Quality score is Google’s rating of both the quality and relevance of your keywords and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. This is then used in determining your cost-per-click (CPC). A quality score report rates each keyword on a basis from 1 to 10 and estimates the quality of your ads and landing pages triggered by that keyword, giving you a general idea of the quality of your advert. The higher your quality score, the more your ads and landing pages are deemed relevant to people searching for that keyword. Relevant advertisements generally get more clicks, appear higher in search engine rankings, and will bring you greater success.
Quality Score Determination Factors
Your quality score is dependent on a number of factors, according to which Google will reward you with a higher ad ranking and lower costs. Factors that determine your quality score include:
- Your click-through rate (CTR): this is your most important component
- The relevance of each keyword related to your ad campaign
- Landing page quality and its relevance
- The relevance of your ad’s text: quality content is key
- Your historical AdWords account performance
Every time one of your adverts competes in the ad auction process, AdWords calculates real-time measures of:
- Your ad’s expected click-through rate
- Your ad’s relevance
- Landing page experience
Benefits of Improving your Quality Score
Your quality score has a direct effect on your pay-per-click (PPC) success, and by optimising your quality scores you will be improving your ROI from your AdWords campaigns. The reason for this: a higher quality score is linked to a lower cost per conversion. Cost per conversion is the cost that you pay every time someone completes an action that you want them to take. The benefits of a strong quality score will reduce both your cost-per-click (CPC) and your cost per conversion rates. Additionally, your quality score is Google’s way of letting you know how well, or how poorly, your PPC ad is meeting potential customer’s requirements. The better you meet those requirements, the less Google will charge you. Learn how to measure KPI with this great article - Measuring KPIs In Google Adwords.
How to Increase your Quality Score
Through constantly working on your account you will boost your ad’s appearance as to where and how often it appears. Here are some key pointers on how to increase your quality score:
- Keyword Research - Discover and implement keywords that are highly relevant to your ad campaign. This should include long-tail opportunities that will help contribute to the overall bulk of your traffic.
- Keyword Organisation – Dividing your keywords into small, specified groups that can be easily identified with a specific ad campaign.
- Refining ad text – Test your PPC ad copy that is targeted to a specific ad group. Increasing the effectiveness of click-through rates (CTR) are one of the best ways to improve your quality score.
- Optimising landing pages – Create pages that are rich with quality content and linked directly to your ad groups.
- Remove negative keywords – Continuous searching, identifying and removing keywords that are irrelevant search terms will keep you from wasting your budget.
Because your quality score is related to a measure of relevance and is a matter of improving keywords, grouping keywords into small, concise groups will help you structure your campaign more effectively. Through better keyword research and organisation you will be aided in improving the quality and organisation of your campaign, effectively assisting you in the better creation of web content, naturally allowing you to generate more traffic.
If the main aim of your business is to increase revenue, and you make use of PPC advertising to get your marketing message out there, then optimising your Quality Score is the smart way to go. A good Quality Score simultaneously reduces advertising and conversion costs while increasing campaign effectiveness. Taking measures to improve the quality of your AdWords content will assist you in structuring and targeting your PPC campaigns more effectively and at less of an investment.
