Following Google's Editorial Guidelines

Before we continue examining different aspects of ad copy writing and creating effective ads, let’s examine the editorial policies. If an ad will not be approved by Google to show on a search result, there is no need to waste your time writing that type of ad.

Google has gone to great lengths to ensure that ads meet a certain standard before being shown to their visitors. Because one of Google’s major success metrics is a returning visitor, they want to ensure that the ads are just as relevant as the natural search results.

Character Lengths

The first consideration is character length. There are stringent requirements for how many characters can appear in an ad, as shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Character lengths

It is commonly said that the best headline is 26 characters. Attempting to write creative marketing messages using 95 characters is difficult and takes some time to master. This is why it is important to test different messages.

Even though description lines 1 and 2 appear as different lines when ads are created, it can also be useful to test writing one 70-character sentence to see if the ad reads better as a single sentence than as two distinctive messages on separate lines.

This is especially true if your ad regularly appears at the top of the page, where the two description lines are run together.

Note: If your ad is shown above the organic results and your description line 1 ends in a punctuation mark (period, question mark, exclamation mark), Google may combine your headline and description line 1 into a long 60-character headline.

These headlines stand out on search results and many times increase CTRs. This is one of the easiest ways to increase your ad's CTR.

Editorial Requirements

The most ambiguous of the editorial rules is “accurate ad text.” While Google explains this requirement as ensuring that your ad reflects what the consumer will find on your landing page, it is also a rule they can fall back on if they want to disapprove ad copy for various reasons.

Following this rule is important for conversion rates. If your ad copy claims the user will find something on your landing page and that item is not there, the user will hit the Back button and you have just wasted the price of the click. Following this rule can also help your Quality Score (discussed in depth in future chapters) since “relevancy” is a word Google uses repeatedly to describe their AdWords program.

The second rule is accurate capitalization. Although you can capitalize the first letter of each individual word, you cannot have a word in all caps: exceptions include acronyms or words that naturally always appear in all caps. For instance, if you wrote the ad copy “FREE Software,” the ad would be disapproved because “FREE” is not a word that should appear in all caps. However, if your ad copy was “Learn PPC Marketing,” this would be approved because the acronym PPC should be in all caps.

You must back up all competitive claims on the landing page. If you claim that your product is better than another product, you need supporting evidence on that page. This could be an accurate comparison chart or testimony from a third party who has verified that information.

All ads must use proper grammar and spelling. You cannot use misspellings in ad copy, with the exception of some common misspellings or words that have alternate spellings. For instance, the words optimize and optimise are both acceptable because 

they are alternate spellings of the same word (optimise is the British spelling; optimize is the American spelling).

Ads cannot have offensive or inappropriate language. This is another ambiguous rule that helps to keep out of search results hate-based ads, some adult ads, and other offensive items.

If you make a claim of a price, discount, or special offer, you must show the consumer that offer within two clicks from your landing page. If you make the claim that DVDs are 60 percent off and that offer is not on your site, the ad violates Google editorial policy. Following this rule will also help conversion rates. If you make a claim of free shipping and a searcher navigates throughout your site and is about to check out but has yet to determine if they will receive free shipping, odds are they will not enter their credit card information.

You must use proper punctuation marks and symbols. This means you cannot bullet-point each line of your ads to make them look different on a search result. In addition, an ad can have only one exclamation point, and that exclamation point cannot be in the headline. We will discuss trademarks and copyrights later in this chapter; however, since there are so few symbols used in ad copy, adding the ®, ©, or ™ symbol (assuming you have the right to use it) can help make your ad stand out from the other ads.

You cannot repeat the same word multiple times in a row in ad copy. For instance, “Free Free Free” ads would be disapproved for gimmicky repetition.

In general, superlatives such as “best” or “#1” are disapproved in ad copy. The exception is if you can prove it. If you claim to be the best at something, you will need third-party verification. If you do have third-party verification, it can be useful to use a word such as “best” in your ad copy, since very few other ads will make superlative claims. However, you can use nonabsolute claims such as “leading,” “popular,” “toprated,” and others that make claims to be one of the best, but not the absolute best without third-party verification.

You also cannot imply a Google affiliation or relationship that does not exist. Making the claim of “Recommended by Google” will be disapproved in almost all cases.

There are specific policies by industry as well. You can see Google’s industry-specific policies in their Help section: https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/topic/1626336?hl=en&ref_topic=2996750.

Although some of the editorial restrictions can be annoying, in general they foster an environment of fair play between advertisers and help consumers find their information. Following the relevancy aspects of the editorial guidelines often leads to higher conversion rates and more profit for your company. Knowing the editorial restrictions will help you create ads that will be approved by editorial so you do not have to keep trying new ads in hopes of them becoming approved. Too many companies spend time trying to work around the restrictions, which just creates short-term work that does not give long-term results. The goal of writing ads within the editorial guidelines is to find unique ways to differentiate your ads regardless of any restrictions.