An investigation of the use of minimal text to write effective paid advertisements on the search engine results page

Abstract

Introduction. The search engine results page provides an important opportunity for numerous interest groups that would like to be found on the web. Paid text advertisements offer the chance to reach the users through compact text messages, in the hope of generating or increasing awareness which optimally should lead to a page visit. The limitations on these adverts are partly experienced due to the minimal text requirements set by the search engines. The aim of the experiment conducted during this investigation is to study the impact of a correct text optimization on the aforementioned advertising links. Method. A series of websites mimicking the links presented on a search engine result page were created and gathered in two sets for A/B testing: one with and one without optimized text on the displayed paid advertisements. These simulations were then presented to a group of forty-eight individuals, who ranked the likelihood of clicking on the pages’ links, after having their simulated incentives for the search explained. After this, the ranking were transmuted into a score system and examined in conjunction with the feedback provided by the individuals after the culmination of the experiment session. Results and Analysis. The results indicated that the users were more likely to click on an advertisement that contained an optimized text than on those that weren’t optimized. Conclusions. The analysis suggested a direct correlation between the optimization of the writing and the conversion rate for paid advertisements, regardless of the nature of the search. But then again, it also proposed that the effect caused by these optimizations varied considerably on intensity according to the type of search.