25 Ways to Improve the CTR of Your Google Ads Campaigns

The average CTR for Google Ads search campaigns is 6.66% across all industries, according to WordStream’s 2025 benchmarks (data from April 2024 to March 2025). That average hides enormous variation: the top advertisers in any given industry consistently exceed 15%, while poorly optimised accounts sit below 2%. The difference isn’t budget. It’s ad relevance, ad group structure, active assets, and the use of tools like dynamic keyword insertion, urgency customisers, and image assets — features that the vast majority of advertisers never bother to set up.

Key Takeaways

• The average CTR in Google Ads is 6.66% across all industries (WordStream Benchmarks, 2025)
• Ads with sitelink extensions get up to 20% more clicks than ads without extensions (Google Ads Help)
• A Quality Score of 8 reduces CPC by 37% compared to the baseline (QS 5), meaning you pay less for the same positions (WordStream)
• Countdown customisers generate 21–32% more CTR in limited-time offer campaigns (AGrowth.io)
• 85.6% of accounts have a higher CTR on exact match than on broad for the same keywords (Optmyzr, study of 2,637 accounts)
• The standard format since June 2022 is the RSA with up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions
• A high CTR without conversions is worthless: optimisation must always target your CPA or ROAS goal

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Table of Contents

• Quality Score and CTR
• Ad extensions
• Compelling ad copy
• Keywords in your ads
• Segmenting ad groups
• Smart Bidding
• Display URL
• Bid adjustments
• Calls to action
• Competitive analysis
• A/B testing
• Negative keywords
• Remarketing audiences
• Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)
• Countdown customisers
• IF functions by device and audience
• Dynamic Location Insertion (DLI)
• Image assets in search
• Price extensions
• Promotion assets
• Strategic RSA headline pinning
• Ad scheduling and device adjustments
• Exact match as a CTR lever
• AI Max for Search campaigns
• Consumer psychology in headlines
• CTR isn’t everything
• FAQ

Two platform changes you need to know about (2021–2026)

Before we get into the 25 techniques, two updates that change how some of them apply:

Broad Match Modifier (BMM) was retired in 2021. The broad match modifier syntax (+keyword +phrase) was deprecated in July 2021. Its behaviour was absorbed by Phrase Match, which has since operated more flexibly. If you’re still using that syntax, Google treats it as phrase match. Review your match type structure to make sure the control you’re expecting is actually there.

Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) were retired in June 2022. The standard format in Search is now the Responsive Search Ad (RSA). With RSAs, you upload up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google automatically combines the most relevant variations for each search. A/B testing no longer works the same way it did with ETAs — more on that in the relevant section below.

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How Quality Score affects the CTR of your ads

A Quality Score of 8 can reduce your CPC by 37% compared to the baseline (QS 5), and a QS of 10 gets you to a 50% reduction, according to WordStream’s account analysis. CTR is the single highest-weighted component in the Quality Score formula (with an estimated influence of 39%), alongside ad relevance and landing page experience.

If nobody clicks on your ads, Google interprets that as a signal they’re not relevant to that search. A low QS raises your effective CPC even if your bid is high. The path to paying less for the same position always runs through relevance — and CTR is the most direct signal that relevance exists.

What most guides don’t mention: the CTR Google measures for Quality Score isn’t just yours in isolation. It’s your CTR compared to the expected CTR of other advertisers for that same keyword. You could have an 8% CTR and still be penalised if the industry average for that keyword is 12%. The “Expected CTR” column in the Quality Score report tells you far more than your absolute CTR figure.

To understand in depth how Quality Score affects your CPC and auction position, see the Google Ads Quality Score guide for 2026.

Industry	Average CTR (2025)
Shopping & Gifts	8.92%
Travel	8.73%
Finance & Insurance	8.33%
Restaurants	7.58%
Health & Fitness	7.18%
Fashion & Jewelry	6.77%
Legal	5.97%
Education	5.74%
Dentists	5.44%
Global Average	6.66%

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Which ad extensions improve CTR the most?

Ads with well-configured extensions get up to 20% more clicks than ads without them (Google Ads Help). The goal isn’t to fill space for the sake of it: each extension should add genuine value for the user. An overly cluttered ad with irrelevant extensions won’t improve your CTR — it’ll just confuse people.

