Whatever budget your running, Google Ads is expensive and a lot of your business can hinge on good performance.
While there’s a lot of technical things to optimize your campaigns, performance of your creative is still a incredibly large factor in good click through rates and conversion.
I think everyone can admit they use examples from other advertisers, great artists steal and what not. So I’ve put together some example ads along with my commentary to help spur those creative juices.
Table of Contents
- B2B Software
- Consumer Software
- Professional Services Ads
- Consumer Services
- Home Services
- eCommerce
- Some Takeaways
B2B Software
Competitive
Linkedin is ironically using Google Ads to steal traffic from Google Ads. The ad is short and leads with a huge benefit that advertisers would be attracted to immediately. The second headline is a call to action and a branding element in one.
HoneyBook is being a little cheeky and trying to take traffic away from a market leader in FreshBooks. This ad catches my eye and I suspect that it’s pretty effective, this ad has been running for a while. One thing I think might be missing, it doesn’t really give me a reason why HoneyBook might be better than FreshBooks, it’s just a fun ad.
In this Google Ad example, ClickUp uses multiple sitelinks to showcase various features that Asana users might find appealing. However, they miss an opportunity to clearly differentiate themselves from Asana or highlight any specific pain points they address. This could be an area for improvement in their ad strategy.
In this Google Ad example, Make is directly competing with Zapier, as evidenced by their URL explicitly mentioning Zapier.
Their main selling point is offering more features at a lower cost. The ad displays pricing information, which, for those familiar with Zapier’s rates, shows that Make is more budget-friendly, at least according to this advertisement.
This approach could pique the interest of users who might be feeling the pinch from Zapier’s invoices or pricing structure. For these potential customers, Make positions itself as a viable and cost-effective alternative.
Branded
Asana is bidding on their own keyword to defend against competitive ads. They’re effectively explaining their product while using an action-oriented headline. “Get Started” is a smart choice, as someone searching for Asana likely wants to do just that. Their use of sitelinks allows users to dive deeper into specific product features. The “free” aspect is always appealing, making this a solid competitive defense ad strategy.
Zapier is making really good use of the ad extensions to take up all the space when someone is searching for Zapier. The imagery, which is a new emphasis for Google, draws the eye towards the first ad so that even if competitors are bidding, they’re looking at Zapier first. Zapier uses “free” and more integrations than anyone, which is a very good anti-competitive headline. In the description, the benefit is clear: automate processes without a developer, set up a Zap, and save an average of four hours per week in the first week. They have site extensions and a form extension to make the ad a little bit larger.
High intent
Buzzsprout uses key words effectively, positioning themselves as “the number one place to host a podcast” and “the best way to host and track.” But, there’s room for improvement in showing rather than telling why they’re the best.
They include reviews which is great social proof, they could be more specific about their unique features.
For users familiar with podcast hosting options, what specific feature sets are they comparing? Price is an obvious factor, but what other aspects of podcast hosting matter? Despite this, it’s a strong ad targeting high-intent searchers.
Here we see two different approaches from Zoho and ClickUp on how they approach the search project management tool. Zoho is very much talking about features with Zoho, but they use their headline for branding and some social proof saying that they’re the best and better than the best.
Zoho mention’s mentions free, up to three users. ClickUp, on the other hand, not only offers it for free as but also makes effective use of numbers. They highlight “100% off,” which implies a discount, and use “#1” as social proof.
This strategy helps their ad stand out by incorporating numerical elements.ClickUp, on the other hand, not only offers it for free as I mentioned, but also makes effective use of numbers. They highlight “100% off,” which implies a discount, and use “number one” as social proof. This strategy helps their ad stand out by incorporating numerical elements.
SEMrush in third place is probably misbidding on this term. I don’t think this is where they want to be, but they do match the keyword phrase quite specifically. You also notice that Zoho matched the project management tool and gets a bold there while ClickUp doesn’t. I think there’s a slight tweak there for ClickUp to match that. It’s pretty easy to change software to tool.
Consumer Software
Branded
Coursera is doing all of the things you’d want to see in a branded search. It has discounted pricing, branding, a call to action, and a unique selling proposition so that when someone is bidding against Coursera, they have a lot of defensive properties to that search.
It’s also making good use of site extensions to make the first position ad much longer. Someone searching for Coursera is likely to click on this ad.
Headspace effectively maximizes their ad’s visibility by utilizing all available Sitelink extensions. These extensions showcase additional benefits of the Headspace app beyond meditation, which is a smart approach. The ad also prominently features “meditation,” ensuring that users searching specifically for meditation services can easily identify Headspace as a relevant solution.
High Intent
These high-intent ads are an example of the difficulty in differentiating between ExpressVPN and NordVPN. One is offering a free trial while the other is offering a money-back guarantee. There’s nothing really that they can advertise here.
