SEM Ad Copy Strategies to Boost Conversions & Drive Sales

Running SEM ads is exciting because it provides you with immediate visibility to searchers who are actively looking for relevant products.

So, you’ve conducted thorough market research to understand your industry’s landscape and trends, analyzed your audience, and developed your buyer personas.

Now, it’s time to put all of this to the test by writing ad copy that helps you differentiate yourself from your competitors and drive targeted traffic to landing pages on your website.

Simply writing your ad copy and hoping it’ll drive conversions won’t cut it. This is where SEM ad copy strategies come in.

SEM ad copy strategies help you write compelling ad copy for your target audience. These strategies involve using audience insights, picking the right keywords, and developing effective value propositions.

Let’s unpack different SEM ad copy strategies that’ll help you create SEM ad copy and some potential mistakes to avoid.

What is SEM ad copy?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) ad copy is the text displayed in sponsored search advertisements on search engine results pages (SERPs). These ads are triggered when potential customers search for specific keywords relevant to your product or service.

Image provided by the author

Since these ads are one of the first things searchers see when they type in a specific term related to your product or service on a search engine results page, the quality of your ad copy needs to make a good first impression.

Potential customers who view SEM ads are often actively researching and looking for information about their pain points or interests.

Others are looking for solutions that fit their needs and evaluating different options to find the most relevant solutions.

So the ad copy you use for your SEM campaigns should:

• Use persuasive language to encourage clicks and conversions
• Align with user search intent and provide a relevant solution
• Communicate your unique selling proposition (USP)

Understanding good vs. bad SEM ad copy

To help you gauge the quality of ad copy, let’s break down the different components that make up SEM Ad copy:

Image provided by the author

• Headline: This is the title that appears in bold.
• Description: This body of text provides more details about your offer.
• Display URL: This is the visible URL that users see, which can differ from the actual landing page URL.
• Extensions: Additional features like callouts, site links, or structured snippets that provide more information.

This is an example of effective SEM ad copy. In the ad above, each of these elements ‌has one job to do. The headline leads the searcher to read the description. The description, on the other hand, leads the searcher to click on the calls-to-action presented as extensions.

Here are six other characteristics of effective SEM ad copy:

1. Relevant: The ad copy directly addresses the user’s search query and intent, promising a solution to their problem or need. In our example above, the search query is “smartlook pricing.” The headline addresses this intent behind the query by including words such as “transparent pricing,” something a potential customer cares about.
2. Clear: The messaging is clear, concise, and easy to understand, leaving no room for confusion.
3. Compelling value proposition: The ad copy highlights the unique benefits and value that Smartlook offers. For example, “Qualitative and quantitative analytics in one tool.”
4. Attention-grabbing: The headline and description are crafted to be attention-grabbing, using persuasive language and addressing pain points or desires.
5. Call-to-action (CTA): The ad copy includes a clear and compelling CTA that motivates users to click and take the desired action. The extensions have three different calls to action: “Pricing,” “Contact Us,” “Get your 1-to-1 demo,” and “Customer Stories.” This variety of CTAs is a catch-all for different searchers who take different paths to their buying decisions.
6. Includes relevant keywords: The ad copy naturally incorporates relevant keywords without appearing forced.

Bad SEM ad copy, on the other hand, lacks many of these elements. It has weak value propositions, irrelevant keywords, and unclear calls-to-action.

4 SEM ad copy strategies for conversions

Since SEM ads appear alongside other search results and ads, searchers often compare what they see in your ads and what organic search results offer. Here are four SEM ad copy strategies to help you stand out in search engine rankings and get a higher click-through rate:

1. Address pain points

When addressing pain points in your ad copy, be specific by discussing the challenges and frustrations your prospects face. This helps you create a stronger emotional connection that positions your offer as the solution they need.

