Best Time to Test These New AdWords Strategies before the Holiday Season

The beginning of Q4 is less than six weeks away, so it is the best time to test new AdWords strategies, find that perfect audience and lay the tracks for a relaxing holiday.  In this blog you will go over four tests you should start running now and their best-practice testing methods:

Test 1: Device performance adjustments — Eliminate wasted spend, find the best audience

People behave differently across devices so look for three data points before launching your Q4 campaigns:

1.            How your site converts across devices.

2.            How your site converted during Q4 in last year.

3.            How your ads perform across devices over the next six weeks.

Test 2: Expanded text ads — Improve CTR & drive more qualified clicks

Expanded text ads is Adwords new ad format. Many advertisers and agencies observed an increase in their CTR for expanded text ads. These are top two suggestions for testing expanded text ads before the holiday traffic spike:

1.            Your headlines should receive the majority of your testing attention.

2.            Don’t simply add a second headline to existing ads. Rethink your entire ad creative. Provide more value.

Test 3: Responsive display ads — Save time & reach your target audience

The new responsive ads from Google are built dynamically and will automatically resize and adapt based on context.  The new responsive ad format features a short 25-character headline and a longer 90-character headline that will display when size allows and advertiser name. You can upload your own image for the ads or Google will provide suggestions from your website. You can also preview how your ad may appear on the display network in different ad sizes and formats.

Test 4: Price extensions — transparent pricing for highly qualified clicks

Google’s newest ad extension, the price extension, gives the ultimate level of transparency to your product or service: up-front pricing.

Before you implement price extensions, head to the Top vs. Other Report to better understand your ad rank, search impression share and average position. Using that information, pick a few campaigns to test price extensions.