Ad copy
How do I write a Google ad that gets clicks?
Most ads that underperform are not badly written. They are written about the business instead of about the search, and Google charges more for the difference.
How do I write a Google ad that gets clicks?
Put the searcher's own words in the headline, name the specific service and the place you do it, and use the description to say what actually happens when somebody clicks. A responsive search ad accepts up to fifteen headlines of thirty characters and four descriptions of ninety characters, and Google assembles combinations of them, so every headline has to make sense on its own.
Click rate follows relevance far more than cleverness: an ad that matches the search and lands on a page repeating that same promise will beat a better written ad that does neither.
Write the search back to the person who made it
A person scanning a results page is not reading. They are pattern matching against the words they just typed, in about a second, across four or five listings that all look similar.
This is why the single highest impact edit in most accounts is not a new headline idea, it is moving the searched phrase into headline position one. Somebody who typed same day crown repair is looking for the words same day crown repair. A headline that says Trusted Family Dentistry Since Opening is about you, and it loses to a worse business that wrote the search back.
Read the full breakdown: Write the search back to the person who made itHide the full breakdown: Write the search back to the person who made it
It also explains why one ad cannot serve a whole account. If a single ad group contains implants, whitening and emergency visits, no headline can match all three searches, so the ad ends up generic by necessity. Tight ad groups exist to make specific copy possible, not to satisfy a structural rule.
The second thing the reader is scanning for is whether you are near them and whether you can help today. Location and availability belong in the ad, not only on the page, because half the decision is made before the click.
Everything else in this page is downstream of those two ideas. Say what they searched for. Say what happens next.
What you are actually filling in
Search ads are almost all responsive search ads now. You supply the parts and Google assembles them. Each ad takes up to fifteen headlines of up to thirty characters and up to four descriptions of up to ninety characters, with a minimum of three headlines and two descriptions before it will run.
Google then tests combinations, showing typically three headlines and two descriptions at a time depending on the device and the space available. The practical consequence is that you are not writing one ad, you are writing a set of interchangeable parts, and any two of them can appear side by side. If headline four only makes sense after headline two, that pairing will eventually run without it and read as nonsense.
Read the full breakdown: What you are actually filling inHide the full breakdown: What you are actually filling in
Ad Strength is the indicator Google shows while you build. It reflects how relevant, varied and numerous your assets are. Treat it as a completeness check rather than a target: an ad rated excellent that says nothing specific will still lose to a merely good ad that names the service and the town.
You can pin a headline or description to a fixed position when something has to appear, such as a regulated disclaimer or a fixed offer name. Google cautions that pinning is not recommended for most advertisers, because each pin removes combinations from the testing pool and reduces Ad Strength. Pin sparingly and for a reason you can state out loud.
Writing the ad, in order
This is the order we actually work in. It front loads the decisions that change performance and leaves the wordsmithing until last, where it belongs.
Start from the search terms report, not from a blank page
Open the search terms report and read what people actually typed to reach you. Those phrases are free copy research, written by the exact audience you are trying to reach. Where a phrase recurs and converts, it becomes a headline. Where it recurs and never converts, it becomes a negative keyword instead.
Write the three headlines that must exist
Before generating variety, write the three that carry the meaning: the service exactly as it is searched, the place or service area, and the thing that makes the next step easy such as same day appointments or free estimates. If those three are right, the ad works even when Google shows nothing else.
Fill out the rest with genuinely different angles
Variety only helps if the variants differ in substance. Price framing, speed, credential, guarantee terms, who it is for, what is included. Fifteen rewordings of the same sentence give Google nothing to test and tell the reader nothing new.
- One headline naming who it is for, such as new patients or commercial properties.
- One naming a proof point you can stand behind without exaggerating it.
- One naming the practical detail that removes friction: parking, evening hours, financing available, no referral needed.
