Google favors high-quality paid search campaigns. In this article, we show you how Google Ads’ Quality Score works and how to improve yours.
Over the years, many digital marketing campaigns have won consumers and experts over. You’ve probably seen some of them and wondered how they convinced people to buy a product or service.
The best digital marketing campaigns, including paid ads, combine distinctive branding with clear and helpful content. It’s important to monitor the performance of your ad campaigns to ensure that they drive results with both.
Google Ads offers tools to track critical metrics such as an ad’s Quality Score. Today, we’ll discuss this score, its importance, and how to improve low scores.
Google defines Quality Score as a diagnostic tool that tells you whether your ad quality matches your competitors. It assigns a score to each keyword in your campaign, ranging from 1 to 10.
Ads and landing pages with higher Quality Score values are considered more relevant and helpful to users than those from other advertisers. This may increase the chances of your ads appearing on the first page of Google search results and achieving lower cost-per-click values (CPC).
The Quality Score tool can help you identify areas for improvement in your ad campaign. Simply put, it allows advertisers to analyze the impact of ads targeting specific keywords on user experience. However, a keyword’s Quality Score depends on historical impressions for searches using it, making modifications to keyword match types pointless.
When using the Quality Score tool, you determine how your ad quality compares to others, like Google, when running ad auctions. A satisfactory Quality Score can result in:
Google uses the following factors to determine an advertiser’s Quality Score:
The expected CTR represents how likely a user is to click on your ad when it appears on SERPs. This number is estimated based on historical data.
This component refers to how relevant your ad is to a user’s search intent (why they’re searching for your target keyword(s)). Ads matching the search intent can show up on SERPs.
Finally, landing page experience describes how relevant and helpful your landing page is to users who click on your ads. Google assesses this component based on content value, ad relevance, usability, and other essential factors.
Google gives each component one of three ratings: “Above average,” “Average,” or “Below average.” They’re designated after raters compare ads targeting a specific keyword that appeared on search results over the last 90 days to each other.
You may ask, “Will a broad match keyword get a Quality Score despite gaining no impressions?” Google says yes, as long as a corresponding exact match keyword has recorded impressions in the last 90 days. Conversely, impressions for searches with a corresponding broad match keyword and exact match keyword in the same ad group translate to the same Quality Score for both keywords.
You may also wonder what to do if you see an “Average” or “Below average” rating in your Quality Score report. In this case, you’ll need to know where your ads should improve and how to increase your score. We’ll give you some helpful tips later on.
To check your Quality Score, log in to your Google Ads account and follow the steps listed below.
Once the Quality Score report is set up, you can check your current Quality Score. If you see a low score, consider it a sign to refine your campaign.
Here’s how to improve your Quality Score in Google Ads for optimal results.
One of Google’s top recommendations for improving a keyword’s Quality Score is to review the three elements it’s based on. A closer look at them lets you decide whether to refine your ad copy, keyword selection, or landing page content. Again, each component is rated “Below average,” “Average,” or “Above average,” telling you what to work on.
Ad relevance is also key to a good Quality Score. For ads and keywords rated “Below average” or “Average,” Google advises advertisers to:
Regarding expected CTRs, the following strategies from Google can help you improve these numbers.
Additionally, consider performing A/B tests to see which ad copy, headlines, and graphics variations would engage users the most.
Your prospective customers expect your website to be accessible and user-friendly. After all, the last thing you’d want is to miss out on potential leads and conversions.
For a better landing page experience, Google has shared these helpful tips.
Finally, analyze the metrics you’ve set for your ad campaigns: CTR, conversion rate, site engagement, and more. These numbers serve as indicators of ad performance and can point you to possible areas of improvement.
So, where does the Quality Score come in? According to Google, this rating can dictate where your strategy should focus on. The company recommends using Quality Score to:
Launching a paid search campaign is easy, but hoping for success without ongoing adjustments won’t cut it. To thrive in the competitive PPC landscape, you must track key metrics—like your Google Ads Quality Score—and continuously optimize your campaign based on the data.
Ready to conquer paid search? Contact Growth Rocket’s search advertising experts today or get more useful tips and insights from our blog.
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