In my experience managing ecommerce and service accounts, sitelink extensions with descriptions have the highest impact. Not because they take up more space, but because they let the user choose the most relevant entry point for their need. Someone searching for “employment lawyer London” can click straight to “Free Consultation” rather than the main ad, which increases the probability of conversion from that first click.

Sitelink extensions

Sitelink extensions show up to 4 additional links below your ad. Adding a description to each link puts two lines of text beneath the headline, makes your ad stand out, and reduces the visibility of competitors appearing nearby.

Call extensions

Call extensions let the user click to call directly from a mobile device. If you’ve set up a Google call tracking number, you can record calls as conversions when they exceed a minimum duration you define.

Structured snippet extensions

Structured snippets show product or service details below your description lines. There are several categories: amenities, brands, courses, hotels, insurance coverage, models, service catalogue. You can add up to 10 values per type.

Callout extensions

These are short text snippets (up to 25 characters) that reinforce your selling points without a URL. Up to four are shown per ad, and Google rotates the best-performing ones. Use them for concrete advantages: “Free next-day delivery”, “Free returns”, “No contract”.

Seller ratings

Seller ratings are automated: Google calculates a 1-to-5-star rating using reviews from verified sources (Trustpilot, Bizrate, Yotpo, etc.). There’s no manual setup required; they appear if you have enough reviews and your rating is high enough.

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How to write ad copy that generates more clicks

Google recommends including at least 8–10 distinct headlines in each RSA so the system has enough combinations to test (Google Ads Help). The most important thing is that those headlines are genuinely different, not minor variations of the same idea. Mix headlines with keywords, headlines with concrete benefits, headlines with CTAs, and headlines with unique value propositions.

With Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) — the only available format since June 2022 — you upload up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google automatically combines the most relevant variations for each search. The goal is the same as it’s always been: copy that speaks to what the user actually needs, not a list of your product’s features.

Nobody cares how great you think you are. It’s not about you or your brand. The secret is writing with your customers in mind: their needs, their fears, their objections. See the complete PPC ad copy guide for an updated workflow built around RSAs.

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Why you should include keywords in your ad text

According to Think with Google, ads that include the search term in the main headline consistently achieve higher click-through rates than those that don’t. Google bolds the keyword in the SERP, increasing the ad’s visibility and signalling to the user that the result directly answers their specific search.

When the searched term appears in the ad headline, Google shows it in bold. That bold text increases the ad’s visibility in the SERP and tells the user your ad is directly relevant to what they searched for. The CTR impact is consistent: ads with keyword matches in the headline outperform those without, according to Think with Google.

Include your target keyword in the main headline and, where possible, in the display URL. You can also use it in one of the descriptions to reinforce relevance. Don’t repeat it across all three headline positions: diversify so the RSA system has real variety to work with.

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How many keywords should your ad groups have?

The standard rule in Google Ads is to keep ad groups to no more than 15–20 keywords (Google Ads Help). Larger groups with diverse semantics make it impossible for the 15 RSA headlines to be relevant to all the keywords simultaneously, which reduces expected CTR and weakens the Ad Relevance component of Quality Score.

Many specialists work with groups of 5–10 for maximum relevance. When an ad group has too many keywords covering different topics, the RSA headlines can’t be relevant to all of them at once. The result: lower CTR and lower Quality Score.

The fix is to group homogeneous themes. An ad group for “men’s running shoes” and a separate one for “men’s trail shoes” will always outperform a single group for “men’s sports footwear”. That segmentation also directly improves the Ad Relevance component of Quality Score, closing the loop between account structure and cost per click.

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When does Smart Bidding make sense for improving CTR?

Smart Bidding needs a minimum of 30–50 conversions per month to work properly, according to Google Ads Help. Without that volume, the algorithm doesn’t have enough data to adjust bids in real time. Below that threshold, the system makes decisions based on incomplete signals and can inflate CPC without improving results.

When the data is sufficient, Smart Bidding enters the auction ad by ad, adjusting the bid based on dozens of simultaneous signals: device, time of day, user history, search type, audiences. No manual manager can replicate that. For a complete guide on when Smart Bidding works in your favour and when it works against you, see the Smart Bidding analysis for ecommerce.

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How to use the display URL effectively

The two display URL paths in RSAs (up to 15 characters each) are editable text that appears alongside the domain in the ad. Including the main keyword in the first path reinforces the relevance signal before the user even reads the headline, according to Google Ads Help. It’s a two-minute change with a direct impact on expected CTR and Ad Relevance.

