Quick Ways to Make Your Google Ads Stand Out from the Competition

What about your revenue? Google Ads brings in billions of dollars for the search engine giant, but what does that do for you?

Advertising can be very competitive and challenging, especially for those who are just starting out. It can be easy for advertisements to get lost in the sea of other advertisements. Since there is a limited amount of space on a search results page, each result must compete for a spot.

With that in mind, here are the features the pros use to stand out from the competition:

The Latest Expanded Text Ads

Google increased the size of their text ads by introducing expanded text ads in 2016. The increased character count allowed for more messaging that reflected the advertiser’s key incentives.

Many experts began using the new format as soon as it was released, even though Google didn’t require them to make the switch until January 2017. Advertisers can still run regular ads, but they wouldn’t be able to edit them or create new ads.

Some people were hesitant to switch to the new format, but advertisers who didn’t switch were at a disadvantage compared to those who did. Since ETAs had higher clickthrough rates than standard ads, the go-getters ended up with a huge head start.

And ads with high click-through rates (CTRs) tend to have higher quality scores, which in turn leads to lower costs-per-click (CPCs) and better ad positioning.

Now you have this opportunity again!

In August, Google expanded their text ad format to allow for more characters. However, taking advantage of these new character limits is still optional.

The newest version of expanded text ads has a second headline and more characters in every text field, which makes the ads even more noticeable. Here’s what’s new:

An additional, optional headline of up to 30 characters
An additional, optional description line
Both description lines can now be up to 90 characters (increased from 80)

An increase in the number of characters allowed may not seem like much, but it can have a big impact on how your ads look and perform.

The new Estimated Time of Arrival (ETAs) feature up to 218% more text than the original “standard” format. As expected, search engine optimization (SEO) experts are already updating their ads to capitalize on the latest Google algorithm change—and this time you should too!

Although the additional headline and description will not be visible all the time, they will help you to be more noticeable when they are by making the advertisement itself larger. If you include a third headline in your ad, you will have 30 more characters of highlighted blue text at the top of your ad.

Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are additional pieces of text that users can choose to add to their ads. Google introduced the first extension—sitelinks—way back in 2009. The advertiser’s website has several links that appear beneath the ad. These links direct searchers to different pages on the website.

Adding ad extensions can increase an ad’s CTR by an average of 10-15%. Extensions not only add functionality, but also increase the space available for your ads, and they’re free to implement, so there’s no reason not to use them.

There are four ad extensions that you must use if you are not already using them. This means that they are simple to put into place, and you can include things like important offers and information about your business that would normally take up space in an advertisement.

1. Sitelinks

Sitelinks are useful because they let you link to different parts of your site. The number of sitelinks you see varies from 2 to 8. One way to make your sitelinks more effective is to create unique, goal-oriented landing pages for each one. This will help people get to the information or page they’re looking for more quickly and easily. You can also customize sitelinks at the ad group level to make them more relevant to specific searches.

2. Callouts

Each callout extension can be up to 25 characters long, but they cannot be clicked on. They emphasize the features, benefits, and selling points of your business. Using a CTA can help you point out unique aspects of your business that you cannot fit into the main advertisement. Some things that may be important to customers are250 5 star reviews, 5 convenient locations, all credit cards accepted, etc.

3. Call Extensions

Adding a call extension to your ad allows you to include a phone number without reducing the amount of text you can include in your ad. Callout extensions allow mobile users to call your business directly by tapping a button. You should include call extensions in all applicable ads because they are quick and easy to implement.

4. Structured Snippets

This extension below your ad allows you to include a list of products or services. Structured snippets include a category header, such as “services,” followed by a list of items, like “pet grooming, pet sitting, dog training, de-shedding.”

featuring reviews and testimonials from past customers is a great way to set your ad apart from competitors You can get creative too. If you’re a B2B database host, you could list features like Cloud Automation, Advanced Security, and an Easy-To-Use Data Browser.

Google restricts the categories you can choose from when setting up your campaign. The complete list of code snippets categorized by header can be found here. Here are some other structured snippet examples based on different ones:

Amenities: Free WiFi, Sauna, Early Check-In, Concierge Service, Continental Breakfast
Brands: Urban Decay, bareMinerals, Nyx, Tarte, Too Faced
Courses: Financial Training, Investment Banking, Business Economics, Fundraising

Adding a few extra features to your product gives you more ways to get your customers’ attention. This can help push your competition further down on the page.

Geotargeting and other important settings

Using ad extensions in conjunction with the latest ETA format will increase the number of clicks advertisers receive. Although this can have benefits, it can also be negative because most of us don’t have an unlimited amount of money.

There are features you can use to minimize clicks from unqualified traffic, which is fortunate. You should take advantage of these features to save yourself some time and effort. We will be focusing on bid modifiers, geotargeting, remarketing lists for search ads, ad scheduling, and negative keyword lists.

