Quality Score Optimization: Stay Relevant, Stay Efficient
July 09 2010 by Jonathan Lawoyin ~ View CommentsQuality score optimization is a subject that has been discussed in the paid search field for a while with numerous articles, blog posts, and videos on the subject; so I am not necessarily covering new ground here. However in my experience, there is quite a gap between talk about the subject and implementation of best practices.
First, let’s define this measure. Quality score is a variable that is used by the major search engines to signify relevance. It affects the cost per Ccick (CPC) and position of ads, so it is certainly an important factor to be monitored. Wikipedia has more detailed information on the subject here.
The importance of quality score optimization cannot be overstated, considering the effect it could have on the efficiency of your campaigns. In competitive arenas where small percentage changes in CPCs could make a huge difference to profitability, it is especially important to pay attention to this.
Our paid search team recently conducted an assessment of a prospective client’s PPC campaigns (they had been managed by another PPC agency) and we found it interesting, to say the least, that some of the campaigns contained two or three AdGroups, each with hundreds and thousands of keywords. What was even scarier is that these were campaigns with significant spend levels.
These were campaigns that could have been easily reorganized to include 10 to 15 AdGroups, each with better targeted ads. It was therefore not surprising to see that quality score on average was not where it could have been. It pains me to see this, because it is due to nothing but negligence. After a year of managing an account, there is no excuse for having a situation like the one I just described. In fact, the keywords and AdGroups should have been better targeted from the get-go. When an agency does the necessary research and analysis of the target audience beforehand, insights about searcher behavior are uncovered, and these insights can help improve the targeting and relevance of campaigns.
Tips For Optimizing Quality Score
Here are a few basic tips for increasing relevance and optimizing your quality score:
- Ensure that your AdGroups contain only keywords that are closely related. So closely related that the ads in that AdGroup speak VERY CLEARLY to any searchers of those keywords. Don’t put “striped shirts for men” and “checkered shirts for men” in the same AdGroup called “shirts for men”
- Make sure the destination URLs bring the searcher as close to their final destination as possible. On an e-commerce site, get them as close to the specific product page where they can purchase the product.
- Keyword CTRs have a HUGE impact on quality score, so ad relevance (as mentioned in the first point above) is crucial. It is also important to test and rotate ad copy to improve CTRs. It’s this simple – If your ad speaks very clearly to a searcher’s query, you are much more likely to have a high click through rate on that ad. This is why exact and phrase match keywords tend to have higher CTRs than their broad-match counterparts.
- Use the dynamic keyword insertion test. This is one I have always found to be useful. Dynamic Keyword Insertion allows you to write ads that insert the keyword searched into the content of the ad to boost relevance. But guess what? If you have your campaigns properly structured, the need for dynamic keyword insertion is greatly reduced. If your DKI ad has a CTR of 11.5% while the other non-DKI ad has a CTR of 1.5% over a significant number of impressions, then you have a problem.
- Optimize landing pages to speak to the need of the searcher and the ad that brought them to your site. These landing pages must deliver on the promise made in your ads. Make sure that these pages have clear headings to let the user know they have arrived at the right page. All promotions placed in ad copy should also show up on your landing pages. All these practices will do a lot of good for your quality score, and very importantly, your conversion rate.
Basically, maximization of relevance should be the goal of every PPC strategist. When a highly relevant ad is served in response to a specific user query, and the landing page fully delivers on the promise in the ad, then good things happen. This relevance is great for your conversion rates, and then you get the bonus of an improved quality score, which means higher ad positions at a lower cost.
Talk about a win-win.
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Great post and thanks for dropping some knowledge on us here.
These are some great tips! Thanks Jonathan…I''ll make sure to put these ideas to use ASAP!
Thanks for this post Jonathan. This is very informative information, especially for those who are new to the paid search field.