your keywords and phrases have to make sense. Syntax and relevance matter.
- Your traffic may be weaker but that’s to be expected when you’re being more precise in your advertising
- This only works with text ads. I tried (despite being told that)
So, what do you think about Keyword Insertion? Comment below
* Title Case is an AdWords ads best practice so that’s the case I choose