See the remaining steps: Writing the ad, in orderHide the remaining steps: Writing the ad, in order
Use the descriptions to answer what happens next
Ninety characters is enough for one complete thought. Say what the visitor gets and what the first step involves. A description that reads as a list of adjectives is wasted space. A description that says book online in under a minute, or we quote on site and you keep the quote, is doing real work.
Check the ad against the page before you publish
Read the ad, then open the landing page and read its headline. If they do not say the same thing, fix the page rather than softening the ad. Landing page experience is one of the three components Google reports in Quality Score, so message match affects what the click costs as well as whether it converts.
Give a new ad enough time and traffic to mean something before you judge it. Swapping copy every few days mostly measures noise, and it resets the learning you were waiting for.
Why the wording changes what you pay
Ad copy is not only a persuasion problem. It is one of the inputs that decides whether you appear at all, and at what price.
Google's documentation lists six inputs to Ad Rank: your bid, the quality of your ads and landing page, the Ad Rank thresholds, how competitive the auction is, the context of the search including location, device and time, and the expected impact of your assets and other ad formats.
Quality Score is the diagnostic Google reports against that quality component. It sits at keyword level on a scale of one to ten and breaks into expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google states plainly that Quality Score is not itself an input in the auction, it is a tool for identifying where the experience is weak.
Read together, those two facts say something useful: better copy can buy a higher position than a bigger budget. Expected click-through rate is partly a prediction about your wording, and ad relevance is largely a judgement about whether the ad matches the keyword it sits under.
What the click rate tends to look like
LocalIQ's Search Advertising Benchmarks 2026 aggregate their own customers' campaigns across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Useful for sanity checking a number, not a market average and not a figure anybody should promise you.
SourceLocalIQ, Search Advertising Benchmarks 2026
A click-through rate well above these can be a very good sign or a warning. If an ad is attracting clicks from people who were looking for something adjacent, the rate rises and the conversion rate falls. Always read the two together.
Lines that get an ad ignored, or disapproved
The first four here are performance problems. The last three are policy problems, and Google's editorial requirements are enforced automatically.
- Headlines about your business rather than the search: family owned, trusted, your local experts, serving the community.
- Adjective stacking with no specifics: professional, affordable, quality, reliable, in one line.
- A description that repeats the headline instead of adding the next piece of information.
- An ad pointing at the home page, so the visitor arrives and has to search the site for what they just searched Google for.
- Gimmicky formatting. Google's editorial requirements prohibit manipulative use of words, numbers, letters, punctuation or symbols, which covers shouting in capitals and stacked exclamation marks.
- Vague destinations and vague copy. Google requires ads and destinations to be clear, easy to interact with and relevant, and singles out generic phrasing as a failure.
- Claims you cannot evidence. Best, number one, guaranteed results. Beyond the advertising policy, over-claiming invites a complaint you do not want to answer.
If an ad is disapproved, the reason appears against it in the interface with a link to the relevant policy. Fix the specific thing named, resubmit, and do not rewrite the whole ad on a guess.
The assets around the ad do a lot of the work
The block of text is only part of what shows. Sitelinks add extra clickable destinations under the ad, callouts add short non clickable phrases, structured snippets list what you offer under a header such as services or types, and call assets attach a phone number that can be dialled straight from the results page.
These matter for two reasons. They give the reader more surface to land on and more ways to self select, which usually lifts click-through rate. And the expected impact of assets is one of the six inputs Google names in Ad Rank, so an ad with good assets can outrank one without at the same bid.
Read the full breakdown: The assets around the ad do a lot of the workHide the full breakdown: The assets around the ad do a lot of the work
For a local business the call asset is often the highest value one on the list, because a large share of enquiries are still phone calls made from the results page without a site visit at all. Make sure those calls are tracked as conversions, or they are invisible to the system deciding where to spend next.
Location assets tie the ad to your Google Business Profile so the address and distance can show. That connection also means the profile itself needs to be accurate, which is a different piece of work entirely and one worth doing before you advertise against it.
