All paid search specialists should subscribe to the A.B.T. Rule, meaning we should Always Be Testing. We should always be testing new keywords, keyword bids, ad copy, average position, ad extensions and everything else in our accounts! If we subscribe to this rule doesn’t it make sense that our paid search providers should be doing the same? Well if you are seeing these new green ad labels in your SERP results you are seeing a Google paid search test in action.
Every year Google conducts tests on their paid search platform; some are deemed successful and go live and some underperform and we never see them. One of the big changes that everyone in the paid search community couldn’t help but notice was the removal of the right column ads. We could see these new green ad labels become a permanent thing in the very near future. Update: As of June 24, 2016 green ad labels are live and now serving, looks like the yellow ad label has officially been replaced.
The reason behind testing this new ad label color is very simple: what color provides the most effective call to action and which drives higher click through rates? There are a variety of reasons on why they chose green; it blends in more with the display URL or maybe searchers historically click on green links more.
WordStream compared how CTRs (click through rates) between Google.com and other search engines performed to see how this new green ad label
has effected the CTR. What they found was before the change to green, CTR on Google was approximately 11 times higher than the CTR on the search partner network. After the change they saw that 11% change to 15% and that is a significant increase. This slight change to the color of Google’s ad label has produced positive changes and I believe that the green label is much less noticeable and looks more natural which in turn has been increasing CTR.
Stream’s Kick-Start Step
A.B.T – Always Be Testing! If you take anything away from reading this post, it is that you should always be testing everything!
If you cannot tell already I am very passionate about this subject. In the paid search world changes happen on daily basis and you need to be agile enough to change with it. A good way to try to stay ahead of the curve is to be always testing out new strategies, ad copy, ad extensions and everything else within your paid search account. Don’t be scared to make changes that is the only way that you are going to find out what works! If Google embraces change and testing, we should all be as well!
There are a ton of tests that you can run within your paid search account, going into them all would turn this post into a novel. Start with a small test like A/B testing different ad copy and work your way up from there. If you would like a deeper understanding on testing, evaluating and improving your PPC campaigns, click here to download our free eBook, How To Transform Your PPC Campaigns Today!
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