Not all law firms can rank for the top search results in Google, or other search engines. Accordingly, plenty of firms have had to turn to paid search to draw search traffic, but invariably most don’t do it with a strategy or a metrics-based approach that will see their results significantly optimised.
Using the Google Adwords split testing feature, you will have data-backed information about your ads’ success rate. You can also use this as an opportunity to increase your click-through rate.
The first step is split testing two different ads. You need to log into your Google Adwords and click on Campaigns, then click on Ads tab.
Let’s say you have not started any campaign yet, so your page is basically empty. Click on the +Ad button and choose what type of Ad you want to create. You can create text or image. On the other hand, if you’ve already created an ad, select Ad Gallery and then upload your ad to Google Adwords.
Let’s say you want to create a text ad. Just click on the option and start creating your text ad. Fill in the headline, create a brief description for it and follow the prompts.
Since we are split testing two ads, you want to create another version of your text ad. You can twist the headline or description a bit, or remove “www” from the link.
When you go back to your Ads Section, you’ll see the two different versions of your ad. What Google will do is display the first ad and half of the time, it will display the second one.
There are four things that you can test using Google Adwords. You have your title, your headline, your description, and the landing page’s URL. Depending on your running period, Google will send you a report showing which one has a better click-through and lower cost per click (CPC). You can also check it from time to time via Google Adwords. As you can see on the “Clicks,” it shows how many people have clicked a specific ad while the Click-through rate is just one column next to it. For example, if your first ad had higher clicks and click-throughs, it means that it has a stronger potential of converting more people than the other. Now, you know which one to keep for a longer period.
However, let’s say you have a lot of ideas in mind for your ad and you want to test several ads. The good news is you can definitely do that. Now for the second approach, which is split testing multiple ads.
Keep your first two ads and create two more ads. One thing you need to keep in mind when split-testing for multiple ads, is that you want them to be very different. Just follow the same steps we did earlier – click on +Ad button and fill out the empty fields. This time, you want to create a totally unique headline, description, and probably, just remove the “www” on your landing page again. When you’re done, click Save Ad and create another one.
For the second additional ad, you can twist its content further. You can see in this example that there’s a totally different headline. The description is more specific on what the law office offers and there’s a call to action on the second line. You can also add the “www” back to the URL, whichever you feel comfortable. When you’re done, click on Save Ad and then you’re good.
When you return to your Ads page, you now have four ads that you can split test. You need to run all ads and let Google tell you the results. You can still check the click-through rate and cost per click through Google Adwords. However, one thing about multiple testing is that the results can be a little confusing. In this example, the results didn’t really vary a lot. You might think that the first and the fourth ads are the best because they are the top two having highest clicks, but you can’t be confident enough that both would have good long-term response rates.
To verify that using splittester.com – go to the site and fill in the empty fields. Enter the number of click-throughs for your first ad – that is 150. Below that, enter your CTR which is 23%. In the next column, enter the number of click-throughs for your second ad – that is 98, and then, don’t forget the CTR which is 16%. Once you’re done, click Calculate and you’ll see the result.
In this case, the result is 99% confident, which means your ads will have long-term response rates.
