Customizing ads for specific users with their search intentions is an effective strategy but time-consuming—if you do everything manually. However, you can automate ads’ creation and make them more relevant using Google’s ad customizers. In the article, we cover how to set up ad customizers for different cases.
(Earlier, we highlighted Microsoft ad customizers in our guide.)
Quick Links
Using Google’s Ad Customizers in Real Practice: 6 Examples
#1: Using ad customizer feed to show the product name and price in the headline
#3: Drive different calls to actions for mobile and desktop users using the IF function
#4: Adapt offers to different audiences using the IF function
#5: Increase ad relevance using dynamic keyword insertion
#6: Using countdowns to motivate users to place an order
What are Ad Customizers?
In Google Ads, you don’t need to create each ad manually. There are at least five ways to automate ad copy creation, and using ad customizers is one of them.
Ad customizers adjust your ad texts according to your potential customers’ search needs. For example, users in New York will see the text “Free delivery in NY,” and in Washington—”Delivery to Washington $10.”
When you set up an ad customizer, the system inserts one or more parameters in the ad copy. These are product name, search query, availability, price, etc. As a result, your ads are customized for each search query, and you get a variety of highly relevant ads from a single template.
Why you should set up ad customizers
- Increase ad relevance and CTR. If a search query appears in the ad text, it makes the ad more relevant to the user’s intention.
- Keep your ads up-to-date. The data on prices, availability, and discounts are taken from the feed linked to your CRM.
- Increase the conversion rate. For example, a countdown timer in the ad motivates customers to make an order sooner.
- Dave time creating ads at scale. With ad customizers, you don’t need to write headlines and descriptions to match each search query.
What you need to know before setting up ad customizers
- This feature is available only for Search campaigns.
- Customized text can be placed only in the title and/or description (not in the displayed URL and extensions).
- After you add a customized text to an ad, the ad’s insights are not reset.
When we talk about ad customizers, first of all, we mean ad customizers based on pre-loaded data. However, three more options work similarly to ad customizers. They are:
- IF function
- Countdown
- Dynamic keyword insertion
We’ll show you how to set up all these ad customizer features in Google Ads.
Using Google’s Ad Customizers in Real Practice: 6 Examples
#1: Using ad customizer feed to show the product name and price in the headline
Let’s say that your goal is to display the exact product name and price in the ad headline if a user is looking for a specific model. To do this, you need to create a dataset and upload it to your Google Ads account.
Let’s start by creating a dataset.
Define attributes
Download this template and enter the ad customizer data into the XLS file.
First, you need to set up custom attributes—this is the data that will be substituted in ads. In columns A-E, change the custom attributes to your data. Delete the columns you don’t need. Do not put spaces in attribute names.
Specify attribute types for each column:
- Text: product name (letters, numbers, symbols)
- Number: inventory count (whole numbers)
- Price: cost (аny number, including decimals) and currency characters)
- Date: timestamp (yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm:ss)
Besides these four, there are other standard attributes. For example, you can specify preferred devices, scheduling, etc.
That is how a filled-out file looks like:
A sample of a filled-out feed
Set up targeting
In columns F-H of the template, indicate additional targeting settings. These are the default targeting parameters:
- Target campaign. Specify the campaign this row’s data should be used for.
- Target ad group. Set the ad group this row’s data should be used for.
- Target keyword. Enter the keyword that should trigger this row. You can apply match types to your keywords.
Targeting settings in the feed
If you work in multiple regions, you can use targeting attributes to set up location targeting. Google identifies the user’s IP and substitutes the region in the headline.
To set up, add a column with the Target location attribute to the dataset table.
The use of targeting attributes is not limited to locations. For example, you can specify the type of targeting that applies to locations (Target location restriction), specify the match type of match for the keyword (Target keyword match type), and so on.
To learn more about location dynamic insertion and the opportunities it drives to, read on our post—Advanced Dynamic Location Insertion in Google Ads.
Upload ad customizer feed to your Google Ads account
Save your file in a .csv, .tsv, .xls, or .xlsx format. Use .xls or .xlsx for files under 50 MB, and .csv or .tsv for files up to 500 MB.
Log into your account, go to “Tools,” and select “Business data.”
You can find “Business data” in the “More tools” section
Click the plus button and choose “Ad customizer data.”
Choose Ad customizer data from a drop-down
Name your dataset. Choose your file and click “Apply.” That’s it—you’ve created a dataset for customizers.
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Apply ad customizers
To add customizers to the ad headlines or descriptions, enter a brace ({) and, from a drop-down, select “Ad customizer.”
Ad customizer lets you insert an attribute defined in “Business data”
Let’s say you want the headline to display the product model and its price. To do this, after the brace, insert the “=” sign and select the name of the dataset. Select the attribute from the drop-down. In this case, you need the “Model” attribute.
Setting up the ad customizer
After you save the ad, users will see the model name in the headline.
An example of an ad using a customizer
Check how the modifier works after embedding. If it displays incorrect data, check the feed. You can find how to fix errors in Google Ads Help.
#2: Using ad customizer for Responsive Search ads (RSA) to show the product name and price in the headline
Let’s take the previous example and set up an ad customizer for responsive search ads instead of text ads.
For RSAs, you don’t need to create a single customizer feed with multiple pieces of ad content and targeting settings. Instead, you can create attributes or upload them in bulk and set customizers at the campaign, ad group, and keyword level.
You can upload ad customizer data from the Business Data or the Bulk actions.
Creating ad customizers from Business data
Go to Tools — Business data – Ad customizer attributes. Click + to add a customizer.
