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Advertising - Copy Mistakes Made in Paid Search Advertising

Advertisers using paid search only have 270 characters of copy to win over new customers. They are under immense pressure to create adverts that are not only engaging and informative but must include a clear call to action and be able to stand out from the competition.

However, one grammatical mistake can counteract all the hard work and effort taken to produce the advert in the first place. Also, Google Ads will not approve any adverts that are submitted which don’t conform to their policies on grammar. Therefore, to avoid giving searchers a negative first impression of your company, double-check your advert before submission and make sure that they do not contain any of the following mistakes:

1. Excessive Capitalisation

Adverts should be title case or sentence case. Title case is where you capitalise the first letter of the sentence, any key words and all words with four letters or more.  Sentence case is where only the first letter of the sentence is capitalised.

2. Use of Commas

Too many commas can make the copy unreadable, whereas too few can alter the intent of the sentence. Rule of thumb is to read the sentence out loud and if you pause at any point, a comma is probably required at this stage of the sentence.

3. Including Emoji

Emoji are a great way of introducing emotion into texts and social media, but on paid search advertising they are best avoided.

4. Misuse of Numbers and Characters

Including numbers and characters in your copy such as “2 Hot 2 Handle” should be avoided especially if using Google Ads.

5. Improper Punctuation

Failing to punctuate sentences can lead to issues of misinterpretation of what has been written. An example of this is “Most of the time, travellers worry about their luggage” compared to “Most of the time travellers worry about their luggage”. You can see how the removal of the comma gives a totally different meaning to the sentence.

6. Slang Words

Slang words such as LOL or IMO are not acceptable for pay-per-click ads. Also, as these abbreviations are sometimes not universal, they can easily be misunderstood.

7. Exclamation Marks

One exclamation makes a point. Two or three are excessive. More than three is too much and will result in disapproval by Google.

8. Spell Check

Use this technology. Sometimes it can throw up inconsistencies such as colour or color depending on your settings, but in the main it is worth double-checking your copy prior to publishing.

9. Apostrophes

A common mistake is a misplaced apostrophe. The main contender for this is It’s versus Its. It’s is a shortened form of ‘it is’, whereas Its is possessive like my or your. An example of this is “The computer looked as though its power supply had failed”.

10. Homophones

Homophones are two or more words that have the same pronunciation. Examples of this are Affect/Effect and They’re/Their/There. As these are spelt correctly, they probably won’t be highlighted by your spell-checker hence why it is always worth double-checking your copy before publishing.

At the end of the day, we are all human and this blog probably has a fair share of grammatical errors, but it is always worth checking your copy to avoid any unnecessary mistakes.  (For more information on Improving your PR click here)