High Quality: Understanding the Components of Ad Quality Scores

Google Ads is an advertising tool that lets you connect with customers at the right time, control costs, and boost campaign performance. Even if you have never used Ads for anything other than a keyword lookup, you have probably noticed how the keywords have Quality Score ratings.

The Quality Score rating can have a big influence on how successful your Ads campaign is. It represents your ad’s relevance to Google users’ search queries, and Google uses it in addition to your highest cost-per-click to determine your ad rank. A higher Quality Score equates to better rankings and higher odds of landing in the top position in Google SERPs. Let’s look at the following seven components of Quality Scores to understand why it matters, which is key to improving your overall score.  

Account Level

Google’s chief economist Hal Varian denies that an account level quality score exists. While it’s not a metric that’s available to Google users, it is a helpful category to keep in mind. The account-level score involves the history of your account and the performance of the keywords and ads you have used in the past. As a rule, accounts with stellar performance and a substantial history typically outperform new or poor-performing accounts. Improving on this level takes time and strategic planning, so choosing the right keywords and launching consistently good ads are crucial.

Ad Group

This score type provides insight into what needs work in your campaign, so you can restructure as needed to boost your score. For example, you might have a keyword quality score of 3 in one group but an overall score of 8. This tells you exactly what to prioritize — i.e., work on the lowest score areas first, and you will begin to see a difference.

Ad Level

Each of your ads is going to have its own click-through rate, and having a large percentage of ads with a low click-through rate can drag your score down. Incorporating a few Dynamic Keyword Insertion ads into your campaign can provide an organic boost, as these ads typically appear more search-relevant, which makes them more likely to receive clicks. Keep in mind that ads with high click-through rates that aren’t converting may not affect your Quality Score, but they also aren’t helping your return on investment.

Keyword Level

This is the score you can see right in the Ads main interface. Your keywords are scored from one to 10, with 10 being the best score. It’s based on the number of search queries that match, which indicates the relevance of the keyword. Need to boost your score? Look at the impression share data, which tells you the percentage of time ads were displayed out of the total available slots open to you. If this metric is low, you might need to boost your bids or increase your daily budget to rank higher.

Landing Page

Google wants marketers to offer high quality websites with useful, relevant content. That’s why they score your landing page based on three main factors:

·      Content: Are you providing original, useful content that’s relevant to your keywords and ad text?

·      Transparency: Does your website deliver what people need and clearly state what your business does, the products you offer, and what you do with any personal information customers provide?

·      Navigability: Can people easily find information? Is the page designed and organized well for mobile and computer viewing?

Display Network

Google’s Display Network reaches internet users on millions of sites using a passive type of advertising. When someone’s casually browsing the internet, they might come across these ads, which often contain video, animation, and images. Display networks have different bidding options, and your Quality Score is tied to your ad’s performance on the site you’re eligible for. Targeting ads to the most appropriate audience and sites is essential.

Mobile

In today’s marketing climate, you have to be mobile-friendly — if you’re not, Google will penalize you for it. The distance between your business location and the user is typically considered when Google calculates your mobile Quality Score. Other factors include loading time, navigability, and user experience.

Understanding how Google Ads calculates your Quality Scores and all the important components is key to keeping your scores high. In turn, this enhances your marketing efforts to increase your results and boost your business.