PPC Testing: Do You Split Test Your Ads?

Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 11 of December , 2007 at 7:59 pm

Before you go full force into an ad campaign you might want to split test your ads to see which ones are more effective. This is a rather simple process, but it’s detailed and time consuming. If you rush through it you could end up spending thousands of dollars trying to run ads and getting clicks outside of your target market. Split testing can save you the headache.

First, to split test your ads, you need to make sure they are comparable. Only slit test ads that use the same keyword. If you are running a PPC campaign, for instance, where you are trying to sell Champion spark plugs then you don’t want to split test ads that use “Champion” and “spark plugs” as keywords, respectively. You want the same keyword for both ads - “champion spark plugs” or just “spark plugs.”

Next, make sure all other elements are the same and only test one thing at a time. In other words, either give both ads the same headline and a different ad description or vice-versa, but don’t each ad their own headline and ad description. That won’t tell you anything. Let’s say you want to find out which headline produces the most click throughs. You’ll write two headlines that use the same exact keyword phrase and make every other element in each ad exactly the same. Run the ads for a week, or three days at least (it’s vitally important that you run both ads the same length of time), and see which one gets you most click throughs.

After you’ve tested headlines and chosen the one that is most effective, go on to test the ad descriptions using the same method. Continue this process until you’ve tested each element of the ad to see which pieces work best together. After your split test is done, go ahead with your full-fledged ad campaign.

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Category: PPC Launch

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