Looking to get the most out of your Google Ads? It’s often not enough to put money behind your ads and hope they reach the right people — you must test different variations to see what resonates with your audience. And to do that, you need the right tools.
How can you find the most effective gadget to add to your digital tool belt?
The answer lies in your goals — that is, the features and functionalities you want from a copy-testing solution. So, while we can’t answer that question for you, we can give you the low-down on some of your options.
Ready to learn about the different Google Ads copy testing tools available and how to optimize your ads for the best results? Let’s dig in.
Google Ads Copy Testing Tools To Try Out
Copy testing is a way for marketers to compare 2 versions of an ad campaign to determine which performs better, like conducting an A/B test. This helps you cut down on ad spending for content that doesn’t work and ensures your message reaches the right audience every time. In fact, companies that copy-test their campaigns experience an average increase in sales by 19% and a boost in brand awareness by 24%.
To gain these benefits, it helps to have a tool to make this process easier. Here are some of the top copy testing tools at your disposal:
Google Ads Experiment
Google Ads Experiment is a tool within the Google Ads platform that enables you to test different ad campaign settings and features compared to your original campaign. By running experiments, you can make data-backed decisions, optimize performance and improve campaign efficiency without risking your main ad budget.
Main Features
- Custom experiments: Allows you to test specific changes within an existing campaign.
- A/B testing: Splits your campaign traffic between the original and experimental campaigns based on a percentage you define.
- Key metrics and reporting: Google Ads Experiments provides side-by-side data on key performance metrics such as click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), conversion rate and ROI.
Responsive Search Ad
This tool lets you build an ad that considers the most relevant messages for your customers and adapts accordingly. You can enter several headlines and descriptions into the system and Google Ads tests the different combinations to learn what your audience engages with most.
Main Features
- Machine learning for optimization: Evaluates performance over time, showing more of the high-performing combinations based on the user’s search behavior, device, location and other signals.
- Dynamic combinations of headlines and descriptions: Allows you to input 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for a single ad.
- Pinning controls for key messages: Pin certain headlines or descriptions to specific positions within the ad, ensuring essential information appears in every variation.
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Adobe Target
Adobe Target is Adobe’s enterprise-level personalization and ad copy testing platform. It offers A/B and multivariate testing, personalization and AI-driven automation, helping you tailor content, offers and experiences based on customer preferences and insights.
Main Features
- A/B testing: Runs two versions of your campaigns, allowing you to swap out different elements, including images, copy and UI, to help you find the best combination.
- Multivariate testing: Tests several components simultaneously like images, layout, background color, copy and more.
- Multi-armed bandit testing: Sends traffic to the high-performing ads to increase conversions and revenue.
A/B Smartly
A/B Smartly is an experimentation and feature management platform that enables you to test and optimize product features, user interfaces and overall customer experience through A/B and multivariate testing. It’s mainly designed for large-scale experimentation, benefiting larger operations.
Main Features
- Powerful data analysis: Provides you with data to make strategic decisions about your campaigns.
- Interaction detection: Offers full factorial insights into all engagement with your campaigns so you don’t miss anything.
- Real-time reports: Delivers insights instantly to help you make decisions quickly and efficiently.
Eppo
Eppo is an experimentation platform designed to help product and data teams run reliable, statistically sound A/B tests and experiments, focusing on driving growth and innovation. This resource centralizes the experimentation process, so all copy tests occur in one location.
Main Features
- A/B testing and multivariate testing: Supports standard A/B testing as well as multivariate testing, allowing you to run experiments on different versions of features and user interfaces.
- Advanced statistical models: Incorporates advanced statistical techniques, such as Bayesian inference and sequential testing, to ensure that experiment results are accurate and reliable.
- Feature flagging: Includes feature flagging capabilities to test and control the gradual release of new features.
VWO
VWO — which stands for Visual Website Optimizer — is a platform that enables you to conduct A/B, multivariate and split testing, as well as other types of experiments to enhance user experience and increase conversions.
Main Features
- Split URL testing: Permits you to test different page designs or content hosted on separate URLS.
