Good advice on paid search ad copy is hard to find, says Jacob Baadsgaard in a recent Search Engine Land article. He says that many marketers, “Throw out a bunch of letters or words and hope you guess the winning combination.” Does this sound like you? If you need some help with your strategy, Baadsgaard is a writer and reviewer of countless campaigns and offers some advice on what not to do in ad copy.

Don’t Practice Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is defined by Google as, “the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in Google search results.” Keywords are obviously an important part of getting your clients’ websites found. However, when you start working in popular keywords that have nothing to do with your client’s offerings just to get clicks, you’re going to develop a bad reputation for them. When a consumer sees a title on the search results list that has nothing to do with what they are looking for, they’ll skip over it. So, you need to keep your client’s keywords tailored to fit only what they offer. Anything extra just looks sketchy from the outside.

Utilize Prospects’ Needs

If you really want to spark a potential customer’s interest in your client’s website, you shouldn’t just stick to promoting the basics of their business. “If you want people to click on your paid search ads, you need to focus on the problem, pain point or need that triggered their search,” says Baadsgaard. He outlines the example of people searching for quick passport renewals. 

In situations like this, your client’s link must address the need for speed that the customer feels. The link will be the first, and may be the only, part of the search results the customer will see. If the information they’re looking for is buried in the small print of the site’s description, they’ll move on. So, brainstorm with your client about the pain points potential customers will be searching for and tailor the ad copy to those needs.

Nearly 86% of U.S. adults are Google Searchers, according to AudienceSCAN data on AdMall by SalesFuel. In the Google Searchers profile, you can also find information on their buying habits and plans, as well as what types of advertising are effective on them. This data will give you a better idea of the products and services they’ll be searching for.