Enter the customer name (any you want—it will not display in the ads) and choose the data type:
- Text—the most commonly used for product names.
- Number—the number of products available in stock.
- Price—the actual price of the product.
- Percent—can be used for sales and discounts.
After you create the attribute, it appears in the attributes table. To complete the attribute creation, enter the attribute value.
When you enter the values, they go under review. If they are approved, you can place them in your RSAs.
To add the ad customizer, go to your Campaign, Ad Group, or Keyword page (depending on the level you want to use customizers). Once done, click the Columns icon, and from the Ad Customizer attributes, select the attributes you want to add.
You can see additional columns with customizers.
You can leave customizers as they are or edit them if needed. To define custom value, hover the cursor over the cell, click the pencil icon, choose “Use custom value,” and enter the value that differs from the inherited one.
To insert the ad customizer in your RSA, open it in editing mode and put the curly bracket “{“ into the place where you want to add the customizer. From the dropdown, choose Ad Customizer. After that, select the attribute value and enter the default text.
Creating ad customizers from Business data is suitable when you have few attribute values. Otherwise, it’s time-consuming. When you want to add many customizers at once, the better approach is to do it in bulk with a customizer feed for RSAs.
Creating ad customizers for RSA from the Bulk actions
To get started, download the CSV template and enter the data:
- Where you want to apply customizers (rows A-C).
- Ad customizer values (rows D-G).
Once done, go to Tools – Uploads and upload your feed.
After that, you can assign ad customizer values at the appropriate levels and insert them into your RSAs.
#3: Drive different calls to actions for mobile and desktop users using the IF function
In most cases, desktop users tend to go to the website and fill out an application form; mobile users prefer to call (it is more convenient than filling out a form). Use this trait when displaying ads: encourage mobile users to call and desktop users—to visit your website.
How to set it up
You should create an ad or edit an existing one and place an open brace ({) where the call to action will be. In our example, this is Headline 1. From a drop-down, let’s select the IF function.
IF function insert text when a condition is met
Enter the text that users will see depending on the device type:
Texts for mobile and desktops should be different
After that, the following headline will show on mobile devices:
The headline for mobiles
Desktop users will see another headline:
The headline for desktops
You can test different text versions in the existing ad. The insights for the previous time will remain, so you will see the impact of changes you make.
#4: Adapt offers to different audiences using the IF function
Let’s say your goal is to return users who have added an item to the cart but have not placed an order; for this purpose, you will show these users ads with additional discounts. The best way to set up such ads is to use the IF function.
First, from the audiences list, select the category “Users who have not completed the purchase.” In the “THEN” line, enter the text and the amount of discount for this audience. In the “OTHERWISE” line, set the text for other users. Click “Apply.”
In this example, users who have not completed the purchase will see this ad:
An example of a headline with a special offer
Other users will see a different ad with a regular discount:
These headlines will see other users
#5: Increase ad relevance using dynamic keyword insertion
When users see a search query in the ad’s headline, they find this ad particularly relevant. That’s why PPC managers usually try to include the main keywords in the headlines and/or descriptions.
Creating ads for all the keywords can be time-consuming, but you don’t have to do it manually. Use dynamic keyword insertion, and the system will update your ad texts to include keywords that match the users’ search terms.
How to set up dynamic keyword insertion
When you’re entering an ad headline or description, type a brace ({) and select “Keyword insertion” from the drop-down.
A drop-down with Dynamic Text options
That’s how the set-up window looks like:
A set-up window for keyword insertion
In the “Default text” line, enter the text that best matches the keywords in the ad group. For example, for our group, the keywords are “orthopedic mattress” and “memory foam mattress.” In this case, we enter “mattresses” as the default text. We place keyword insertion in Headline 1 and the CTA “Shop Now!” as Headline 2.
After that, the ad will adapt to the users’ requests in the way shown in the table below:
| User request | The headline that users will see |
|---|---|
| orthopedic mattresses | Orthopedic Mattresses | Shop Now! |
| memory foam mattresses | Memory Foam Mattresses | Shop Now! |
| pocket sprung mattresses | Pocket Sprung Mattresses | Shop Now! |
If the user request is too long to fit into the 30-character limit, the system uses the default word. For example, if the query is “cheap pocket sprung mattresses in Washington DC,” the headline “Mattresses | Shop Now!” will show. Also, the default text will appear if the system fails to find a keyword matching the query.
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#6: Using countdowns to motivate users to place an order
You can set a countdown in your ad headline or description. Users will see the dates for the start of the event or the end of the promotion.
As an example, let’s set up a countdown to the end of the promotion. We’ll add it to the second headline after the words “Deal ends in:”
Choose “Countdown” from a drop-down
Enter the date and time of the countdown, set the countdown period, set the time zone, and the language in which the date and time will be displayed. For ads in different time zones, it’s best to set the user’s time zone.
Setting up a countdown
An ad with a countdown will look like this:
An example of an ad with a countdown
As you get closer to the date, the number in the ad will also change (3 days, 2 days, 10 hours, 20 minutes, etc.)
Wrapping up
If you want to save time creating hundreds of ad copies for each campaign, you should try to use ad customizers. There are four tools that let you personalize your ad texts for user’s search intentions and increase CTR: the ad customizer itself and three more tools that work similarly (the IF function, Countdown timer, and Dynamic keyword insertion).
The good thing with ad customizers is that if you edit an existing ad, the previous stats will remain, so you’ll be able to compare ad performance before and after changes. So you should try them to increase your ad relevance and save time.
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