- Behavior analytics: Comes with several behavior analytics tools to help you understand user interactions, including heatmaps, session recordings and conversion funnels.
- Visual editor: A drag-and-drop interface that enables you to set up and modify tests without needing to write code.
SpyFu
While SpyFu doesn’t enable you to do direct copy testing on the platform, it does grant you access to your competitor’s most successful campaigns so you can compare them to your own. With SpyFu, you can get help with identifying valuable keywords, understanding your market landscape and optimizing your digital marketing efforts.
Main Features
- Competitor keyword analysis: Allows users to view the organic and paid keywords their competitors rank for on search engines like Google.
- PPC research: Offers detailed PPC ad data, including competitors’ Google Ads campaigns, ad spend, keyword bids, ad copy and historical performance.
- SERP analysis: Shows who ranks on the first page of search results for specific keywords, including data on the top-ranking pages and their backlink profiles.
Opteo
This platform delivers insight-driven recommendations to improve your Google Ads performance, helping you to spend less and get better results. It monitors Google Ads accounts to learn significant patterns for success. Then, it makes suggestions based on its findings.
Main Features
- Split tests: Gives you a preview of your creative work compared to your competitors.
- Pause losing ads: Tests your ads to see which are performing better. Then, it will inform you of the one you should replace.
- Ad extensions: Prompts you to add ad extensions when necessary, so you always get the most out of each Google Ad.
Semrush
Semrush Content Checker is a feature within the Semrush suite that allows you to analyze and optimize compelling ad copy, content and landing pages by comparing the relevance and engagement levels of different versions.
Main Features
- Recommended keywords: Delivers keyword recommendations to send positive signals to search engines.
- Readability scores: Uses an algorithm to boost the readability of your ad copy, making your content as engaging as possible.
- A/B testing: Conducts A/B tests on various pieces of copy, enabling you to create multiple versions of the same content and test them against each other to determine which performs better.
Optmyzr
Optmyzr is a platform designed to be an extension of your paid media team. It offers a suite of tools that help marketers automate tasks, analyze performance and improve the efficiency of their advertising efforts across various platforms, including Google Ads and Bing Ads.
Main Features
- Optimization suggestions: Provides actionable insights and recommendations for improving campaign performance based on data analysis.
- Campaign management: Allows you to manage multiple campaigns efficiently, with tools for bulk editing and automated bidding strategies.
- Reporting and analytics: Generates detailed reports to track performance metrics.
How To Test Ad Copy in Google Ads
Google Ads offers many ways to test your ad’s performance right within the platform:
Search Ads 360
- Check the results on the Ad Copy Test Page after a few days.
- Select or create an ad group with at least 10,000 impressions per week.
- Choose a goal.
- Select a statistical significance threshold.
- Create a unique name for the test.
- Click Start ad copy test.
Ads Experiments
1. Select up to two goals to measure.
2. Choose the original ad campaign to test.
3. Schedule the experiment.
4. Monitor it regularly.
Responsive Search Ads
- Run the ads and monitor performance.
- Input multiple headlines and descriptions.
- Use Google’s machine learning algorithms to assemble different combinations.
Best Tips and Practices To Optimize Google Ads Copy
Once you select the tool that’s most sustainable for your business and content marketing goals, you can hit the ground running with these ad copy optimization tips:
- Focus on using relevant keywords that match the search intent.
- Align your ad copy with your landing page.
- Include a clear call to action.
- Utilize ad extensions.
- Test different variations.
- Regularly monitor performance to identify areas for improvement.
No matter what your content marketing goals are — driving traffic, improving PPC performance or increasing impressions — ad copy testing is the way to accomplish them. But this can’t be done without the proper tools at the ready.
Let’s use an archery illustration.
Consider your goals as the target, the arrow as your Google Ad and the bow as the copy testing tool. To hit the bullseye, you need to align your arrow with the target. The bow then helps launch the arrow, ensuring it reaches the correct destination: right on the mark.
Now, you just need to practice your aim.
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