Google AdWords Tip: Download is a Killer Keyword
January 12th, 2007 by Mike Reining Read more about Google AdWords TipsIt’s time for another Google AdWords case study. This time I tested two very similar ads with the exception of the second description line. I tested:
- Download Healing Exercise Today
vs.
- Unique, Exclusive, Free Training
The second line “Unique, Exclusive, Free Triaining” is very general but has worked for many of our clients across many different campaigns. So, I thought it would be a sure thing.
However, the results were surprising:
As you can see, both Google AdWords ads performed about the same in terms of the click-through-rate but “download healing exercise today” has an 80% higher conversion rate!
Why?
- First, the keyword download might give people the idea that they can get something very fast
- Second, this line also contained the keyword “today” which again emphasizes time
However, I would not read into it too much and just re-iterate what we always say: Keep testing and you are sure going to end up with killer ads that will blow your competitors away.
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About the Author
Prior to MindValley Media, Mike was the Head of New Ventures Strategy at eBay where he conceived of the strategies that led to the investment in Craigslist, the launch of Kijiji.com and the acquisition of Skype.
Mike has an MBA from Stanford and previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a certified Google AdWords Professional.
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Vishen Lakhiani
What was the ‘conversion’ in this case? Someone downloading what you had on the page or filling up a lead form?
In this case conversion = a visitor that signed up for free lessons (i.e. they are now on a mailing list). The free lessons also included a download in lesson 2.
Thanks for the tip Vishen, it certainly makes sense… does the word “free” work too? maybe something like “download free…” ?
But then again — you might be attracting the wrong type of visitors with the word “free” too right?
You don’t have enough clicks to draw the kink of definitive conclusion you are making. Of course, since the download is the action in the user’s mind (where as the sign up is your monetization), you should see a much higher conversion.
You still can’t apply that lesson to any campaign that doesn’t use a download as part of the bait. Download isn’t a killer keyword as much as it is a killer “lead gen” strategy. How well those leads convert later is another question.
This is great advertising stats! Keep up the good work!
Have to say I don’t agree with you. I found the word download didn’t make much of a difference in conversions. “Instant Download” Converted much better then just Download and download didn’t up my conversion rates on any of my campaigns that had something to download.
Hi John,
Thanks for your feedback. It’s not about agreeing vs. disagreeing. The entire point of all of my Google AdWords Tips is that we need to test everything!
I often find that the opposite might work better in some cases. That is why I try to point out ideas that might work but I would never go as far as saying that it will definitely work. All I will say is that it is definitely worth testing to see what works best for you.
Surely the conversion rate would increase if you were to reduce the amount of click throughs?
After all, 1 conversion in 1 click through is a 100% conversion rate.
Hi Vishen
Great post.
I play with Google Adwords all the time, so your article is at great inspiration.
Thumbs up from Denmark ;o)
If you use the word free, when in fact what you’re offering is “one free lesson,” you won’t get the conversion you want when people find out they’re not really getting “free training.” If I understood correctly what you offer, taking out free would be a better test than changing the entire line to include completely different words. You don’t really know that “download” is the key. You just assume it is.