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Google’s New Ad Insights Feature & 7 Tips For Competitive Ad Research

Reviewing competitor ads is an essential part of ad copy creation or quality assurance for any marketer.

And after you locate the ads, it is essential to have a systematic approach to analyzing them.

For paid search, this has historically been particularly time consuming.

It was necessary to use third-party tools – eg smrashAnd SpyFuor Google’s Ad Preview tool, all of which tend to rely on data samples and often don’t yield exhaustive examples.

Well, with the latest Google features, those days are over.

It’s time to get excited about doing competitive text search right in Google Ads.

Where to find the new search feature in Google Ads

You just need to follow these three steps:

Hover over the hamburger icon next to your paid search ad.

Screenshot of search [solar panel cost]Google, November 2022

Click the “See more ads by this advertiser” link.

Google Ad Screenshot of search [solar panel cost]Google, November 2022

Filter results by date range, location, and/or ad format.

Google ads filter resultScreenshot of search [solar panel cost]Google, November 2022

It’s interesting to note that, unlike the Google Ads Preview tool, these features are available without having to sign into your Google account or your campaign.

Gone are the days of needing a dummy account or having to write a dummy ad to run a preview.

The ability to filter by ad format is another important advantage of using the Google Ads Preview tool.

Especially when you’re in a hurry or need to bypass algorithmic ad serving customization for your profile, ad format filtering is an excellent way to get just the results you need.

Now, let’s take a look at how to analyze the ads themselves.

7 steps to analyze your paid search ad copy

Whether you’re looking at text-only or non-text copy, follow these steps to create a systematic analysis approach.

This will help you organize insights, spot trends more easily, and create a structure that allows for iterative analysis over time.

1. A call to action

Arguably the most important part of an ad, the call-to-action (CTA) is what will get the user to convert.

Note any incentives or offers, emergency messages (eg today, now, limited time), location, and potential repeat CTAs within the ad.

Advanced ad copy should mention the CTA more than once. The first mention might include emergency messages, with other details to include incentives.

If the product or service is not selling online, as a best practice, the CTA should include the means of purchasing it, which typically includes calling or visiting a physical store.

2. The name of the product or service

This is particularly key when the product or service is new, technical in nature, has a generic equivalent sufficiently different from the official brand name, or if the business involves multiple aspects.

For example, a printer manufacturer may find it helpful to analyze abbreviated product names that do not include full technical specifications.

Likewise, many travel service companies have long names to reflect all of their services, but it is not always necessary to include them in full (for example, Melia Caribe Beach All-Inclusive Resort Punta Cana).

3. Product or service features

Whether visual or textual, ads allocate significant real estate to describe salient features of the product or service being promoted.

Note what these qualifying descriptions or visualizations are used.

For text ads, note the adjectives and adverbs and whether they are super or factual.

For non-text ads, keep track of how the product is displayed and whether the images are lifestyle or technology based.

4. Benefits

While features help describe the use case for a product or service, it is the benefits that will convince the user to participate.

Note what solution-oriented language or imagery is being utilized, if any sources are cited to support the claims, and if the benefits described are short- and/or long-term.

Sometimes, multiple levels of benefits may need to be stated, when the consumer is not the ultimate (or sole) beneficiary.

In situations such as giving gifts or purchasing insurance, education, or caregiver services, marketers often forget that one must meet the needs of both the buyer (eg, the person purchasing a gift, who may be cost-conscious) and the recipient (eg, who may be more interested in our flexible return policy).

5. Brand

Brand inclusion is another key to testing.

Consider everything from spelling to the presence of trademark symbols, placement in headlines and/or body text, logo size, when your brand is mentioned in the ad, and where there are opportunities for your brand name to be included.

However, be sure not to rely solely on the URL.

Every now and then, the advertiser gets caught up in all the other ad elements and forgets to include the brand name or logo, relying solely on the visible URL to do the difficult task of communicating the brand name.

Unfortunately, this URL is often lost in the clutter of other ad elements.

6. Tone

This last component is perhaps the most difficult to pin down.

Ad tone, along with the CTA, is an important indicator of which stage of the user journey the advertiser is targeting.

A more informative, informal tone may indicate targeting the user early in the online search journey.

By contrast, an advertisement with direct language is more likely to target a user with a transactional frame of mind.

7. Length

Last but not least, ad text length – or for non-text ads, video duration or image size dimensions.

Ads that tell the most compelling story or engage users in the most proactive way often have the most potential for success.

On the flip side, just because an ad has the option to include a lot of text or include a video of a certain length, it’s not always the best performing approach. Often times, less is more.

conclusion

These tips for analyzing competitive advertising wouldn’t be complete without advice on how to use ideas once you’ve tracked them.

It is often the tendency to mirror what other people do. However, this can result in all players having similar messages. This only makes it difficult for users to differentiate between the available options.

While it is worth borrowing ideas from your competitors, resist the urge to copy the perceived market leader. Instead, collect insights from multiple players and then systematically test specific items.

Standing apart from others often yields the best results.

Regular tracking of items tested will put you in a good position to develop a calendar of test results.

Unfortunately, there is rarely a single ad that performs best in the long run. With the ever-changing competitive landscape, one has to keep iterating.

However, there is an upside: Discontinued ads can often make a successful comeback.

By regularly tracking the use of the above elements in both your competitors’ ads and your own, you can spot trends and spot cyclical patterns.

If you spot a trend reversal, you will be already armed with previous research on what has worked well before in these circumstances, ready to anticipate your competitors’ moves, and ready to respond.

More resources:

  • Competitive analysis: a comprehensive 9-step guide
  • 10 classic tips for writing effective Google Ads copy
  • SEO Competitive Analysis: The Definitive Guide


Featured image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

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