Here’s how you can use pain points in your SEM ad copy:

1. When conducting market research, analyze customer feedback from surveys and conversations on social media platforms. Engage with your sales team to uncover your target audience’s most prevalent pain points. These may include inefficiencies, productivity bottlenecks, compliance issues, data management challenges, or any other pressing problems they want to solve.
2. Create headlines that speak directly to the pain point. Use your ad headlines to explicitly call out the specific pain point or challenge your prospects face. This will capture their attention and assure them that you understand their problems.
3. Once you’ve highlighted the pain point in the headline, use the ad description to position your product as the solution that can alleviate their pain.
4. Use ad extensions like callouts or structured snippets to reinforce further how your offering addresses specific pain points and provides tangible benefits.
5. Tailor messaging to different audience segments to ensure your ad copy speaks directly to their unique challenges.

2. Optimize your CTAs

CTA prompts in your search engine ad copy encourage searchers to take a specific action, such as clicking through to sign up for a free trial or schedule a demo.

When thinking about your CTAs, highlight the value or benefit of taking action.

Image provided by the author

The ad by Zoho ‌paired the CTAs with a clear benefit to reinforce ‌the incentive behind taking action.

In addition to using verbs to create a sense of urgency and motivate searchers to take action, lead your CTA with familiar language. It helps you avoid sounding robotic.

In our example above, the CTAs use words that searchers looking for project management tools include in their daily conversations, such as “planning,” “managing,” and “scheduling.”

Using familiar language also helps you integrate your potential customers’ actions to solve their problems, making your ad relevant and personalized.

3. Spy on your competitors’ Google Ads

Keeping a close eye on your competitors’ SEM campaigns provides valuable insights into how they approach their positioning and messaging framework to help you write effective ad copy.

For example, suppose multiple competitors emphasize key elements such as “Easy Setup” or “No Coding Required” in their ad copy. In that case, ease of use may be a unique selling proposition for your target audience.

In addition to identifying key selling propositions, you also learn about emerging trends, changing customer preferences, and potential gaps in their ad copy that you can fill in.

If we look at the hospitality industry, for example, you can use a lot of information to create compelling SEM ad copy that attracts guests and drives bookings.

It’s as simple as doing a quick Google search or heading over to Google Trends to help you stay up to date with trending topics. Top trends in hotel marketing include eco-friendly hotels, culinary experiences, conference travel, and team-building events that can give you information to create better SEM ad copy and improve campaign performance.

To spy on your competitors, list the brands targeting similar audiences or offering comparable products.

Monitor their search marketing campaigns using tools like Semrush and SpyFu to see which keywords they’re bidding on and what ad copy they use. This will reveal their targeting strategies and the messaging approaches when writing ad copy.

Image provided by the author

Look at different headlines, descriptions, and extensions to identify patterns in positioning their unique value propositions, highlighting features and benefits, and targeting specific pain points or use cases.

Pay attention to your competitors’ ad extensions, such as site links, callouts, or promotions like free trials or demos. These will provide insights into their conversion strategies and unique selling points.

As you analyze their ad copy, identify gaps and opportunities where their messaging lacks or fails to address specific pain points or customer needs.

Use these insights to craft compelling ad copy with unique messaging and value propositions tailored to your strengths, differentiators, and target audience.

4. Incorporate relevant keywords

Using Google’s keyword planner and other keyword research tools when conducting keyword research helps you identify and use relevant keywords to craft ad copy that resonates with your target audience.

Your ads can use precise keyword targeting to reach searchers in your target audience with a specific search intent aligned with your offer.

At the heart of this strategy is a thorough understanding of keyword match types:

Broad match: This match type allows your ads to show for searches that include misspellings, synonyms, and related keyword variations. While it can increase the reach of your ads, a broad match can also lead to irrelevant impressions and wasted ad spending if you don’t manage it properly.

For example, running ads for the keyword “project management software” means that your ad may show up for searches like “best team task app” or “workflow tools for small business” on search engines.

Phrase match: With phrase match, your ads will display for searches that include your exact keyword phrase and additional words before or after the phrase.

