Internet Marketing Blog » Quality Score

The Effects of Quality Score

Andrew — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:01:30 +0000

We often have to explain to PPC clients what effect Quality Score has on an account in terms of position and CPC. Particularly on new accounts when the account history is building, it is difficult to represent to the client how the CTR is improving the Quality Score, and where the improvements are being felt.

So I decided to put together a spreadsheet which explains in layman’s terms what sort of effect differences in your own and your Competitors Quality Score has on your eventual ad rank when combined with your max CPC.

In the table the Ad Rank = QS x Max CPC. The Actual Price = Max Bid (Position Below) x QS (Position Below) / QS (Your Own). It goes a little something like this:

The effects of Quality Score are apparent already.

You can see already from this that if Advertiser D’s ad gets clicked then he will pay £1.15 more than advertiser B would even though he is in a lower position.

Advertiser E would pay more than either B or D would if his ad is clicked.

Then from here through optimisation of the account, if Advertiser C works to Increase his Quality Score from 6 to 8 then not only does his position increase from 2 to 1 but his CPC decreases by £0.12!

In this instance advertiser E has increased his Quality Score from 4 to 6. However, the improvements have been to his position as opposed to his CPC which has actually increased by £0.04.

Now we see that Advertiser B has upped his game and increased his bid, most notably here we see that Advertiser E is paying the same CPC despite being in a lower position than before.

Now Advertiser A has caught up with all the changes and increased his bid from £1 to £3.

He has leapt him up to position 1 but most notably it means that advertisers B,E,C and D have all dropped one position whilst they are still paying the same CPC.

After Advertiser B Decides to Optimise his Campaign and decides that position 3 is the most profitable position for him, he reduces his Max CPC Bid to lower his position to position 3 which, if you take Volume of Clicks and Conversions as a constant (very unscientific I know but hey it’s an example at the end of the day) he would see a 15% reduction in CPC and an 11.11% reduction in CPA.

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When Are Low-scoring Keywords Good For Your PPC Account

Alan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:55:14 +0000

Those PPC managers out there that have a Google Adwords account will be fully aware how important the Quality Score is on your pay per click campaigns. The general rule of thumb is that the higher the Quality Score from your keyword selection, the higher Google will rate you. The higher you are rated by Google will then affect how much you are charged to show ads in prominent positions. A high quality score can save you serious amounts of money.

However, is it ever ideal to have a low-scoring keyword? Here are some instances when it is:

1. You get a high ROI on the keywords

The keywords may be bringing in a Quality Score of between 4 and 5, but if the ad they are associated with is raking in a high net profit then it’s a good example of when it is fine to put up with a low Quality Score. The ad may be scoring lower than desired in the search results, but you can balance this against the ads earning great money. You may find that there is a comparatively low click-through rate but that the conversion rate is high.

2. The keywords relate strongly to your brand

Even if you’ve surveyed your customers to identify those keywords that best reflect your product or service, you may still find that some have a poor performance. In this instance you may be reluctant to remove them.

At internet marketing agency Click Consult, we have a team of expert PPC managers to help you achieve the best results.

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Quality Score Explained

Click Consult — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:09:42 +0000

The Quality Score is used by Google to influence the cost per click I(CPC) and the ranking of PPC ads shown on search results. This variable score is automatically calculated each time the keywords used in the ads are matched to a search query. The Quality Score can impact:

- The CPC of keywords used
- How high a first page bid estimation is for a particular keyword
- If a keyword is deemed eligible to be included in an auction and how the ad will be ranked.

How do you improve your quality score?

Increase the Click Through Rate (CTR) – by raising the CTR you can significantly increase the quality score for the keywords. Always write several ads per ad group and test constantly to arrive at a better performing pay per click ad. This will have the effect of attracting a more targeted audience and will increase the chances of conversions.

Negative keywords – Add negative keywords to improve your campaign or ad group. If your ad is targeting those looking for new books within the subject area of economic then negative keywords such as ‘second hand books‘, ‘used books’ and ‘art books’ for example would be good. Continue this exercise until your traffic is fully targeted on brand new economics books, resulting in high conversions and a higher quality score.