The ad does not end at the ad
The most common reason a well written ad fails is that the page behind it changes the subject.
If the ad says emergency appointments today, the page headline should say emergency appointments today, the phone number should be visible without scrolling, and the form should be short enough to complete on a phone one handed.
Every gap between the ad and the page costs twice: once in conversion rate, and again through landing page experience, which Google reports as one of the three components of Quality Score.
This is also the cheapest test available to you. Read the ad out loud, click it, and read the page headline out loud. If somebody listening could not tell they were the same offer, that is the next thing to fix, ahead of any copy rewrite.
Related reading
Ad copy sits inside a larger system. These are the parts of it that most often decide whether good copy gets a chance.
When the clicks arrive but the calls do not
A diagnostic order for accounts producing traffic and no enquiries.
When the clicks arrive but the calls do notWhat a landing page is for
Why a dedicated page usually beats sending paid traffic to your home page.
What a landing page is forClick-through rate explained
How the number is calculated, why paid and organic versions mean different things, and when a high one is bad news.
Click-through rate explainedWriting a call to action that works
The one line that decides whether a visitor acts or leaves to think about it.
Writing a call to action that worksThe full Google Ads guide
Structure, match types, bidding and reporting, for somebody who wants the whole picture.
The full Google Ads guideWant the ads read before they go live?
We will look at the ad groups, the copy and the pages behind them, and say which changes are worth making first.
Straight answers.
How many headlines should a responsive search ad have?
Google allows up to fifteen headlines and requires at least three. In practice, filling most of the slots with genuinely different angles gives the system something real to test.
Quantity is not the point. Fifteen rewordings of one idea perform worse than eight headlines that each say something distinct.
Should I pin headlines to fixed positions?
Only when something must appear, such as a legal disclaimer or a fixed offer name. Google advises against pinning for most advertisers because each pin removes combinations from testing and lowers Ad Strength.
If you find yourself pinning to stop a headline appearing in the wrong place, the better fix is usually to rewrite that headline so it works anywhere.
Does putting the keyword in the headline actually help?
Yes, for two reasons. The reader scans for the words they typed, and ad relevance is one of the three components Google reports in Quality Score.
The limit is honesty. Do not insert a keyword you cannot deliver on, because the click still costs you and the visitor leaves immediately.
How long should I leave an ad before judging it?
Long enough for the numbers to stop moving when new data arrives, which depends on volume rather than days. A campaign getting a few clicks a day needs weeks, not a long weekend.
Changing copy every few days usually measures noise and resets whatever learning was accumulating.
Can I use a competitor's name in my ad?
Bidding on a competitor's name as a keyword is generally permitted. Using their trademark in the ad text is restricted, and a trademark owner can complain to Google and have it removed.
Setting the policy aside, it is usually a poor trade. You pay a premium for a click from somebody who was looking for a different business and often bounces on arrival.
Why was my ad disapproved?
Google Ads policies cover four areas: prohibited content, prohibited practices, restricted content and features, and editorial and technical requirements. Disapprovals name the specific policy against the ad in the interface.
Editorial failures are the most common for small advertisers, typically gimmicky punctuation and capitalisation or a destination that does not match the ad.
What is a good click-through rate for a Google ad?
There is no universal good. LocalIQ's 2026 benchmarks put the all industries search average at 6.64% across their own customers, which is a reference point rather than a target.
Judge an ad against the other ads in the same ad group and against conversion rate. A high click-through rate that produces no enquiries is a targeting problem wearing a success costume.
Where this comes from.
Primary documentation and published research behind the guidance on this page.
- Google Ads Help: About responsive search ads (opens in a new tab)
- Google Ads Help: About Quality Score for Search campaigns (opens in a new tab)
- Google Ads policies (opens in a new tab)
- Google Ads Help: Ad Rank definition (opens in a new tab)The components Google states go into Ad Rank, including bid and ad quality.
- Google Ads Help: About the search terms report (opens in a new tab)
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