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Google Ads

How to Write Google Ads Copy That People Actually Click

NUVIX · 10 January 2026 · 10 min read
TLDR: Good Google Ads copy does three things: matches the search query, differentiates you from competitors, and gives people a reason to click right now. Most ad copy fails because it’s generic. Include the keyword in headline one, put your strongest differentiator in headline two, and use descriptions to handle objections. Test two to three ads per ad group.

Why Your Ad Copy Matters More Than You Think

Your ad copy is the only thing standing between your budget and a click. Someone types a query into Google, sees a page full of ads and organic results, and makes a split-second decision about which one to click. Your ad has about two seconds to earn that click.

Most advertisers treat ad copy as an afterthought. They spend hours on keyword research, bidding strategy, and campaign structure, then bang out some generic headlines in five minutes. That’s like spending six months designing a shop and then putting a handwritten ‘we’re open’ sign in the window.

Ad copy directly impacts three things:

Improving your ad copy is one of the highest-leverage changes you can make to a Google Ads account. It costs nothing and the impact compounds across every click.

The Anatomy of a Responsive Search Ad

Google’s responsive search ads (RSAs) are now the default ad format. You provide up to 15 headlines (30 characters each) and up to 4 descriptions (90 characters each). Google mixes and matches them to find the best-performing combinations.

Headlines

You can provide up to 15 headlines, and Google will show 2-3 at a time. Not all headlines will show in every impression — Google tests different combinations.

The key headlines to write:

Don’t waste headlines on your brand name unless you’re a well-known brand. Nobody clicking on a search ad for ‘emergency plumber’ cares that your company is called Smith & Sons Plumbing Ltd. They care that you can be there in an hour.

Descriptions

Descriptions give you 90 characters each to expand on your headlines. You can provide up to 4, and Google shows 1-2 at a time.

Use descriptions to:

Pin your best description to position one if it contains your most important selling point or objection handler. Let Google rotate the rest.

What Makes People Click

Relevance beats cleverness

Google Ads is not the place for witty wordplay or creative brand messaging. People scanning search results are looking for the most relevant answer to their query. The ad that most closely mirrors what they typed wins the click.

If someone searches ‘emergency boiler repair Croydon’, the best headline is ‘Emergency Boiler Repair in Croydon’, not ‘When the Heat Is Off, We’re On’. Save the clever stuff for your brand campaigns and social media.

This sounds obvious, but look at the ads for any competitive search term. Half of them will be generic rubbish that could apply to any business in any industry. ‘Quality Service, Great Prices’. ‘Your Trusted Partner’. ‘Contact Us Today’. These say nothing and they deserve the poor CTR they get.

Specificity builds trust

Vague claims are forgettable. Specific claims are credible.

Numbers stick. Specificity creates credibility. If you can put a number on it, put a number on it.

Social proof in ad copy

People trust other people’s experiences more than your marketing claims. If you have strong reviews, awards, or client numbers, put them in your ad copy.

Social proof works especially well in headline two or three, after you’ve established relevance in headline one.

Calls to action that say what happens next

‘Contact us’ is the laziest CTA in advertising. Contact you how? For what? What happens when they do?

Better CTAs tell the person exactly what they’ll get and how quickly:

The CTA should reduce friction and set expectations. If they know exactly what will happen when they click, they’re more likely to click.

Ad Extensions (Assets)

Google renamed extensions to ‘assets’, but most people still call them extensions. These are additional pieces of information that appear below your ad. They take up more space on the page, give more information, and improve CTR. There’s no extra cost for showing them — you only pay when someone clicks.

The extensions you should always have:

Extensions don’t always show — Google decides based on ad rank and context. But having them set up means they can show, which increases your real estate on the page and your likelihood of getting the click.

Testing Your Ads

Two to three ads per ad group

Run at least two responsive search ads per ad group. This gives Google something to compare and optimise against. Three is better, but don’t go above three — at that point the data gets spread too thin and none of them get enough impressions for meaningful comparison.

Make your ads genuinely different. If you have two ads with the same headlines in different orders, you’re not testing anything. Change the angle, the differentiator, the CTA. One ad might lead with price, another with speed, another with social proof. You’re trying to find out what resonates with your audience.

Let the data decide

Don’t judge an ad after 50 impressions. You need statistically significant data before drawing conclusions. As a rough guide, wait until each ad has at least 200-300 clicks before comparing performance. For lower-traffic ad groups, this might take several weeks.

The metric that matters for ad testing is conversion rate, not click-through rate. An ad with a lower CTR but higher conversion rate is better for your business — it’s attracting fewer but more qualified clicks. Always optimise for the metric closest to revenue.

Iterate on winners

When you find a winning ad, don’t just leave it running forever. Create a new variation that takes the winning elements and tries to improve on them. If the headline ‘Accountant for Landlords — Save Up to 40% on Tax’ is your best performer, test ‘Accountant for Landlords — Save Up to 40% on Tax Bills’ or ‘Landlord Tax Specialist — Clients Save 40% on Average’.

Pause the losing ads. Replace them with new tests. Keep iterating. The best accounts are constantly testing new ad copy, never settling for ‘good enough’.

Common Mistakes

  1. Writing the same ad for every ad group. If your ads are identical across ad groups, your structure is wrong. Each ad group targets a different set of keywords with different intent. The ads need to reflect that. ‘Boiler Installation’ and ‘Boiler Repair’ are different services — they need different ads.
  2. Focusing on features instead of benefits. Nobody cares that you have a ‘state-of-the-art facility’ or ‘industry-leading technology’. They care about what that means for them. Fast turnaround, lower costs, better results. Translate every feature into a benefit.
  3. Forgetting mobile. More than half of Google searches happen on mobile. Your ad needs to look good and make sense when only two headlines show instead of three. Pin your most important headlines to positions one and two so they always appear, even on smaller screens.
  4. Not using the full character count. You have 30 characters per headline and 90 per description. Use them. Short headlines like ‘Best Plumber’ waste valuable space. ‘Emergency Plumber in South London — 1hr Response’ uses the space to say something meaningful.
  5. Ignoring the competition. Before you write your ads, search for your target keywords and read every competitor ad on the page. If everyone is saying ‘free quote’, saying ‘free quote’ won’t differentiate you. Find what nobody else is saying and say that.