You might think that offering a great product at a competitive price is all that it takes to be relevant and successful but there is a lot more to it. If you’re wondering, who decides what is important and what’s not, the short answer is Google. However, ultimately it’s you who decides when you follow the AdWords guidelines. It might be confusing right now but keep on reading to find out.
There is a lot of competition for limited ad space on Google and Google uses a parameter known as AdWords Quality Score to measure the caliber of all the advertisements including yours. Quality Score is not a new thing and it is only a part of the overall PPC campaign but it’s a very important component of the campaign and all businesses that advertise on AdWords should be familiar with it and should understand it closely.
AdWords Quality Score
A good ad works for everyone. A good ad will drive more clicks from users which will lead to higher conversions and Google also gets to maintain its strong presence as the advertising platform of choice. It’s a win-win for everyone and this is the reason, a grading system such as the AdWords Quality Score has been incorporated by them. However, the important part is the variables that are used to determine the grade of an ad. It turns out that a number of variables affect the final score.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it is important for you to understand that the Quality Score is not meant to be an indicator of the performance of your ad but it is supposed to be used as a diagnostic tool.
There are a number of factors that affect the overall quality score. Some of the aspects such as location of the user, device, user queries as well as time of the day have some kind of influence in the auction process but these variables do not have any direct effect on the quality score that you can see in your account. Your AdWords Quality Score is determined by Google, mostly, on the basis of these three components:
Components of Quality Score
All three of these components are marked as above average, average or below average and these are then weighed against user searches. Whenever a user enters a search term, each component is recalculated in order to determine the ad ranking.
You may also think of it as a closed loop. All these factors are considered together to serve the end user. The ultimate goal is that the end user should find your ad copy enticing and relatable. The other thing is whether the user finds your landing page easy to use and engaging once they click on the ad.
Simply put, it’s all about offering a nearly perfect experience right from beginning to end. Google wants to figure out whether a particular ad warrants an impression and if it does get an impression, will it drive a result. Overall, that’s the basic summary of AdWords Quality Score.
8 Tips for Boosting Your Google Ads Quality Score
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to come up with high Quality Score, especially when Google likes to change its algorithms regularly. Here are a few tips to help you enhance the Google Quality Score for your ad campaigns as well as the overall results of your ad campaigns.
1. Keyword Organization
Put together a strong list of keywords that are highly relevant to your campaign including various long tail options. Once you have the list, it should be categorized into extremely targeted and tight-knit groups. This will make it easy for you to tailor your landing pages, copy as well as all the other creative elements as per the requirements of exact campaigns on your account.
2. Testing and Refining Ad Copy
As is the case with any marketing strategy, A/B testing can offer serious insights and much stronger campaign results. When you begin, you should try a few options for copy for each of the ad groups on your account.
This will help you figure out the combination that attracts the highest click through rate. Simply put, higher CTR means better relevancy which also means higher Quality Score. Once you have identified the combination, keep using that for the remainder of the ad campaign.
3. Take Care of Your Landing Pages
If you keep driving ad clicks to some vague piece of content or the Home page, you are unlikely to get a good Quality Score as well as any serious conversion rate. This is the reason, it is recommended to create extremely targeted landing pages for every single campaign as well as ad group. The idea is to offer a well put together experience for end users that is particularly targeted to the exact search being made by the user.
4. Negative Keywords
You want to use negative keywords in your campaign in order to get rid of any wasted spend as well as to not include any non-qualified leads in your campaign. It should be done right at the beginning of your campaign but you should also keep checking for any potential additions to the list once the campaign has gone live. If you find that certain keywords are getting a lot of traction but are ultimately not converting, those should be added to your negative keywords list in order to better optimize your campaign.
5. Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are your best bet when it comes to acquiring a high Quality Score. Long tail keywords typically have a higher click through rate as these are highly targeted and these keywords usually also have lower costs due to less competition. Long tail keywords also make it easy for you to align your landing pages and ad copy. Overall, using those long tail keywords in your campaign is a win-win whichever way you choose to look at it.
6. Rules Matter
Not many people know that they can get a better Quality Score by just following the laid down rules. In simple terms, it means that you should check all the boxes for your ad campaign which means geo-targeting, conversion tracking, multiple ad versions as well as ad extensions among other things. It might seem obvious to experience campaigners but many people tend to skip over these basics even when they are trying to squeeze more out of their campaigns.
7. Dynamic Environment
Don’t be under the impression that you will be able to lock in a very high Quality Score forever. The user intent and searches are always evolving which means the ad relevancy as well as Quality Score will also keep evolving. Achieving a high Quality Score and maintaining it at that level requires commitment to regular work on the ad campaigns. It simply means addition of new ad groups and new keywords, changing the copy as well as creative and constant review of the results in order to optimize your campaigns.
8. Be Aware of the Factors That Matter
Ultimately, you need to be aware of the factors that affect the Quality Score when you are creating, managing and updating the ad campaigns. Some of the factors that affect the Quality Score include relevancy of keywords to the assigned ad groups, overall click through rates, relevancy of your ad copy as well as relevance and quality of the landing pages.
Expert Advice:
Improving your Quality Score is going to take some trial and error but the time investment is worth it. Better Quality Score usually leads to better conversion rates, lower CPCs as well as higher ROI on your ad campaign. Typically, the ultimate goal is to achieve the highest ranking for your ad at the lowest price.
In case your ads score a poor Quality Score, your ads won’t get any impression or you will have to pay a high premium in order to get some impressions. Simply put, you will have to pay a higher price for a spot that is less than ideal on the SERP.
Higher Quality Scores ranging from 8 to 10 will allow you to show your ads on the results page and you might also get the benefit of discounted CPCs. It’s also important to keep in mind that Quality Score is an important factor in the overall campaign but you should also be aware of other important metrics.
For instance, you might be able to achieve high Quality Score after expending a lot of time and energy with a high CTR but you will have a terrible ROI in case the conversion rate is not good. A high Quality Score is not going to matter in case you are unable to convert users once they reach the landing page. Therefore, it is best to combine extremely specific keywords and ad copy with relevant and easily navigable landing pages. If you manage to do that, you will be rewarded with a high Quality Score.
In case you want more information on how to improve the AdWords Quality Score, get in touch with us.
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