Google Testing PPC Ad Background Colors

If you know me, you know that I’m a big fan of testing – especially when it comes to sales, marketing and advertising.

While working for Jay Abraham in my early 20′s I learned about the concept of testing multiple directmail pieces against each other.

One version of a sales letter might have a certain headline that mentions one appeal or offer, while other headlines might focus on emotions, client needs or pain points, etc.

The pioneers of marketing really got into testing and measuring results were Claude Hopkins and John Caples.  And through measurement, he learned that by just changing a few words at the top of a letter, news advertorial or advertisement

Google Testing PPC Background

could have a dramatic increase in response.  And at the end of the day, that increase could mean thousands or even millions of dollars in the bank.

Today we’ve learned to test everything – and late last night and early today I noticed that Google was testing background colors on their PPC ads at the top of the search results right below the search bar.  Here are a couple pictures.

There are a couple reasons for this.

1. They may simply be testing to see if a pink/red background pulls more clicks per thousand views than the traditional yellow


Google Testing PPC Test Background

2. As we get used to seeing things, day in and day out, we become blind to them.  And this ad-blindness may be affecting Google’s revenues.

Remember, at the end of the day, the more searches that result in clicks, the more money Google generates – so it’s in their best interest to test everything.

Test, test, test…  Always.  If you ever have a question, don’t guess, assume, postulate or hypothesize -  test it in the market and see what the true and real answer is.