In RSAs, the display URL can be customised with up to two text paths of 15 characters each. These paths don’t have to be real URLs: they’re editable text that appears alongside your domain in the ad. Use them to include your main keyword and reinforce relevance: yourdomain.com/running-shoes/mens immediately communicates what the ad is about, even before the user reads the headline.

A well-optimised display URL reinforces the search → ad → landing consistency, which impacts both CTR and the Ad Relevance component of Quality Score. It’s a two-minute tweak with an outsized effect on results.

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How often should you review your bids to maintain visibility?

Bidding too low will cost you positions. Below position 3 or 4, CTR drops non-linearly: Think with Google data shows that position 1 can generate up to three times more clicks than position 3 for competitive commercial searches. The aim isn’t to always be in position 1 — it’s to avoid falling into the dead zone of positions 5–7.

Review your bids at least once a week. Check that your main keywords are within the suggested bid range for the first page, and that your Search Impression Share isn’t dropping due to budget or quality constraints. The goal isn’t to maximise position; it’s to guarantee top-3 visibility with a CPA within your target.

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Which calls to action work best in Google Ads?

Specific CTAs outperform generic ones because they pre-filter user intent. WordStream documented that direct verbs like “Get your quote”, “Book your appointment”, and “Download free” consistently outperform “Click here” or “Learn more” in paid search environments, where the user already has a declared intent before seeing the ad.

The most effective CTA is the one that matches exactly what the user wants to do at that moment. A search for “kitchen renovation quote” wants “Get your free quote”. A search for “buy iPhone 16 Pro” wants “Buy with next-day delivery”. Generic CTAs (“Click here”, “Learn more”) add no intent, and wasting that opportunity in a headline costs you clicks.

Be explicit: “Book your appointment”, “Download free”, “Call us today”, “View limited offer”. Users who already know what they want respond better to direct CTAs than to open-ended ones. A specific CTA also primes the user towards conversion before they even land on the page.

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How to analyse competitors to improve your copy

Google Ads offers two native tools for competitive analysis: the Ad Preview tool (to see the real SERP without consuming impressions) and the Auction Insights report, which shows each competitor’s relative impression share (Google Ads Help). Analysing which value propositions your competitors use reveals which messages are saturated and where genuine differentiation opportunities exist.

Use the Google Ad Preview tool to see what appears in the SERP for your main keywords without consuming impressions. The Auction Insights report shows you which competitors overlap with you most frequently and what their relative impression share is.

Analysing competitors doesn’t just give you copy ideas — it tells you which value propositions are already saturated in your market. If all your competitors use “free shipping” and “money-back guarantee” in their headlines, those are no longer differentiators: they’re the minimum expected. The real opportunity lies in what none of them say, but what actually matters to your customer. In highly competitive accounts, differentiation in copy is usually worth more than any bid adjustment.

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How to run A/B tests on your ads with RSAs in 2026

Google recommends including at least 8–10 distinct headlines in each RSA so the system has enough combinations to test (Google Ads Help). With RSAs, classic A/B testing from the ETA era no longer works the same way. You can’t compare ad A against ad B when each one can generate thousands of different combinations.

The most direct method today is to use the Experiments tab in Google Ads: create a campaign variant, split traffic 50/50, and change just one element of the RSA — the headlines, the descriptions, or a specific CTA pinned to position 2. For lower-traffic accounts, an alternative is to create two RSAs in the same ad group with different headlines pinned in position 2, and wait for at least 200 clicks per variant before drawing any conclusions.

Pause underperforming ads when you create new variations. Accumulating inactive RSAs in an ad group distorts the optimisation data the algorithm learns from.

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How negative keywords affect CTR

Negative keywords eliminate irrelevant searches that would never have resulted in a click on your ad anyway. By reducing impressions on low-intent searches, the calculated CTR rises because the denominator (impressions) is smaller and more qualified. But the real benefit goes beyond CTR: accounts with active negative keyword lists have a CPA that’s 15–20% lower than those without (WordStream).

Negatives also improve the quality of the conversion data that the algorithm uses to learn. If Smart Bidding is optimising on signal that’s been contaminated by clicks from users who were never going to buy, results deteriorate. For a full picture of the most common negative keyword management mistakes, in both small and large-budget accounts, see the guide to the most common Google Ads mistakes.

