The average advertiser can expect to double the earning with a proper PPC ad campaign with AdWords.
But for most advertisers, that is not the case.
And Google, being the ever-gracious teacher that it is, makes sure you know what’s wrong with your campaign – with Google Quality Score.
Google Quality Score is an estimate of the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It is a general guide that can help ascertain the usefulness and relevance or otherwise of your ads and landing pages.
Why Does Google Quality Score Matter?
Google Quality Score is like your credit rating.
Your credit rating determines whether you’ll get a loan or not and what interest rate will be charged. And similarly, Google Quality Score determines the price and position of your ads.
The score is allotted on a ten-point scale, with one being the lowest and ten being the highest. Higher QS could translate into a better ad placement (above the organic search results) and a lower CPC.
Google calculates the cost of every click on your ad using the following formula –
Max bid = Ad rank of the advertiser below you/your quality score + $0.01
Now, this makes it evident that your Quality Score (QS) matters. A lot. Good QS can help you save up to 50%. And a low score can cost you 400% extra.
Factors that Affect Quality Score
Google considers the following factors to determine Quality Scores –
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Expected CTR – How likely are viewers to click on your ad when it is served to them?
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Ad Relevance – Is the ad relevant to the targeted keyword?
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Landing Page Relevance – Is the landing page relevant to the keyword for which the ad is displayed?
Other factors
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Landing page load time – How fast your page loads?
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Geographical performance – How successful has your AdWords account been in specific regions.
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Past CTR for keywords – The past CTR for the keyword. How often did the specific keyword lead to clicks on an ad?
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Display URLs past CTR – How many times did the display URL get clicks in the past?
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Account history – What is the overall CTR of all ads and keywords for your AdWords account.
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Performance on targeted devices – How effectively ads load on multiple devices (desktops, laptops, mobiles, and laptops)
What is a Good Quality Score?
No matter what parameters are being discussed, people want to get a perfect score. But getting a 10/10 Quality Score is not possible. And neither is it necessary. Also, what is a good score depends on the type of keyword in question.
And the four main categories of keywords and the Quality Score that is considered good in each category are discussed below.
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Branded Keywords
Good Quality Score – 8+
Logically your brand should rank at the top of search results in organic search, and there should be no need to bid on branded keywords. But, there is a lot of real estate above the organic search that competitors can claim. And they will do it. Thus ensuring a high (8+) QS is essential. The intent is high in such keywords, and you just need to make sure your ad copy is simple yet convincing. The landing page should load fast and offer useful and relevant information. And don’t shy away from using add extensions to gather more real estate.
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High Intent Keywords
Good Quality Score – 7 to 9
High intent keywords have the highest impact on your bottom line. And you should make sure that your QS for such keywords is between 7 and 9. Using the keyword twice in the ad copy, having Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAG) (discussed below), and separate landing pages will help. Also, mobile optimization and fast page load speed is essential to reach a good score.
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Low Intent Keywords
Good Quality Score – 7
Contrary to popular belief, low intent keywords are also important. Google gives you a baseline score of 6 and for low intent keywords, reaching a score of 7 is enough. Just make sure the score doesn’t dip. Creating individual landing pages and SKAG for low intent keywords will become expensive. Also, optimizing ad copies and landing pages for multiple keywords is tough. This means your easiest bet is your CTR. Adding strong CTAs in the first line itself is known to work in such cases.
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Competitor Keywords
Good Quality Score – 3+
Completely opposite to branded keywords are your competitor keywords. If you want to rank on keywords that contain your competitor’s name, you’ll anyway have to bid higher. And a QS of over 3 is also great. And the best weapon in your arsenal is a killer ad copy and an irresistible CTA. Only after your ad copy makes your competitor’s offering look dull can you expect a higher CTR.
Quick Hacks To Optimize Ad Copies for a Better Quality Score
Among the factors that Google considers while calculating Quality Score, account history, and past data cannot be changed. But there is still a lot that you can do.
And here are some hacks that can be implemented fast to get quick results –
Use Relevant Long-tail Keywords in Ad Copies
Short-tail keywords dilute relevance. Long-tail keywords have a higher intent and a lower cost. And due to higher intent, they help increase the CTA, which, in turn, positively affects QS.
Group your Keywords in Ad Groups and Create Single Keyword Ad Groups
I hate to say this, but Google has been deceiving us on this one. Google plants the idea of adding 10-20 keywords in an ad group by literally asking you to do that in your AdWords account. But with so many keywords in the same ad group, overstuffing is a common problem. And this not just ruins your ad copy but also your landing page. Thus, it is best that you group keywords either on a semantic or thematic basis. Or you can also create single keyword ad groups for the most important keywords.
Craft Two or More Ads Per Ad Group
You can go as long as to create five ads in each ad group. Having multiple ads for each group is known to increase CTRs by 15%.
Run Keyword Diagnosis and Add More Relevant Keywords
This is an extremely simple step that you can take. Running diagnostics will give you insights about what keywords aren’t triggering your ads, even when they should. Optimizing landing pages and ad copies will help increase your QS here.
Remove Non-searched Keywords
Running diagnostics will also help identify keywords with a lower search volume. And you can drop them from your campaign as such keywords unnecessarily pull down your account’s overall CTR and Quality Score.
Create Specific Ad Copies for Keywords
If you have a wide variety of products/services to offer, make sure your ad copies are optimized for specific keywords. If you are selling socks, the ad copy for ‘striped socks’ won’t work unless the keyword is specifically mentioned.
Restructure Landing Pages for Relevance
When viewers visit your landing page by clicking on the ad but don’t stay for long, Google considers it as an indicator of irrelevance. Make sure your landing pages have a lower bounce rate and are relevant to the user. Proper internal linking to other pages of importance is also necessary.
Increase Landing Page Loading Speed
This one needs no explanation. Users expect your page to load within 2 seconds. If that doesn’t happen, they will click away. Use Gtmetrix to analyze how much time it takes to load your landing page and get suggestions on how to improve the page load speed.
Improve Mobile Performance
Users are not just using one device for searches. And your landing pages and ads should display well across devices. Whether it is a laptop, mobile, desktop, or tablet, landing pages, and ads should load perfectly.
Carry out A/B Tests
There is no shortcut for this one. There is no way you can replace A/B testing. The best way to improve your Quality Score is to keep testing which copies perform better and which need improvement. From A/B testing your ad copies to landing pages, there is simply no way you can skip this.
Now, no matter how simple these steps sound, you’ll need experts by your side.
If you want to take the guesswork out of the process, it is best to avail search engine marketing services. And Uplers take great pride in being a reliable agency that can help you with your Google Quality Scores.
We understand how algorithms work and what steps are to be taken, and when to maximize results. Our global talent pool has experience working on QS, and we also have a history of improved Quality scores.
We take care of search engine marketing, PPC ad campaigns, and Quality Score enhancement for you so that you can focus on what you do best-run your business.
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