When was the last time you looked at your AdWords ads in a live Google search? Been a long time? You might want to check it out.
In the last few weeks Google has made a very subtle change to the way the display their AdWords ads. Can you spot the difference?
Not seeing it? Let me help.
Keywords are no longer bolded in titles.
Now you might be wondering why this is important. Well, it has been a common practice to use your keywords or keyword insertion in the titles of ads. This was a great way to get searchers attention. They just searched for “cheap flights” and voila! There it is in your ad. So the searcher sees that your ad is exactly what they are looking for and they click on it.
If you’re like me you probably already forgot it used to look like so here’s an example.
Now that Google has taken that away by removing the bolding in titles, advertisers should shift their focus to the description and display URL. And we’re in luck because keyword bolding is still works there.
Why, why, WHY!
Why would Google do this. Well, look at it this way. If every advertiser is using keyword insertion for their titles, guess what… Every ad is going to look the same. Every time someone searches for “dog sitters” all the ads have the same title. Yep you guessed it “Pet Sitters” BORING! Even more so now that there is no bolding.
Google may have realized that this made their less attractive to visitors and they weren’t clicking on the ads enough and instead were opting to click on the natural search results. This hurts their revenue and can hurt your CTR (clickthrough rate), which in turn can hurt your quality score. Yikes!
What does this mean for my AdWords Ads?
It means that you can now get more creative with your headlines, which might give you more space to work with. This gives you a chance to differentiate your ads. By differentiating your ads you can work to improve your CTR and in turn your Quality Score. It’s important to remember how your ad copy impacts the performance of your paid search. Using keyword insertion in the other parts of your ad you can still take advantage of bolding while it still lasts there.
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