Google AdWords Split Testing - Increase Your CTR and Quality Scores

Business marketing directors can quickly get set up on Google AdWords, but just running an advertising campaign is not the same as running an effective campaign. Your Quality Score is the measure by which Google AdWords determines your advertising’s effectiveness, and it is based on largely on your advertising’s click through rate. The more targeted and successful an advert is, the more clicks through it will garner.

To ensure that your adverts are fulfilling their purpose and drawing in conversions, advertising managers and marketing directors can use split-testing to trial which adverts will do better and improve your click through rate and quality scores. Google AdWords has a built-in function for this, making it easy to test out what will work for your business.

How do I set up Google AdWords split-testing?

Once you have logged into your Google AdWords account and navigated to your Campaigns dashboard, you will need to select an ad group from one of your running campaigns. Select Ads, and create or select two adverts to run your split-testing on. To see which ad will be more effective, you should design two ads that differ entirely. The four aspects that you can alter are the title or headline, the first line of text, the second line of text and the URL that is displayed. Google AdWords helpfully shows you a preview of what each ad will look like, so you can tweak both ads until you are happy. When you first start split-testing ads, you should ensure that they are as different as possible, as you want to narrow down what the successful ad will look like, and with each split test you will come closer to the winning ad. Smaller variables are harder to determine, so changing the wording significantly is the best way to see what works and what does not.

However, both ads should direct those who click to the same landing page. That way, you can determine which advert was more effective. The URL can be different on the ads, but the final page that the customer lands on should remain the same. This makes it easier to figure out which ads are converting through click-throughs and which ones are not. Once you are satisfied with the ads to be tested, you can save the ad and ready them for the campaign to run.

When should I run Google AdWords split-testing?

As mentioned previously, when you start an advertising campaign for the first time you should endeavour to make the adverts as different as possible to really see what works and what does not. Once you have established a successful ad campaign, you can tweak the ads further and run more split-testing to see if you can improve the formula. In this second round of split-testing, you should only change one variable at a time. You then run the two slightly variant ads against one another and see which one performs better.

How do I use Google AdWords split-testing to evaluate my ads?

You can judge which advert is doing better by looking at the click-through rates, cost per conversion rate, and the average cost per click of each ad. Whichever ad has the highest click through rate and the lowest costs is the “winning” ad in the split test. You will then know which wording works the most effectively for your business. The best part is that you can regularly split-test your ads to figure out how to attract potential lead’s attention through your website and other materials as well. You can track all of the changes made to your split-testing campaigns in Google AdWords, making it easy to replicate the testing for the future.

The key point to take away from Google AdWords split-testing is to ensure that the data you receive is significant. If one ad does not pull in a significant number of clicks over another, it is time to run another split test to evaluate if the ads are too similar. By changing your wording and constantly tracking performance, your ads will be made more effective with relative ease. Not only will your click through rate improve, but your costs will also go down and your Quality Score will rise, so it is worth spending the short amount of time it takes to split-test your ad campaigns over time. To chat with one of our team about Quality Score and effective use of split-testing, give us a call or send us an email today.