Bid Modifiers

Google allows you to increase or decrease your bids based on when and how people search. This is done through bid modifiers. Bid modifiers can be used to improve your campaign’s performance on different devices, locations, and times of day. Advertisers bid up or down by percentages.

If you want to increase your bids for mobile searches, you can adjust your bids to +30% for mobile devices. If you want your ad to appear for desktop searches, you can adjust your bids to -30% for desktop devices. This will reduce the amount you pay for clicks on these devices.

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is not just about displaying your ads in the locations you want. You can improve the effectiveness of your ads by excluding certain locations and regions. Bid modifiers allow you to customize your bids for specific areas. This can be useful if you want to target a specific area with a higher bid.

Geotargeting allows you to improve your ROI by preventing clicks from people who are not interested in your product or service (e.g. people who live outside of your service area, or who live in an area with a lower income). It is worth taking the time to set it up and make it better.

Why competitor research matters

1. You can take a shortcut to the right content marketing formula.

You are not the only one in your industry.

Although it may seem like the people who are at the top of your industry have always been there, leaders in your industry have probably gone through many failures on their way to becoming successful.

You can simplify things a lot by looking at what they’re doing. You can learn from the successes and failures of others to help you make better decisions in your own life.

You can save time, money and frustration by doing this! It is important to be able to find the right formula to help you grow your business quickly online.

2. You can scope the market for new competitors.

Advertising allows you to understand how your competition is behaving en masse.

By using the right tools, you can learn about the competition for consumers.

Even if you are already aware of this, you can uncover some fascinating information about your competition. You can find new keywords, auction statistics, and other useful information.

All of this will result in better preparation.

And preparation is paramount.

Being aware of what is happening around you gives you an advantage over others who are not as informed.

If this sounds appealing, keep on reading.

What competitor insights should you look for?

Luckily, on Google Ads, your competitors are very visible. Each time you conduct a search related to your products, you will notice ads from your competitors.

When business owners see their competitors’ ads, they often feel the need to find a way to get their own ads above theirs. Although it may not be the best strategy, it is the only way to know if your competitor’s campaigns are generating a profit.

To outrank your competitors, it is good to start by collecting information. This will allow you to make better-informed decisions when it comes to your budget.

How much are your competitors spending? What keywords are they using in their advertisements? And most importantly, how profitable are their campaigns?

This article provides tips on how to learn about what your Google Ads competitors are doing and how you can use that information to improve your own performance.

Which competitors are using Google Ads?

To find out who your Google Ads competitors are, you’ll need to find out who is advertising on Google Ads. You can easily find out which advertisers are relevant to your keywords by searching for a couple of keywords and seeing which ones pop up.

It is important to keep in mind that this method does not give you an accurate representation of the entire situation. Other companies’ ads might only appear at certain times, or they may have already used up their allocated budget for the day. In addition, the amount of money spent on advertising may be less than what is being spent by your competitors.

The best PPC tools to help you spy on your competitors

The following is a list of the best Google Adwords spy tools:

1. Auction Insights via Google Ads Campaign

The Auction Insights tool allows you to see which other domains are entering the same Google ad auctions as your campaign, ad group, and keyword. This allows you to see how well your ads are performing in comparison to other advertisers.

2. SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb allows you to compare your monthly traffic to your competitor’s, see which channels bring the most visitors, and identify where these visitors come from.

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an excellent resource for competitor analysis. You can use it to track your competitor’s backlinks, keyword rankings, organic traffic, and more. This tool will provide you with useful insights about your competitor’s website, including data about their most popular pages, the IP addresses they use, and any external links they have. Ad keyword research and analysis is also an excellent tool provided by Ahrefs.

4. SEMRush

SEMRush specialises in competitor data. You can use SEMRush to compete with your competitors by looking at their ad keywords and traffic numbers.

5. iSpionage

iSpionage is a tool that lets you research a competitor’s keywords to see which ones are most effective for organic search and paid search results in both Google and Bing. You can also find out how much your competitors are spending on their PPC campaigns, all of which is crucial data to help you Conversion rates high and costs low.

6. SpyFu

This tool allows you to see your competitor’s top paid keywords, as well as the CPC and monthly cost. You can learn which keywords are worth pursuing by finding out where your competitors are spending their money.

7. KeywordSpy

Competitor analysis is a necessaryevil in any industry. You can use manycompetitor analysis tools to findout what your competitors are up to, butKeywordSpy is one of the few that allowsyou to see your competitor’s AdWordsad copy and spending. The software will also suggest specific keyword and ad combinations that are deemed to be profitable.

Conclusion

In summary, the tools you saw here can help you:

Identify your competitors
Learn about their previous campaigns and results
Get all the information you need on the keywords that they’re using
Use the data you collect to create a superior strategy

You only need a small amount to stay in the game and become one of the best players.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you should use a combination of these tools.