Do you or one of your clients have a registered or trademarked company name? If so, try putting the trademarked or registered symbol in your PPC ads to help increase click-through rates.
The reasoning behind this strategy and how it may help increase your click-through rates is two-fold:
1. It will help your PPC ad stand apart from other competitor ads in the SERPs.
2. It will help ensure confidence in consumers that you are a professional business.
I tried this as a test in my clients’ ads and I saw click-through rates as high as 4%.
Please note that not just anyone can insert the registered or trademarked logos in their ads, unless of course you are officially trademarked or registered with the state and/or federal government.
Trademark: A trademark is a way of protecting words, sounds, logos, names, symbols or colors that distinguish goods or services. Some examples of trademarks are the “I” in ipod for Apple, the shape of a Coke bottle for Coka Cola or Mickey Mouse for Disney.
According to About.com, you can use the symbols TM for trademark or SM for service mark to indicate that you are claiming rights to the marks without having federal registration. However, use of the TM and SM symbols may be governed by different local, state, or foreign laws.
Registered: The federal registration symbol® can only be used after the mark is actually registered in the USPTO. Even though an application may be pending, the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has actually become registered.
How to add the trademark or registered symbol to your ads:
The quickest way I have found to add these symbols to your PPC ads is to simply find another company who has used the symbol and copy and paste. As a matter of fact, you can copy and paste the symbols I have used here in this article and use them!
My theory in paid search is to try everything. What works for one may not work for another, but at least you’ll know whether or not it works if you just try it. To try it in your PPC ads make sure the name of your company is trademarked or actually registered. Put the name of the company or trademarked verbiage in the title of your description with the symbol. Wait at least a week or until the ads gets at least 100 clicks, then determine if it was successful. Remember, the higher your click-through rates are the better your quality scores are. So keep testing those ads!
