Get more clickthroughs in Google Adwords using nice urls
I have been performing tests for 6+ months now to help me decide which url to show in ads.
My test have roughly consisted of:
- Some hundred thousand (+) search impressions.
- Some hundred thousand (+) content impressions.
- Different campaigns for all products and content / search.
- Split tested low-performing and high-performing ads in all campaigns.
- All ads ran on Google Adwords PPC system.
- All ads were text based, i.e. no images, videos etc.
- All ads were shown on Google search and networks.
The urls I have split tested against each other are:
- www.microsys.dk vs www.micro-sys.dk
- www.microsys.dk vs www.microsys.eu
The results? They have been clear and consistent across all tests. www.microsys.dk beats both alternatives with roughly 20% higher CTR in average. A side-by-side split test example:
- Ad showing normal url: 2.00% CTR
- Ad showing good looking url: 2.40% CTR
While this may not seem of much, it is an easy way to improve your ad quality across all your campaigns and adgroups. Worth it if you have many campaigns and ads running through Google Adwords / pay per click (PPC) .
It is slightly odd that www.microsys.dk beats www.microsys.eu, but I suspect it is related to .eu domain names still being relatively new.
Now I have just one problem left… Should I change my primary domain to www.microsys.dk ? 
