I just recently created a post on paid search marketing 101 for the small business and thought this would be a great add on to that post. Google has been and always will be a big believer in conversion optimization testing. Think about it for a second. Why wouldn’t they be right?

The more conversions, in this case clicks, the more they make. They have been testing over the past few weeks longer headlines within  selected paid search ads. This is part of the blog post on their official blog:

“We’re continually testing variations of our search results page to optimize performance for both you and our users. Similarly, you’re probably always trying to find ways to maximize each line of your ad to get your message across to users. To help, we’ll soon be making a change to certain ads that will allow you to display more information where it’s most likely to be noticed–in the headline.” You can read the full blog post here.

How Do You Get Them?

You have to be one of the top ads for that search term and your first description line needs to have the punctuation. My research has show me that this is only happening to description lines that end in a period.

What Do I Have To Do To My Ads?

Nothing as long as your search ad has a the correct punctuation in the first description line.

What Is The Big Deal About This?

It makes your ads different and in the world of paid search this is a premium.  Anything you can do to look different against your competition will help you drive more qualified traffic to your site and hopefully convert to more sales. Take a look at my example and notice the difference between the 1st and 3rd search ad from the 2nd one?  It makes a big difference in how the ad stands out.

So What Can I Expect From This?

Google says that they have seen higher click through rates for these ads and that is about all they will give us on this topic.  I can tell you that I expect to see a 10-15% increase in your click through rate but I do have a client that has been fortunate enough to receive this upgrade in their marketing ad throughout the past few weeks and has seen a 25-35% increase in click through rate. A very nice gain!

OK I Am Sold – What’s Next?

First of all, Google is NOT recommending you optimize your PPC ads for this upgrade. I would attend to agree as an overall search marketing strategy but would look at opportunities to do this now on a keyword by keyword basis. Ask yourself:

• Is your ad already in the top spot for that keyword?
• Does your first description line end in a period (or exclamation point)?
• Are you happy with the results from this ad you are getting currently?

You may think the last bullet point is crazy. Why wouldn’t you want additional clicks of qualified traffic? Just remember that this is a test and you have to treat it as if you were heading off to Vegas with pocket full of money. There are no guarantees in gambling that your going to win and the same holds true for testing. Honestly, I am a gambling man (even though this is not a big gamble to do) so I would start researching your keywords, find out where you are positioned, and tweak those ads to make sure the first description line ends in a period. Hopefully the Google paid search gods will sprinkle down some magic dust upon you!