When optimising a Google AdWords account there are many different factors that you need to take into consideration; keyword choice, CPC bids and ad copy to name only a few. There is, however, one area of the account which is so all-encompassing that it links all of the previously mentioned optimisation areas of the account and consolidates them into a simple score out or 10. I am of course talking about quality score, a phrase that is well used but not as easy to define as you might think. Quality score can literally make or break your marketing efforts and it can bring great rewards when you take care of it. Before I start I would also like to point you in the direction of Brad Geddes’ book, Advanced Google AdWords which goes into more detail on the stuff below! So what does quality score actually do?
What Does Quality Score Do?
In short, quality score directly impacts how much an advertiser pays for a click on their ad. In essence, the higher your ad score is out of 10, the less money you need to pay per click in order to have your ad shown and have it shown in a higher position.
Quality score is used every time one of your keywords triggers an ad so that Google can work out where your ad should be shown and how much you should pay for it. This all comes down to a number called Ad Rank. Ad Rank is a number that is given to your ad every time it can be shown, the higher your Ad Rank, the better the position your ad will be shown.
Quality score is important to Ad Rank because Ad Rank is calculated by multiplying your quality score by your maximum CPC bid. An example would be a keyword that has a quality score of 7/10 and a max CPC of £0.50. Using the calculation above, we can work out that the Ad Rank will be 3.5 (7 x 0.50 = 3.5). Quality score plays a vital role in calculating how much you spend and how well your ads perform. This means that quality score is, for many marketers, the single most important number you will work with in Google AdWords and so it is important to understand what makes up quality score and how you can go about improving it.
What is Quality Score?
It is no secret that quality score is a complex beast with more defining factors than Google lets on, but Google have been rather candid on the major factors which is good news for those looking to improve their account. So, where to start?
Click-Through Rate
Everyone knows that click-through rate (CTR) is one of Google AdWord’s core metrics and it can be one of the fastest and most reliable ways to assess the success of your marketing efforts when in the account. Aside from being a useful reporting tool though, CTR is the most important factor that goes into calculating your quality scores which should give CTR a much more inflated level of importance in your optimisation efforts from now on.
Essentially, Google takes your CTR as a guide on how they should calculate your quality score for each keyword. There are a few things that you should know here. The first is that the CTR factor applies only to CTR on the Google search network (as opposed to the search partners network). This is different when your ad is shown on a search partner site, in which case the search partner CTR is combined with your Google CTR.
The other important thing to remember is that CTR is normalised by your ad position. This means that Google takes into account the common CTRs for each position and assesses your ad against that, so you wont be penalised for low CTR because your ad is in a low position.
CTR of Display URLs In Ad Group
Separate from the CTR of your ads, Google also takes into account the CTR of each of your display URLs. This is a simple relevance factor that you can test out by varying your display URLs and trying to spot which ones receive the best CTR.
Relevance of Keywords / Ad Copy to Search Query
This quality score ingredient combines two important factors that are closely related: the relevance of your keyword to the ad copy and the relevance of your keywords and ad copy to the search query. Although these are two different things, in essence your job here is to be as relevant as possible. You can approach this in a three staged attack; group similar keywords, accurately compliment this targeting with your ad copy and make sure you don’t allow users to find your ad using any un-related search queries (this can be a big problem when using broad match type keywords).
There is one top tip to help you improve your overall relevance with a view to improving quality score: go granular. What do I mean by this? Put simply; finely tune your ad groups so that each one only contains keywords and ads for one theme or idea. If you are advertising different coloured t-shirts, for example, rather than having one ad group with the keywords, ‘blue t-shirts’ and ‘green t-shirts’, try having separate ad groups, one for blue and one for green. This way, you can be sure that your targeting is sharp and focussed and most likely to lead to higher click-through rates and tighter control over keywords that aren’t working.
Landing Page Load Time
In the age of super fast broadband and instant search results nobody likes to wait, not least Google! A core part of Google’s brand, speed is the name of the game for this one which rears its head as part of quality score. Google, rather than having a rating scale on the speed of your landing pages simply decides weather your page is fast enough or not. This is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ situation and is very black and white, your either win or you don’t! Google is very transparent about this and if your landing page is too slow they will tell you (by hovering over the speech bubble in your account). Another thing to note is that Google do not take into consideration scripts or images on your landing page and so essentially only measure the speed of your HTML meaning that more often than not you should never have a problem here, and if you do then chances are it is affecting more than just your AdWords account!
Account Performance in Geographic Region
Geographic targeting is one of the most powerful settings in Google AdWords and it is something that can assist you in optimising your AdWords account quality scores. Google will keep tabs on how well you perform in different areas and each time your ad is eligible to show in, say, the UK it will look at how well you perform there and reward your quality score as they see fit.
A good tip here is to create different campaigns for different geographic regions, although this wont optimise your quality score on its own, it will allow you tighter control and a good overview of where your ads are working and where they need some help, plus it is an AdWords best practice anyway!
Entire AdWords Account History
Ever noticed how a gardener will spend time pruning away the dead bits of a plant in order to allow the good bits to flourish? Well, this is what you should be doing with your Google AdWords account in order to optimise your quality score. Because Google looks at the overall performance of your account, it can be actively counterproductive to allow poor performing ads and keywords to remain in the account. Make sure the account stays clean and the good bits can flourish!
Summary
This is by no means the whole story when it comes to quality score, Google has said that there is more to quality score than is outlined above but we can assume that this stuff is the most important. Make sure you keep an eye on quality score and a good way to decide which area of your account to work on next is to look for the combination of high spend and low quality score because that is a sure sign of AdWords rot!
Image used gratefully under a Creative Commons licence - by debaird on Flickr