Interestingly, the affiliate ad dominates the screen real estate, providing more targeted options for searchers. It’s worth noting that these options are advertised as free and are even localized to my specific area.Interestingly, the affiliate ad dominates the screen real estate, providing more targeted options for searchers. It’s worth noting that these options are advertised as free and are even localized to my specific area.
When looking at the Google Ads for password managers, it’s clear they all make good use of relevant keywords.
What stands out is NordPass’s approach – they’re the only one highlighting the pain points that drive people to use password apps, like losing passwords and protecting accounts from unauthorized access.
LastPass’s ad doesn’t offer much beyond emphasizing that it’s free. 1Password simply showcases a free trial and demonstrates the app’s features.
Professional Services Ads
Including your price in the ad headline can effectively attract price-conscious buyers, which seems to be the case in the web developer search results.
It’s essentially a competition to offer the most affordable web development services. DreamzTech goes a step further with their extensions, showcasing the types of software they can develop.
Once again, we see numerous claims of being “number one,” “best,” or “award-winning,” but these lack explanation or context. It’s unclear what metrics these claims are based on. As more advertisers adopt this approach, I believe its effectiveness diminishes.
These ads show how to maximize ad extensions effectively. You’ll notice they include the sale extension, price promotion extension, image extension, phone extension, and form extension. Both ads make excellent use of keywords. This isn’t so much about creative writing; it’s primarily focused on leveraging extensions to their fullest potential.
It’s important for your ad to be as relevant as possible to the search term. In this example, I searched for “accountant for startups,” and two of the four ads are talking about influencers and expats.
These ads are likely to get fewer clicks despite their prominent position. Tom Dunn’s ad does a great job by mentioning entrepreneurs and startups. Interestingly, none of the ads are location-based, which might be typical for this industry.
The key takeaway here is that ensuring your ads are relevant to the search term is absolutely fundamental for success.
Consumer Services
This is an emergency search, and the top two ads for roof repair are interesting.
Avenue Road Roofing makes good use of their extensions, including an address extension, a phone number, and a store hours extension. Their site links show emergency roof residential, so if I were searching for roof repair, it would seem very relevant to me. I know that they’re open, and I know they’re close by.
My Roof Tip-Top Trough is also interesting because it has a unique headline. “My roof is leaking” is something that could be very relevant to me if I was looking for roof repair, and that one’s also good in that sense.
In a market where many backlink agencies lack a personal touch, RhinoRanks stands out by presenting itself as a genuine company with real people behind the scenes. This addresses a common concern in the backlink building industry.
They’ve effectively utilized their image extension, and recognizing the high-intensity nature of this search, they’ve made it straightforward for potential clients to contact RhinoRank and convert into leads.
McLeish Orlando showcases a unique selling proposition by highlighting their ability to speak 20+ languages and offering a no-fee guarantee, which is quite compelling. Their mention of 20 years of experience further adds to their credibility. These are prime examples of “show, don’t tell” – it’s how they build trust with potential clients.
The Alam Law Firm’s ad also attempts this approach, but in my opinion, it’s not as effective as McLeish Orlando’s strategy.
In this example, every advertiser is utilizing site extensions effectively, making differentiation challenging. I believe the star ratings stand out as a distinguishing factor. Additionally, each advertiser is promoting different savings percentages, with 35% being the highest figure mentioned. Square One takes a different approach by discussing specific costs, which could be more or less relevant depending on the individual and their vehicle.
Home Services
This example really highlights how crucial it is to craft compelling headlines. The first and third ads completely miss the mark with their headlines, just mentioning pricing and free quotes without any real context for someone searching about landscaping.
If I had to pick one to click, I’d go with Avanti Landscaping here, regardless of what the rest of their ad says. Their headline actually grabs my attention and relates to what I’m looking for.
eCommerce
Desky’s standing desk ad is significantly more appealing than Uline’s.
The image is better, and it provides more detailed pricing information. Being based in Canada myself, their ad is particularly relevant to me from a search standpoint.
Overall, I’d be much more inclined to click on Desky’s ad compared to Uline’s in this instance.
Some Takeaways
- Remember that you are in a competitive landscape, you need to find your path to differentiation.
- A lot of ads use title casing to try to stand out.
- Numbers are also a good way to stand out.
- Make sure you use all of your ad extensions.
- Be very specific to your keyword if you can.
- Be relevant to your keyword.
- In a competitive brand search, you’re going to want to stand out and maybe subvert expectations or at the very least compete heavily on the search term because you’re paying a premium.
- Free is a beautiful word
- Discounts are also great
- Image extensions are going to get increasingly important
Looking for more ad writing help? We wrote another post with Google headline tips. 30characters can help you write good Google Ads in seconds, try it free.