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Why remarketing improves CTR in Google Ads

Remarketing audiences convert between 2 and 3 times more than cold traffic in most industries (WordStream, 2025). The higher CTR is a direct consequence of that familiarity: a user who’s already visited your store and sees your ad again recognises the brand, remembers the product, and has more qualified intent than someone discovering you for the first time.

You can create remarketing audiences in Google Ads using GA4 data, the Google Ads pixel, or customer lists. The most effective segments for ecommerce are product page visitors who didn’t reach the cart, cart abandoners, and buyers with a high probability of repeat purchase. For a complete setup guide, see the article on Google Ads remarketing.

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What is Dynamic Keyword Insertion and how does it increase CTR?

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) automatically replaces a placeholder in your headline with the exact term the user searched for, generating up to 15% more CTR in industries with varied vocabulary (KlientBoost). When the user sees their literal search query in the ad headline, perceived relevance is at its highest.

The syntax is straightforward: {keyword:Default Headline}. If the keyword is too long to fit the available space, Google uses the default text. It works best in thematic ad groups where all keywords share the same purchase intent. If you mix keywords with different intents in the same group, DKI can produce headlines that make no sense.

DKI’s limitation: it gives you visual relevance, not real relevance. An ad that inserts “cheap running shoes” in the headline but sends users to an upscale fashion landing page will have a high CTR and a low conversion rate. Use DKI when the group is homogeneous and the destination landing page genuinely addresses that search.

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Do countdown customisers generate more urgency and more clicks?

Countdown customisers display a real-time timer in the ad headline: “Offer ends in 2 days, 3 hours”. Genuine urgency — not manufactured — generates 21–32% more CTR in limited-time offer campaigns (AGrowth.io, Google data). The key is that the urgency has to be real: users quickly spot a countdown that never actually ends.

The syntax uses the {=countdown()} parameter in the headline. You define the offer end date and Google calculates the remaining time in real time, ad by ad. You can schedule the start in advance, which makes it particularly useful for Black Friday, summer sales, or any campaign with a defined launch date.

In my experience with ecommerce campaigns, countdown customisers work best when paired with a landing page that reinforces the same urgency consistently. An ad that says “Offer ends in 6 hours” but leads to a page with no countdown creates dissonance and reduces conversion rate, even if the initial CTR is high.

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How to use IF functions to personalise ads by device or audience

Google Ads IF functions let you show different text in the same RSA depending on the user’s device or audience, without creating separate ad groups (Google Ads Help). For ecommerce, showing “Call now” to mobile users and “Add to cart” to desktop users within the same group aligns the message with the browsing context and improves CTR.

IF functions let you show different text in the same RSA based on whether the user is on mobile or belongs to a specific audience. For example: if the user is on mobile, show “Call now — immediate response”; if not, show “Request a quote online”. Contextual personalisation improves CTR because the message responds to the medium the user is on, not a generic profile.

The headline syntax: {=IF(device=mobile,Call now):Request online}. For audiences: {=IF(audience IN(list_id),Exclusive offer for you):Standard price}. There’s no need to duplicate ad groups or create separate variants.

The most practical use case for ecommerce: show “Download the app” to mobile users and “Add to cart” to desktop users, within the same ad group. Combining IF functions with DKI in the same headline isn’t possible — choose one per headline.

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Does Dynamic Location Insertion make sense for local ads?

Dynamic Location Insertion (DLI) automatically replaces part of the headline with the city or region closest to the user performing the search. A study by Augurian reported CTR increases of up to 70% for local campaigns with DLI active, though results vary depending on geographic density and the relevance of the service in each area.

The syntax: {CUSTOMIZER.location:default location}. It requires appropriate geographic targeting to be enabled and the business to have genuine coverage in the areas where the ad appears. Running “Plumber in Manchester” to a user in Edinburgh where you don’t operate generates clicks you can’t fulfill.

It works especially well for services with a presence across multiple cities: repairs, estate agencies, medical consultations, restaurants with several locations. For single-location businesses, standard location extensions are more reliable and don’t require customiser configuration.

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Do image assets in search improve CTR?

Image assets let you show a photo alongside the text ad in search campaigns for advertisers who meet the eligibility requirements. Google and Search Engine Land documented a +6% CTR in campaigns with an active image asset; TravelBoom observed an overall +18% CTR across their accounts after activating them.

For ecommerce, image assets are activated from the “Assets” tab of the campaign or ad group. The minimum dimensions are 1.91:1 (1200x628 pixels), and square 1:1 images are also accepted (300x300 minimum). Google decides when and where to show the image: it isn’t guaranteed to appear on every impression.

