Why will people click on one ad – and not another?

Lots of factors go into the decision. But among the most essential is trust. 

If your ads look slightly “off” or slightly suspicious, people are much less likely to click on them.

When you unintentionally set off internal alarm bells, people will scroll on by in the split second it takes for them to make the click/no click decision. 

So, how can you ensure that your PPC text ads – and your business – look as legit as they actually are? Here are seven things you can follow to inspire greater confidence.

1. Display seller ratings

One of the most obvious things you can do to inspire trust in your text ads is to include seller ratings. These are the one- to five-star ratings that reside at the bottom of ads. 

This company has a 5-star rating with 133 reviews. This is reassuring to anyone looking for an events company, especially those unfamiliar with the brand. 

Seller ratings are an automated ad asset (formerly extension), so you can’t really control when they’ll show up. (But they won’t show up unless you set them up!) You need a minimum of 100 ratings in the past 12 months for them to get your seller ratings to show up. 

Acquiring 100 ratings isn’t always easy, and you may need to work with an outside vendor to meet that threshold. But the trust and reassurance they convey can be well worth the effort. 

Seller ratings are most common in consumer advertising, but we have some B2B clients that include seller ratings in their advertising – and benefit from them. 

Dig deeper: 5 Google Ads examples with relevant and quality ad copy

2. Ensure messaging is consistent

Inconsistent messaging in your text ad is guaranteed to set off alarm bells. 

Even little things, like a promise of “30% off” in the headline and “33% off” in an ad asset, are enough to deter people from clicking. 

Here’s another example:

So how many people can this events company serve? Is it 25-2,500, 25-2,000, or 50-3,000? This inconsistency is a red flag that can deter prospective customers from clicking. 

You can easily introduce inconsistencies in your messaging by accident, especially when multiple people and teams contribute. The best way to catch these errors is to use a messaging roadmap where you can view all of your messaging (including headlines, descriptions, and assets in one place.

3. Craft your own messaging

It’s also important that you craft your own messaging. Avoid relying on Google’s automation. 

Google Ads has many automated messaging options (some turned on by default). We recommend turning them off and checking every quarter to ensure they haven’t been accidentally turned back on.

Why the resistance? Since Google introduced automated messaging, I’ve yet to see it perform better than human-crafted messaging. Instead, I’ve seen many cases where automated messaging misrepresents products, services, and brands – and even more cases where automated messaging is lackluster. 

We shouldn’t be surprised. While Google’s automated messaging is created from the copy on your website, you can’t say where the copy will be picked up or how it will be used. And we don’t want to risk incorporating old blog post content into your messaging.

Still, I try to keep an open mind about automated messaging, but it isn’t easy. Recently, a new client came to us with some automated sitelinks and some hand-crafted sitelinks.

When we analyzed performance over the past year, the human-created sitelinks converted multiple times. The Google-generated sitelinks didn’t convert at all.

Dig deeper: How to dial in your ad messaging in an automated marketing world

4. Get verified

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Ads allow advertisers to be verified on their platforms. You have to go through an application process, which varies depending on the platform and the nature of your business. 

Sometimes verification is required – and you’ll be notified – and sometimes it’s optional (at least for now). 

We generally recommend getting verified, even if it’s not required. It adds another layer of authenticity, even if users have to drill down to find it. 

You can see if an advertiser is verified by clicking the three vertical dots accompanying text search ads. When you do, you see something like this:

While verification isn’t immediately evident to users, that could change at any moment (think of X’s blue checkmark). It’s not a bad idea to get ahead of that change, should it happen. 

Further, Google has stated that getting verified gives you access to advanced ad formats and features, which is another reason to do it.

5. Include your business name and logo

Including your business name and logo in your text ad is another way to build trust and is another perk of becoming a verified advertiser.

Here are two examples from Zoho and Monday.com:

Both the logos and company names are clearly communicated at the very top. 

Providing this basic information up front inspires trust. It’s a way for these companies to politely introduce themselves (“Hello, my name is…”). 

It also helps with brand awareness and recognition as prospective customers continue their research. 

6. Provide more information, not less

We follow this general rule: Whenever and wherever Google allows us to provide messaging and assets, we do it. 

Because the more we provide, the more we empower Google to use and display those assets. 

It also allows us to take up more real estate on SERPs and tell prospective customers more about our clients. And the more they know about our clients, the more comfortable they are buying from them. 

This text ad, for example, takes up a lot of space and provides a lot of great info:

The above ad inspires more trust than this sparse one (which showed up for the same search terms):

7. Use image assets

You may have noticed the image of the winter tire in the ad above. You may have also noted the image accompanying the Monday.com ad referenced earlier. 

These images come from image assets and are another great way to inspire trust. 

When you’re searching for new winter tires, it’s reassuring to be presented with a picture of a tire. You know that you’re in the right place, and confirm that the company advertised has the product or service that you’re looking for. 

To learn more about image assets and how to set them up, you can check out this detailed video tutorial.

Make all of your digital advertising more trust-inspiring 

Some of the abovementioned trust factors can also be applied to other advertising formats. So don’t stop at your text ads! 

Whether it’s a text ad, Display ad, or YouTube advertising:

• Make sure your messaging is consistent.
• Deploy trust scores where you can.
• Provide prospective customers with the information and confidence they need to click.