Do Not Waste PPC Display URLs
Elizabeth Marsten Jul 15 2008
The display URL in any PPC ad is a great place to stuff additional keywords, attract attention to your ad and/or increase branding. So it is definitely not a space to be wasted or ignored. Next time instead of simply putting “www.yoursite.com” as the display URL, try some of these simple tests and see if you can’t increase click through rates!
1st Display URL | Vs. | 2nd Display URL | Test |
www.examplesite.com | No “http” | ||
examplesite.com | No “www” | ||
www.Examplesite.com | Capitalize first word | ||
Capitalize first letter in all words | |||
Adding keyword to end of URL | |||
www.examplesite.com | www.examplesite.com/{keyword} | Dynamic insertion |
Be advised that each search engine has slightly different policies on how you can utilize this line of text. If you have any questions, check their Help Center. The most important thing to remember is that the display URL needs to accurately represent the destination URL. Don’t create bad user experiences by sending people who are looking for office supplies to a site for children’s toys.
Pitfalls to avoid when experimenting with display URLs:
- Exceeding the character limit.
- Misdirecting/misleading users with an inaccurate display URL vs destination URL.
- Using dynamic insertion– while possible, be cautious!
- Incorrectly typing the URL.
Elizabeth Marsten
Vice President of Search Marketing
Elizabeth supervises the overall search division at Portent, which includes PPC, SEO, Social Media and Analytics. If you really want to know more about her check out her bit.ly bundle. Elizabeth has written several ebooks, is a ClickZ columnist, a Lynda.com course author, a Dummies book author and speaks on PPC across the USA at various conferences including the SMX shows, mozCon and Hero Con. Read More
