According to Google, the definition of Quality Score is as follows, “It is an estimate of the quality of your ads, keywords and landing pages. Higher quality ads can lead to lower prices and better ad positions.”
Quality Score plays a significant role in how successful your Google ads are and can prove detrimental if you don’t stay on top of it.
Where do I find my quality score?
This is a good question as it can seem a little hidden away in adwords, here’s how to find yours:
1. Go to the “Keywords” tab in your Adwords account.
2. Hit “Columns” then click “Customize columns”.
3. You’ll then see an “Attributes” tab in the section that opens.
4. In the Quality Score row, click the “Add” link.
5. Click “Apply” to save. In your data you will now have a Quality Score column.
Here’s a roundup of a few tips to help improve your quality score.
Click through rate
This is calculated by taking the number of clicks your ad gets and dividing it by the number of times it is shown via a Google search. It is a crucial factor for establishing your quality score. This is because it clearly indicates how relevant your ad is to users.
See every click as a vote, so each time a user clicks your ad they are voting to say your ad is relevant to their search. If they searched ‘Red stiletto heel’ and your red stiletto heels are displayed in the search, you get a click. However if they search ‘Wide tooth shark’ and your ‘wide tooth comb’ comes up – you won’t get a vote (or click). Be sure to eliminate negative keywords to avoid ranking in irrelevant searches.
Landing page quality
The quality of a site is basically how easy and clear it is to use. Think about it, when you click an ad and are taken through to a site which takes an age to load, has no clear path as to what to do next and awful images – do you proceed to buy? Probably not.
Getting your site quality right is key (see our website design service) and plays an important role in those important conversions and helps improve your QS. Users want to be greeted with a site that loads quickly with clear actions as to how they obtain the service, product or information you are looking for.
Here’s a few things to check on your site:
- Page loading speed
- Call to action – make it clear
- Text which is crawlable
- Include links to your business information pages, i.e. Contact, About, Blog etc
- Landing page relevance
Like page quality, this plays an important part in how Google assesses your QS. It’s pretty simple really – a user clicks on your ad and is taken to a product/service exactly as described. It’s no good using false advertising in your ad if you’re directing traffic to a mediocre product – Google will spot this a mile off through your bounce rate and your QS will suffer.
If you’re selling a used (but cheaper than new) dress – make sure you are honest. Writing ‘Brand new red dress’ in the ad will annoy users when they land on your site. Be 100% clear and honest about what you’re selling to ensure users find exactly what they want. Hey presto! It’s really not that difficult, is it?
Quality score is ranked out of 10 and a 7 is recommended. If you can achieve this, your ads are doing well. Anything above can sometimes be unattainable and not always worth the extra work. Anything below means your score is weak and needs improvement. Stay on top if your numbers and your ad game will stay strong. You can monitor this by checking your QS tab (as described at the beginning of the article).
Get your ad copy right
This is an important one for the user journey and will help increase your CTR. Firstly, work out what the person searching is looking for by typing in your keywords into Google. What are the search results like? Is it mostly websites teaching people things or websites selling things? This will help you work out what the user intent is; whether it is ‘Informational intent’ or ‘Commercial intent.’ You’ll then be able to figure out what the people behind your keywords actually want.
Once you’ve done this, you can tailor your ad copy to target those users. Really think about how to make your ad copy stand out from the competition. Think about what phrases or words will attract attention. Here’s a great article on how to write copy based on what people actually want.
Conclusion
To sum up, if you follow the above points and always ensure that your ads and landing pages are relevant, your quality score will be sure to improve. Keep in mind what your audience want and make sure your tailor everything accordingly to achieve those all important conversions.
These tips should give you a clear steer on how to achieve a high QS and make sure your ads perform. Here’s a bonus infographic which lays out the elements of Quality Score to help you achieve a 7 (or more!).