Test and update – Constantly test and refine you PPC ads. Run reports, update keywords and add negatives.

At web marketing company Click Consult, we can offer an expert team to help support you and your pay per click campaign.

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Find Your Negatives

Laura — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:00:59 +0000

On a regular basis you should run search query reports using MSN and AdWords to pull off all the queries that result in unqualified clicks or impressions and add them to your list of negatives.

By doing this, you can drill down your keyword list and stop unqualified traffic from viewing the PPC ad and then ultimately failing to click. This will stop impressions from rocketing and having an adverse effect on the click through rate. In addition to this negatives will prevent people clicking ads that cost you money and lowers the conversion rates.

Before a pay per click account is started you need to run a basic keyword research report to identify potential keywords that may attract irrelevant traffic to your PPC ads and causing them to click on it. This proactive way of approaching campaigns will keep unqualified traffic out and increase your Quality Scores and click through.

If your keyword research on ‘holiday in Paris’ shows keywords that have a search volume for Paris movies or weddings in Paris you’ll need to add weddings and movies to the negative keyword list.

Run reports in Yahoo, MSN, Google and any other free keyword search tools to weed out the negatives. All PPC companies will have an on-going list of the generic negatives that can be prominent across most accounts including terms such as comparison, sex, reviews, free, bargain, cheap and discount for example.

At Click Consult we can help you to run more cost effective pay per click accounts for your internet marketing campaign.

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How Deleted Ads Affect Quality Score

Laura — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:42 +0000

How you ever considered what your Quality Score looks like for your PPC account in general and whether it has affected the account throughout the years?

Everything you do now will affect the future score and gaining a good Quality Score will take time. For some it may take just a week but for others it can take much longer. By optimising the PPC account on an ongoing basis you will start to see the benefits of a great Quality Score. In time, costs should drop and the ad will have better placements.

What many people do not realise is that deleted or paused ads will still have an effect on the Quality Score. Both paused or deleted ads and keywords still have an effect and their historical performance can continue to affect the account history long after they are deleted. However it is still recommended to delete those that do not perform well to increase the quality score. This prevents them affecting the quality score and your account history in the future. Over time as other ads gain positive performance history the effect of the deleted keywords and ads will start to diminish and the affect on the quality score will lessen.

It is recommended to delete poor performers rather than to pause them, as they could be resumed by accident. In Adwords for example it is possible to start deleted keywords and ads so beware of that possibility.

If you want to increase the click through rate the keep deleting poor performers and adding new ads.

At Click Consult we can help you manage all your pay per click accounts.

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Tips For Ad Scheduling – Part 2

Alan — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:06:13 +0000

Before you decide to change your ad scheduling it’s best to do some investigation first to ensure it’s the right thing to do. Following on from our previous article here are more great tips on how you should prepare before opting to introduce ad scheduling:

Assess multiple metrics

On a lead-focused account you will probably be most concentrated on the total spend versus actual leads generated – and this is how it should be. However it is worthwhile including other metrics such as the click through rate and the cost per lead. The Quality Score can be dramatically affected by poor click through rates. You may find that early morning the PPC ads are spending money rather than anything else but you may also have a high click through rate. In this case you might decide to leave those ads running at that time to avoid a drop in Quality Score. You can simply amend the bid setting and reduce it by 50 per cent.

Adjusting bid hourly

As a first step, adjust bids by the hour rather than jumping in and amending bids by the day. Reducing keyword bids by the hour will have a smaller impact than if you went the whole hog and amended them for a whole day. Take baby steps and build up to bigger changes that will have a more significant impact on the performance of the account.

At Click Consult, we can offer professional advice on improving your pay per click accounts.

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Freshen Up Your PPC Campaigns

Alan — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:10:31 +0000

To keep your PPC campaigns fresh and up to date it’s important to keep updating and adding keywords. This will keep you ahead of the game in your market place but a word of warning – it sounds easier to do than it actually is and maintaining momentum can be a challenge. Very quickly you can find that you are duplicating keywords and losing focus on your services and products. It's easy to wander away from relevant keywords so here are some ways you can maintain concentration:

Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool

The Keyword Suggestion Tool can be found in the AdWords Tool section.

