Put Them to the Test

Ad testing lets you see which ads perform better

How do you know if your ads are working for you? It’s pretty simple — Sponsored Search’s ad testing feature compares the performance of two ads and tells you which one is doing better.

Many marketers know this function by its nickname, “A/B Testing,” since it compares “Ad A” to “Ad B.” Testing truly reveals the beauty of search marketing ads: You get real numbers on how many times the ad made an impression, resulted in a click, and led to a conversion. Try getting that from a TV or newspaper ad!

How it works
Ad testing happens automatically when you create more than one ad within an ad group. It’s true: You don’t have to do anything extra. The system smartly monitors the performance of your ads and displays the ones that achieve the highest click-through rate, helping to increase traffic to your web site. You can control this automatic display by adjusting the Optimize Ad Display setting in your account, as shown below:

How to do It
As you know, an ad is comprised of a title, description, display URL and destination URL. For each ad group, you can create up to 20 ads. After making sure that ad optimization is enabled, the system will start to do its work, rotating your ads for the keywords within each ad group. The system then tracks the performance of each ad and starts only displaying the one with the best results.

Since we’re discussing ad creation, this is also a good time to remind you to use your account’s insert keyword feature, which dynamically inserts the relevant search term into your ad’s title and/or description.

Why to use ad testing
Ad testing saves you time by automatically displaying your best-performing ads, which allows you to handle your other business rather than experimenting and guessing at which of your ads should run. Ad testing can also save you some cold hard cash: Because it displays the ads with higher click-through rates, your ads may have better ad quality (as indicated by the quality index), potentially bringing you higher ranked ads at a lower cost.

Tips
Some things to keep in mind:

• Set a performance goal. Try testing an ad that promotes free shipping against an ad that offers a 20% discount to see which draws more interest.
• Remember the “watched pot” theory—give your ads enough time to go to work. If you keep watch from they minute they start to run, you’ll make yourself crazy trying to see which one is hot. Remember, ad testing does the work so you don’t have to!
• The holidays are a perfect time to test your ads. Adjust your ads to promote seasonal items, such as home décor and gift ideas.
• Spot check: The ad that receives the most impressions will appear in the Most Displayed Ad box. This performance is based on a selected date range. Also, within the Ads tab of the Ad Details page, you can view performance and display information for all of your ads.
• Use what you learn. If you find certain offers really attract customers, start applying that strategy to the rest of your ads.

Ad testing puts the end to the old marketing adage, “I know half of our marketing budget is wasted, I just don’t know which half.” Now you’ll know!

— Kastle Waserman, Communications Manager