If you’re new to running a Google Adwords campaign you may have some initial trouble optimizing your ads, specifically raising their quality score. As I’ve discussed before Google Adwords ranks ads based on their relevancy to the query in what we’ll refer to as a ‘quality score.’ Google’s motivation for using this quality-based ranking algorithm is ultimately to serve the customer, the searcher. This is likely why they’re by far the biggest search engine in the market.
This has the added benefit of allowing advertisers to have effective search engine marketing campaigns regardless of budget. The key to optimizing your ad campaign, and achieving a higher quality score, is providing the most relevant and highest quality content, products, and services. Your Quality Score is made up of very many factors, but the four most important are:
Click Through Rate (CTR) – The number of times your ad is clicked divided by the number of times it’s seen (an impression). This ratio essentially measures how enticing your ad is, or the probability someone will click on it if they see it.
Max Cost Per Click (CPC) – This is the maximum bid you’re willing to pay for a click in the search results of any particular keyword.
Ad Text – The relevancy of the text in the ad to the keywords or phrase queried in the search engine.
Landing Page – This is how relevant the content on your landing page is to the keywords or phrases queried in the search engine.
Here’s an example of how this might stack up in an actual market:
| Max CPC | CTR | Quality Score | Ad Position | |
| Advertiser 1 | 0.60 | 5.9 | 3.20 | 1 |
| Advertiser 2 | 2.01 | 1.6 | 3.06 | 2 |
| Advertiser 3 | 3.80 | 0.7 | 2.28 | 3 |
| Advertiser 4 | 1.20 | 1.8 | 2.15 | 4 |
Notice how Advertiser 1 has the lowest maximum bids for clicks, but thanks to a high click-through rate is able to garner the number one spot. Even though Advertiser 3 is spending a fortune for clicks, his CTR is poor due to (most likely) poor quality or irrelevant content on his landing page.
So, it seems, Content is still king. When designing any Adwords campaign, it’s worth the investment in time to carefully word your advertisements and landing page content. If you’re not confident doing this yourself an experience copywriter can provide you with content that converts visitors and improves your Google Adwords Quality Score.
Tags: pay per click consulting, ppc marketing, ppc quality score