Going with our example above, if you use “project management software teams” as a phrase match keyword, your ad could show “project management software for remote teams” or “best project management software teams 2024.”

Exact match: This ensures that your ads will only show up for search queries that precisely match your chosen keyword without any extra words or alternative forms.

If your exact match keyword is “project management software for teams,” your ad will only show for that precise search query.

Combining these match types strategically in your Google Ads account allows you to balance reach and relevance.

Long-tail keywords targeted through phrase match and ‌‌exact match can drive highly qualified traffic, while broader terms can capture additional demand from the right audience. This strategy works well for any industry (not just SaaS).

For example, divorce mediators can also benefit from these laser-focused keywords to help them craft relevant ad copy that resonates with individuals seeking amicable resolutions to marital disputes, emphasizing phrases like “peaceful divorce” or “mutual agreement.”

By incorporating targeted keywords related to divorce mediation services, such as “mediation lawyer” or “family law mediation” into their ad copy, mediators can enhance your ad’s visibility and relevance on search engine results pages.

Highlighting unique selling points such as confidentiality, cost-effectiveness, and quicker resolution times in their ad copy can effectively differentiate divorce mediators from traditional litigation options.

Laser-focused keyword targeting also includes using negative keywords. Add them to your SEM ad campaigns to stop showing ads for irrelevant searches. This reduces wasted spend and improves your ad’s relevance.

For example, suppose you offer a paid project management solution. In that case, you may want to ‌use Google Keyword Planner to identify negative keywords such as “free” or “open source” to avoid showing ads to searchers looking for free alternatives.

Here’s an example of how this strategy could play out:

A B2B SaaS company offering project management software for agile teams might target the following keywords:

• Broad Match: “Agile project management tools”
• Phrase Match: “Agile project management software”
• Exact Match: “Agile project management software for teams.”

Additionally, they could add negative keywords like “free,” “open source,” and “for students” to filter out irrelevant searches.

Your Google Ads can reach potential customers actively seeking your solution by targeting a few keywords when writing SEM ad copy and excluding irrelevant searches. 

SEM ad copy mistakes to avoid

Writing compelling ad copy is crucial for successful SEM campaigns. The ad copy needs to grab the attention of your target audience, highlight the key benefits of your product or service, and compel them to take the desired action—clicking through to your landing page.

Here are three SEM ad copy mistakes you need to avoid to help your ads drive better click-through rates and conversions:

1. Poor landing page alignment

Your SEM ad copy sets the expectations for what searchers will find on your landing page once they click through.

Any deviation from that expectation undermines the effectiveness of your SEM ad copy, leading to increased bounce rates, lower conversion rates, and wasted ad spend. 

Let’s say, for instance, a searcher types in the keyword “customer relationship management software” and clicks on an ad promising “Powerful CRM for Growing Businesses.” 

However, when they land on the corresponding landing page, the searcher finds the messaging and information misaligned with the ad’s initial value proposition. Instead of focusing on the needs of growing businesses, the landing page highlights enterprise-level features and complex functionality that may not be relevant to their current requirements.

This disconnect between the ad copy and the landing page content leads to frustration, confusion, and a lack of trust in the brand.

Users who felt compelled by the ad’s messaging now find themselves on a landing page that fails to deliver the promised value, leaving their initial interest unfulfilled.

Effective landing page alignment requires crafting a cohesive narrative from the ad headline and description to the landing page headlines, value propositions, visually appealing images, and overall messaging. You can even embed Google reviews on your landing pages to enhance credibility and boost conversions, helping maximize the impact of your SEM campaigns.

For example, if your ad promises “Easy-to-Use Project Management Software for Small Teams,” the landing page should reinforce this positioning with clear language, visuals, and content tailored to the needs of small teams seeking simplicity and usability.

By ensuring tight alignment between your ad copy and landing page design, you maintain credibility and trust with your audience and optimize the conversion funnel.

