AdWords Quality Scores, And How To Improve Yours

When it comes to advertising on Google, there are a lot of things to take into account. But if you’re trying to master Google Ads, there are a few things you should be focussing on – one of which is your Quality Score. This simple score can have a huge influence over the effectiveness of your paid search campaigns, in the same way your credit score can impact whether or not you can get a credit card, or how high your interest rate is. But what exactly is a Quality Score, and how can you improve yours?

What Is A Quality Score?

Put simply, a Quality Score is Google’s rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and your PPC ads. This score is used by Google to work out your cost per click for your chosen keywords. It’s also multiplied by your maximum bid to determine your ad rank in the ad auction process. In other words, it helps you compete with other people in the AdWords ecosystem.

There are a few factors (over 30) that affect what your quality score is. The main areas are:

•  How relevant keywords are to your ad group
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• The quality of your landing page
• Relevance of the text in your ad
• User experience
• Your historical performance

When added together, these factors determine your score, and can show you what you need to do to improve.

Why Does It Matter?

Put simply, the higher your quality score is, the higher your rankings, and the less it will cost you to advertise on Google. It might seem simple, but it has a direct impact on your success in Google Ads. So by putting in the work and improving your Quality Score, you can set yourself up for a much higher return on your investment, reduce your cost per click and your cost per conversion. Cost per conversion is different from cost per click, as it looks at how much you pay when someone takes the action you want them to take, instead of the cost of the click itself. Since not every click results in a conversion, cost per conversion is generally higher than cost per click.

How Do You Improve A Quality Score?

So, now you know what your own Quality Score is, how do you work to improve it? Well, while AdWords takes over 30 factors into account when working out your Quality Score, there are a couple of key areas you can focus on that will give you the best results:

Keyword Research – Research new, highly relevant keywords to add to your existing campaigns. Make sure you include some long-tail keywords in there, as these can contribute to the bulk of your overall traffic.

Keyword Organisation – Split your keywords into tight, organised groups that can be more effectively tied to individual ad campaigns. This might take some time, but it’s ultimately worth the investment.

Refining Ad Text – Your text is an important part of the quality of your ads, so test out your PPC ad copy and spend time targeting it to your individual groups. Research has shown that more effective ads get higher CTR, which is one of the key factors in Quality Score.

Optimising Landing Pages – There are some basic landing pages best practices you should be following to boost your Quality Score – so if you’re not, get started. Create pages that connect directly with your ad groups, and provide a cohesive experience for visitors that runs from keyword to conversion.

Adding Negative Keywords – We’ve touched on this before, but it’s worth mentioning again. Researching and identifying negative keywords for your business is an important part of improving your Quality Score, as well as excluding irrelevant search terms that are wasting your budget.

As you can see, your Quality Score is primarily measured by relevance, so working on the structure of your campaigns is a great way to start. And if all of that sounds a bit complicated, don’t worry. You’re not alone. At Ad-Extra, we work with business owners who know they need to do something different with their Google Ads campaigns, but they aren’t sure what. We can help you create thorough, effective campaigns that outperform your previous efforts, and manage their ongoing performance for you. To find out more, just get in touch with the team today.