Eligibility isn’t universal: Google grants it based on account history, compliance history, and industry. If you’ve had active conversion tracking and CPCs in normal ranges for several months, you can likely activate them already. Check whether the option is available in your account before designing the assets.

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What are price extensions in Google Ads and what impact do they have?

Price extensions display a grid of products or services with their price directly below the main ad. Channable documented a +30% CTR and -10% CPC in ecommerce campaigns with active price extensions. The mechanism is simple: the user sees the price before clicking and self-qualifies their intent, which also improves conversion rate.

You can add between 3 and 8 items in a price extension: each has a header (25 characters), a description (25 characters), the price, and a destination URL. Available types include brands, events, locations, products, and services.

What most advertisers don’t take advantage of: showing prices in the ad doesn’t always reduce clicks even when your prices are higher than the competition. The user who clicks knowing the price has more qualified intent. In industries where price is the primary decision criterion (legal, consulting, renovations), price extensions can triple lead quality, even at lower click volume.

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When and how to use promotion assets to boost CTR for time-limited offers

Promotion assets add a specific line below the ad showing the type of offer: percentage discount, amount off, up to price, price from. They can be linked to specific occasions (Black Friday, summer sales, Valentine’s Day) or custom date ranges.

WordStream reports that promotion assets generate 15–20% higher CTR during offer campaigns than ads without them. For ecommerce, the most effective setup pairs a promotion asset with a dedicated landing page for the offer, not the homepage.

The promotion asset has a start and end date: Google shows it only within that window. Set it up at least 48 hours in advance so the approval process doesn’t catch you at launch. Don’t use this asset permanently for fictitious offers: Google can disapprove it if it detects that the “normal” price and the “discounted price” are the same thing.

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When to pin headlines in an RSA to control what users see

In RSAs, you can pin each headline to a fixed position (1, 2, or 3) to guarantee it always appears there, regardless of the combinations Google tests. Optmyzr analysed 93,000 RSAs and concluded that pinning the headline with the highest historical CTR to position 1 improves performance in mature campaigns with sufficient data, though it reduces the flexibility of combinations.

The right strategy isn’t to pin every headline — that eliminates the algorithm’s ability to find better combinations. The ideal approach is to pin only the most critical headline (your main value proposition or primary keyword) to position 1, and leave the rest free.

A practical framework: create 2–3 variants of the same core message pinned to position 1, and leave positions 2 and 3 completely free. Google will choose the highest-CTR combination, but always with your main message visible to the user.

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How to use ad scheduling and device adjustments to improve CTR

Ecommerce accounts with clear hourly behaviour patterns show up to a 30% difference in CTR between peak hours and off-peak hours (Google Ads Help). Ad scheduling (dayparting) lets you pause ads during low-performance windows or increase bids during your highest-converting windows.

The starting analysis: export the Google Ads schedule report for the last 90 days, cross-reference hours with CTR and conversion rate. If there are windows where CTR is low AND conversion is low, you can pause them outright. If there are windows where CTR is high but conversion is low, investigate before acting — it may be legitimate discovery traffic.

Device adjustments work on the same logic: if your mobile conversion rate is 40% lower than desktop and CPC is the same, it makes sense to apply a negative adjustment of -30 to -40% on mobile. This reduces spend on lower-value traffic without pausing the device entirely.

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Why exact match can be your best CTR lever

A study by Optmyzr across 2,637 accounts found that 85.6% of accounts had a higher CTR on exact match than on phrase or broad match for the same keywords. The logic is direct: when the user searches for exactly what your ad says, perceived relevance is at its highest and the click is more likely.

Exact match doesn’t mean limited traffic. Since 2019, Google expanded exact match to include variants of the same intent (plurals, typos, word reordering without change of meaning). A keyword on exact like [men's running shoes] also captures “running shoes for men” or “mens running shoes”.

What most guides don’t mention: exact match generates cleaner Quality Score data. When the search term almost literally matches your keyword, your actual CTR more accurately reflects the ad’s relevance, which benefits QS over the long term. For accounts with fewer than 10,000 monthly impressions, structuring in exact with a phrase-match catch-all group is more efficient than relying on broad with negatives.

Dynamic Search Ads are the natural complement to an exact-match-based strategy: use DSA to capture long-tail searches that exact match doesn’t reach, and reinforce with exact match on your highest-volume keywords where control matters.

