Adwords – New Quality Score Metrics and How to Improve Your Ads

Adwords – New Quality Score Metrics and How to Improve Your Ads pixelwork

Adwords – New Quality Score Metrics and How to Improve Your Ads

 

Looking for ways to get an edge in paid search? Here are some ideas to increase your Quality Score metrics and outperform your competitors.

As is evident, Google has recently added additional data reports to the quality score (QS) metric, something that is very important in terms of the ad ranking calculation.

 

Determination of the relative importance of quality level components

Google has been providing quality score data to advertisers for some time; What is new now is historical visibility of trend data into three key quality score components: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

Although being able to inspect these new metrics is a great thing, it's important to realize that all we're gaining is an estimated importance of each of these Quality Score components. And just like in cooking, the mere fact that you have some ingredients on hand and a vague idea of ​​how much of each ingredient to use does not predict the best possible outcome.

Think of these factors and scores as indicators of quality for each ingredient in a given dish (for example, a meatloaf). While great ingredients are necessary for a great result, knowing the quality of each individual ingredient is not enough. To create a world-class meatloaf, we also need an understanding of its relative importance. Unfortunately, Google's latest tweak doesn't tell us anything about this.

But although we don't know for sure which of the quality factors have the greatest impact on the final Quality Score, we have a pretty good idea (anecdotally derived) that predicted CTR is the most important (the others count too, but probably less). Expected CTR is likely still the most important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it makes Google more money per search to calculate QS based on that data.

It's important to remember that Google is in the best position to incentivize marketers to do things that improve the relevance of their ads (or CTR) while also improving the user experience after the click. (Admit it, there's still a lot of room for improvement out there – and not just on your site!) We also have to remember that high CTRs and relevance make Google (and Bing, too) more money in the long run, so these incentives are completely aligned.

TIP: If you have seen a historical jump in the cost per click (CPC) required to maintain the historical position, you can inspect the historical quality score as it is a great way to determine if the CPC increase was based on a fluctuation in quality or whether it is due to increased auction pressure in the AdWords market.

 

Improve quality score and other key metrics

Google continues to make it clear that we must pay attention to improving the quality score. One of the great things about earning Quality Score upgrades is that they give you an advantage in paid search. This advantage is key, not only to achieve high positions for searches that can generate substantially profitable volume, but also because if you don't have them, your competition will.

However, improving your quality score is not the only way to ensure your ability to stay in top positions profitably. Improvement in other areas can make a big difference in your long-term success. My favorite Adwords improvements are:

  • Reorganize your accounts. Having poorly structured campaigns and ad groups will depress your Quality Score. This is a change you can make in AdWords.
  • Fix an ad with poor creative. When your ad matches keywords in an ad group, your CTR goes up (and CTR is the largest component of Quality Score).
  • Improve targeting. This includes anything from using the right negative keywords, to eliminating poorly targeted ad impressions, to using audiences and serving optimal days when your most targeted customers want to click.
  • Improve conversion rate. Regardless of whether you are an e-commerce or multi-channel merchant, B-to-B or service business, everything you can do to obtain a higher percentage of visitors performing valuable actions is a good start.
  • Worry about mobile devices. This factor is related to improving the conversion rate. Remember that the mobile visitor is increasingly important to Google and therefore Google rates you on mobile friendliness. (TIP: By using Google Search Console you can identify the most obvious problems, also make sure to walk around the office, grab a bunch of devices and test your site in person).
  • Increase average shopping cart size (for retail sale). This includes obtaining high-profit clients.
  • Increase social media engagement from clicks that come through search. Social media can have a multiplier effect on marketing.
  • Improve your own response rate or completion rate. Customers like speed. That is why Amazon Prime is the leader in sales. But speed in customer follow-up is also important in any service business.

Don't forget that all of the strategies above will help your overall business, not just your search performance. They will eliminate friction, make your other media more effective and deliver conversions at higher values, thus achieving a victory in your company's results.