We are a Certified Google Partner, and love seeing what brands are up to with their Google AdWords budget.
This is the 13th instalment of a series we call “Critiquing Your Google AdWords Campaigns”.
We Google a search term and evaluate the top 3 Google Ads as well as their landing pages for their ability to “Attract” and “Convert” visitors into leads.
We grade each campaign out of 10:
- 5 Points ATTRACT: the actual Google Ad
- 5 Points for CONVERT: the Landing Page experience
Let’s get started!
This week we Googled “Email Encryption Software”.
Google Ad #1
Company: Postlayer
Google AdWords Ad:
The Good…
- Hmmm…not much
The Not so Good…
- I see “Anti Spam” and “Stop Spam” but no mention of “email encryption”
- “Stop Spam. Free Trial” isn’t very descriptive, whomever wrote this ad didn’t feel like using up much of Google’s allotted character limits for text ads
- No descriptive url that could include keyword
- No use of site-links or phone number
Ad Score: 0/5
Google AdWords Landing Page:
The Good…
- It’s a good headline and sub-line (if I were looking for email filtering instead of email encryption), as it’s low cost and quick and easy to get up and running
- The running count of “emails filtered by PostLayer” is effective, as it shows me that a lot of people must be using the tool
The Not so Good…
- Too many competing calls-to-action (CTAs) on this page: “Register”, “Free Trial”, “Get PostLayer”, “Learn More”
- The main CTA button should be in a contrasting colour, like orange, to stand out more
- Where’s the social proof? I don’t see any testimonials or customer logos.
Google Landing Page Score: 2.5/5
TOTAL ADWORDS SCORE: 2.5/10
Google Ad #2
Company: Sharefile
Google AdWords Ad:
The Good…
- Keyword in headline and descriptive url? Check
- Call extension? Check
- 3rd party user review pull-quote? Check
- Great features and use of site-links? Check
- Identify audience segments (business, enterprise)? Check
- Call-to-Action (Try It Free)? Check
The Not so Good…
- There’s not a whole lot to complain about this ad, maybe would like to know if it’s for small businesses
AdWords Score: 5/5
Google AdWords Landing Page:
The Good…
- Message match: the keyword I used to search was in the ad, and now in the landing page headline
- Big obvious form and CTA button to start free trial
- Video that shows you how it works, why you should use it…good stuff
The Not so Good…
- I’m not so sure about the main image, it doesn’t scream “secure” and “business” to me
- Should make clear whether it works with non-Outlook email clients
- The form is a bit too crammed, space it out more
Google Landing Page Score: 4/5
TOTAL ADWORDS SCORE: 9/10
Google Ad #3
Company: eset
Google AdWords Ad:
The Good…
- This ad has everything: great description, money-back policy, industries, free trial, site-links, etc. EXCEPT it doesn’t mention “Email” Encryption, which is what I’m looking for
The Not so Good…
- See above. If this product is not for “email encryption”, they should be using “email” as a negative keyword.
Google AdWords Score: 0/5
Google AdWords Landing Page:
The Good…
- I like how the logo, instead of a slogan, simply states what it is: encryption software
- Minimal clutter and well-designed
- Nice big form and CTA
The Not so Good…
- I’m searching for “email encryption software” so this landing page isn’t very useful as there’s no mention of email
- The form has 8 fields, which is a bit too many
- Why would eset need my country, state, and number of endpoints before I could start a free trial? Ask for this information later, right now I just want to take a peek inside the software
OutMarket Landing Page Score: 2/5
TOTAL ADWORDS SCORE: 2/10
Who’s Getting My Business for “Email Encryption Software”?
We have a standout winner: ShareFile. They had a perfect ad and a very good landing page and scored 9/10. Perhaps more importantly, they were the only company that had a relevant ad campaign for “email encryption software”.
We want to hear from you! Let us know what industry you’re in, and we’ll focus on it for our next edition of “Exemplary Examples of Google AdWords Done Right (and Wrong)! Tweet me @robertclarkey