Searchers who feel that you’ve met their needs and expectations at every touchpoint are more likely to engage further, convert, and ultimately become loyal customers.

2. Failing to use relevant ad extensions

Ad extensions allow you to provide additional contextual information, value propositions, and calls-to-action within your ads. It makes your ads more informative, engaging, and actionable for searchers.

Consider this scenario: A searcher types “email marketing tools” in the query box. Look at these two SEM campaigns that show up:

Image provided by the author

Both ad headlines and descriptions offer a concise value proposition. However, the searcher will likely click on Brevo’s ad because it has extensions like site links with information that provides additional context and actionable prompts.

Including extensions like site links, callouts, structured snippets, click-to-call, and location extensions (where relevant) in your Google Adwords account. Your ad will give searchers more context to help them understand what you offer and what actions they need to take. 

For example, if your ad includes site link extensions that highlight key features or product categories, users can easily navigate to the most relevant sections of your website.

Callout extensions could showcase unique selling points and social proof, such as awards or certifications, to build credibility and trust. Structured snippet extensions ‌highlight specific product or service attributes, enabling searchers to evaluate better whether your solution meets their needs.

3. Lack of dynamic ad customization

Failing to tailor your ad messaging to specific audiences, devices, or stages of the buyer’s journey is a missed opportunity to improve your ad’s relevance, resonance, and conversion rates.

For example, two searchers on a mobile device and another on a desktop type in the query “best project management software” and see the exact ad copy.

This one-size-fits-all approach fails to address each user’s context, device experience, or awareness stage.

The mobile user may seek a solution tailored to on-the-go use, while the desktop searcher likely needs more educational content to understand project management software fundamentals.

This generic ad messaging creates a disconnect, leaving both users with an unsatisfying and irrelevant experience.

The mobile user may view the ad as too vague, while the top-of-funnel searcher may find it unhelpful in addressing their informational needs. As a result, both users are likely to overlook the ad, leading to lost engagement and conversion opportunities.

Dynamic ad customization helps you serve highly tailored ad copy that resonates with specific target segments, addressing their unique pain points, preferences, and buying journeys.

For the mobile searcher, they could dynamically adjust to highlight the software’s mobile capabilities and ease of use on the go: “Project Management App for Teams On The Move.”

Meanwhile, the top-of-funnel searcher could see an ad focused on educational content: “What is Project Management Software? Learn More Here.”

Google Ads offers several ad personalization features and options that allow you to create dynamic and customized ads, such as:

• Location and language targeting
• Responsive search ads
• Audience targeting
• Ad customizers
• Ad scheduling

To use these dynamic ad customization features in Google Ads effectively, structure your ad campaigns, ad groups, and ad variations strategically to improve ad relevance.

 A/B testing your SEM ad copy will provide valuable insights on optimizing ad copy to improve ad performance over time.

Conclusion

Due to the prevalence of paid advertising, searchers view SEM ads as less trustworthy than organic results in search engines since they are paid placements.

This skepticism can lead to a reluctance to click on ads and a preference for organic listings, which seem more impartial. 

However, you can combat this skepticism and make your paid search ads stand out by implementing the strategies we’ve discussed above when creating ad copy. They’ll help you craft compelling ad copy that drives targeted website traffic and increases click-through rates.

At Omniscient Digital, we specialize in collaborating with B2B SaaS businesses such as GatherContent, Jasper, and Shipyard to create and execute a content strategy that’s tailored to your company’s goals.

If you’re looking for help with content strategy to help support your ongoing search engine marketing campaigns, we might be able to help. Fill out this form for a free strategy call.

Author bio:

Kelly Moser is the co-founder and editor at Home & Jet, a digital magazine for the modern era. She’s also the content manager at Login Lockdown, covering the latest trends in tech, business, and security. Kelly is an expert in freelance writing and content marketing for SaaS, Fintech, and e-commerce startups.