The suggested keywords are generated from data that has been built up from past Google searches. They are just suggestions so keep your website and its products and services in mind at all times so you don’t include something needlessly. The aim should be converting leads so needless amounts of traffic with low conversion rates should be avoided.

Search Query Reports in Adwords

A search query report shows which searches led to a minimum of one click on an advert. If your campaign is heavy in broad matching they can be useful. Aim to have your top keywords exactly matched to reduce the CPC and increase the Quality Score. You can also identify irrelevant traffic and also reduce irrelevant impressions.

Google Insights

This tool allows you to examine trends in your keywords and also provides extra information such as breakout keywords and the percentage number of searches carried out over a month.

At Click Consult, we help keep our client’s pay per click campaigns ahead of the competition.

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How A New Website Will Affect Your PPC Campaign

Laura — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:08:44 +0000

If you are launching a new website, this will have a major impact on your PPC account. In truth it can break your pay per click campaign. Launching a new website is a global change that has huge repercussions.

Over time you will naturally learn more about your audience, what engages them, how to provide a better user experience and how to maximize your conversion rates. With this your website will evolve. There may also come a time when your website needs to change its name or take a new URL. If you have looked into everything thoroughly and have an experienced PPC team to support you then this decision is likely to be a good one. Yet no matter how well prepared you are, there will be some bumps along the way.

The launch of a new website is a global change and will affect your performance quite severely.

Every PPC ad will need the display and destination URLs updating. This requires you to pause all your existing ads and launch new ones with the updated website information. Google AdWords will view these new ads as new submissions which means your Quality Score needs rebuilding.

Google AdWords then evaluates the website site or landing page. It can take time for this to happen.

Any global changes to a PPC campaign are flagged up. Search engines like to see slow, gradual changes which increase performance over time. By changing all the ads at once you can shock the system.

To get expert advice on how to manage global changes to PPC campaigns such as launching a new website contact us at Click Consult.

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Getting Your Quality Score Back on Track

Laura — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:11:32 +0000

Your Quality Score may become dented due to some major overhauls on the PPC account – perhaps you are launching a new website. There are times when this simply cannot be avoided but how do you get that account back on track?
Take this time to optimise the account structure by creating tighter ad groups and using more relevant and focused ad text. This should attract higher click-throughs. Review these changes every couple of weeks before you launch your new website or make the restructure changes. The aim is to make these changes gradually.

If you are launching a new website, you need to pause old ads and write new ones. Even if the old ads are paused, AdWords will still acknowledge their presence and this will aid the re-build of your quality score. So, rather than changing your existing ads, pause them and write new ones.

If you require increased search volume, carry out keyword research to add new terms. Again, do this well in advance of the launch.

You can also temporarily increase your keyword bids. Your ad position is going to drop so by increasing bids you can increase volume and, for a time, increase the click-through rate. However Google is aware of this tactic and will take this into account when assessing a Quality Score.

Be patient. It will take a little time for the account to readjust and gain back its Quality Score.

To help you through challenges with your PPC account contact Click Consult.

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Ad Text Optimisation

Laura — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:08:13 +0000

Global adjustments to your PPC account will undoubtedly affect the performance of your campaigning for better or worse. Even small changes can have big consequences so getting the changes right is crucial.

Ad text optimisation should be an ongoing process. This is where you constantly analyse your ad text to eliminate those that underperform and add new variations to run in tandem against those ads that are top performers. However there are times when a drastic overhaul is called for and you need to apply changes to your ads all at once.

Within E-commerce, special offers are always changing and you need to highlight any changes in your pay per click ad text. There are some great ways to improve your click-through rate such as adding ‘25% off', ‘Free delivery’ and ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free’ offers, but a word of warning – making big changes to ad texts can cause problems with your Quality Score.

Keywords and ads have an accrued performance history and if you make sweeping changes it can negatively affect the PPC account. This means if all your ads in a group are amended your Quality Score may dip.

To avoid this, use foundation ad texts. These are the ads that are within the ad group but do not highlight your special offers. They still use keywords and are benefit driven but will not mention constantly changing offers.

For more advice on ad text optimisation and for help with pay per click, contact us at Click Consult.

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