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What is AI Max for Search campaigns and how does it affect CTR?

AI Max for Search campaigns is the feature launched by Google in May 2025 that expands the reach of existing search campaigns using AI signals: automatically generated copy, optimised final URLs, and expanded search matching without requiring manual broad match. Google reported a +14% in conversions at a similar CPA in launch tests (Google Ads Help).

Activating AI Max doesn’t turn your campaign into a Performance Max. Keywords and ad groups remain the structural backbone. What changes is that Google can generate additional headlines and descriptions from your landing page content, expand matching to relevant searches outside your current keywords, and send users to more relevant landing URLs within your site.

The control you retain: you can turn off AI-generated assets if you prefer to use only your own copy, and you can use URL exclusions to limit which landing pages the system uses. For accounts with solid conversion tracking and at least 50 conversions in the last 30 days, it’s worth activating AI Max through a 50% campaign experiment before applying it to all traffic.

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How to use consumer psychology to write headlines that generate more clicks

Headlines with specific numbers, action verbs, and loss-aversion framing generate between 15% and 25% more CTR than generic headlines, according to data from BigStar Copywriting and systematic RSA campaign testing. The brain processes numbers as specificity shortcuts: “Save £38 on your first order” is more credible than “Save money”.

Three patterns with the highest CTR impact for search ads:

1. Exact numbers (not rounded): “12 weeks” instead of “3 months”, “£47” instead of “from £50”. Specificity signals that the figure is real and verified.
2. Loss aversion: “Don’t lose your welcome discount” generates more clicks than “Get your welcome discount” in the same context, because the loss frame activates more attention.
3. Action verbs in the opening position: “Compare prices”, “Book now”, “Download free”. The user knows exactly what’s going to happen if they click.

Apply these patterns to RSA headlines in rotation: not every headline needs to follow the same pattern, but including at least 2–3 of the 15 with deliberate psychological structure improves the combinations the algorithm selects most frequently.

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CTR isn’t everything: conversions are what matter

CTR is an indicator of relevance, not profitability. A campaign with a 15% CTR converting at 0.5% can be less profitable than one with a 4% CTR converting at 6%. Final optimisation must always target your CPA or ROAS goal — CTR is the path, not the destination.

Set up conversion tracking before touching anything else. Without conversion data, any CTR adjustment is a gamble: you don’t know whether the clicks you’re getting are the ones that actually buy. With the data properly configured, improving CTR on the highest-intent searches is a direct lever for profitability.

Want to understand which metrics truly drive ecommerce growth? See the analysis of the 3 essential metrics: CAC, LTV, and ROI.

Need help with your Google Ads campaigns? I’m a freelance Google Ads consultant, Google Partner and CXL Certified, with direct management and no intermediaries.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good CTR for Google Ads in 2025?

The average CTR in Google Ads is 6.66% for search campaigns across all industries, according to WordStream’s 2025 benchmarks. A “good” CTR depends on your industry: travel and shopping exceed 8–9%, while legal and dentists sit at around 5–6%. Always compare against the benchmarks for your specific sector, not the overall average.

How does CTR affect Quality Score?

Expected CTR is one of the three components of Quality Score, with an estimated influence of 39% on the total score, according to Adalysis. A higher CTR relative to competitors signals to Google that your ad is more relevant to that search, which improves Quality Score and reduces the CPC needed to appear in the same auction position.

How many headlines should an RSA have to maximise CTR?

Google recommends at least 8–10 distinct headlines so the system has enough combinations to test (Google Ads Help). The key is that they’re genuinely different: mix headlines with keywords, concrete benefits, CTAs, and unique value propositions. Don’t fill them with minor variations of the same idea.

Do ad extensions always increase CTR?

Well-configured extensions do increase CTR, with improvements of up to 20% according to Google Ads Help. An extension that adds no real value — for example, a sitelink that leads to the same landing page as the main ad — has no positive impact. Prioritise sitelink extensions with distinct and relevant destinations, and callout extensions with concrete benefits.

Is it worth using negative keywords just to improve CTR?

Negatives improve CTR indirectly by eliminating impressions on irrelevant searches that nobody would click on. But their real benefit goes further: they reduce spend on traffic that doesn’t convert and improve the quality of the data the algorithm uses to learn. Accounts with active negative keyword lists have a CPA that’s 15–20% lower than those without (WordStream).