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What Is Google Ad Quality Score & How Does It Affect Ad Performance?
Are you struggling to get your Google Ads to perform at their best? One key factor impacting your results is your Ad Quality Score. While there are plenty of knobs to turn to get the most out of your Google Ad campaigns, Quality Score is a winner that will improve your Ad’s visibility while lowering the cost.
But what exactly is this mysterious metric, and how can you improve it? In this blog post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the Google Ad Quality Score. From what it is and how it is calculated to its impact on your Ad performance, we’ll give you all the information you need to improve your Ads and drive better results.
What is Google Ads Quality Score?
As the name suggests, ‘Google Ads Quality Score’ determines the quality of your Google Ad. What does this mean? Google uses the Quality Score to determine whether an ad qualifies for the sponsored section of search results, the ad’s placement, and the cost per click that will be charged to the advertiser.
The Quality Score consists of 3 main components – expected click-through rate, Ad relevance, and landing page experience. When your ad competes in an auction, Google looks at these parameters and assigns a score. This score is coupled with your maximum cost-per-click offer to determine your Ad Rank. Ad Rank controls where and when an ad is displayed in search results.
QS is ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. The greater the user experience, the higher your QS, the more effective the ads are. Quality Score also serves as an indicator when certain Ad groups or campaigns in a PPC account need to be optimized to drive better results.
The difference between Quality Score and Ad Rank
Quality Score is like a performance review card of your Google Ads. It helps advertisers optimize ad campaigns. Ad Rank’s function, on the other hand, is to determine where your ad will appear on search engine results pages (SERP).
Ad Rank considers additional factors such as bid amount, Ad Rank thresholds, auction competitiveness, the search context, the search phrase’s nature, geographical location, and other user signals and behaviors along with Quality Score to decide which ad to show.
Even if you have a high Quality Score, it does not guarantee that your campaign will receive a high Ad Rank.
How is the Quality Score calculated?
| Quality Score = 1+ Landing Page Experience Weight + Ad Relevance Weight + CTR Weight |
What is a good Quality Score?
8 – 10 is great for keywords with high click-through or conversion rates. If you’re targeting competitive keywords, your score should be 3 or above, and 7 if your keywords have low search intent.
Why Quality Score Matters
It is true that the bid amount alone cannot secure the top ad placement. Competitive bidding can land you in top positions, but if your quality ratings are subpar, you will squander your money and not last long in the game.
Maintaining a high relevance score for your Google Ads is a must since Google’s primary objective is to provide the most relevant search results for users’ queries. Google earns money only when a user clicks on an ad. So, the search engine is motivated to display ads that are as relevant as possible. They are unlikely to earn revenue if they always display low-quality ads, which is why Quality Score matters to Google.
From the perspective of advertisers, Quality Score decides whether a keyword is even allowed to participate in an auction and if your ad will appear on the Google Search Network. Ad rank is also determined by Quality Score and CPC bid, which is crucial, particularly for marketers with tight budgets.
The greater your Quality Score, the lower your cost per click will be. Even if your keywords have little competition, you may wind up spending close to the highest CPC if your ad quality is poor.
This is great news for advertisers on a tight budget. Even though the offer is lower than a competitor’s bid with a lower Quality Score, they can optimize their ads and secure top ad positions. By evaluating where you stand in every phase, you can make sure customers have a positive experience with your ads from start to finish. Whether the problem is with your ad or your landing page, our Quality Score will help you understand it.
Quality Score affects the overall well-being and success of your account. If your Quality Score is poor, your ad won’t rank as highly, which might lead to fewer clicks, lesser traffic, and a lesser return on investment.
Types of Quality Score
There are different types of Quality Scores when it comes to Google ads. The important ones are:
Account-Level Quality Score
The past performance of all the keywords and ads in an account determines the Quality Score at the account level. Your account’s overall Quality Score will suffer if you have a lot of low-quality keywords and low-click-through-rate (CTR) ads with poor historical performance. This will also make it more challenging to add new keywords. Usually, a long-running, successful account will perform better than a brand-new one.
Ad Group Quality Score
The Ad Group-level Quality Score identifies the campaign-level elements that need improvement. For example: If the average Quality Score (QS) across all ad groups is 6, but one ad group has a low QS of 2, you can identify which ad group needs your attention first. Focusing on the regions with the lowest average QS scores yields the best return on investment.
Keyword-Level Quality Score
Google assigns Keyword-Level Quality Score to your keywords and you can see this in the Google Ads interface. If your keyword accurately matches the search query, it receives a higher keyword-level score. CTR is a useful metric to measure the success of campaigns. Low CTR for keywords and ads suggests that customers do not think the ad is relevant to their search. In this case, the ad should be tailored specifically to the ad theme.
Ad-Level Quality Score
The click-through rate of each ad in your ad groups will vary, and this value influences the Quality Score. Since Google considers all your ads when determining your scores, if you have a lot of poor CTR ads in your ad groups, they will lead to a low-Quality Score. One way to resolve this is to integrate Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) into your advertising effort to increase CTR organically.
Landing Page Quality Score
Relevance, originality, transparency, and usability are the four pillars to becoming Google’s favorite. Adhering to these rules will help in converting site visitors into buyers. Although Google doesn’t have a Landing Page Quality Score, the landing page quality affects the keyword Quality Score.
Display Network Quality Score
The Google Display Network uses a slightly different algorithm to calculate your Quality Score than the Google Search Network. The Display Network provides a range of bidding options, and depending on which one you choose, different factors will affect your DN Quality Score. You can improve your Display Quality Score by experimenting with various ad formats. Expanding your range of options and conducting thorough experiments are key factors in enhancing your click-through rate (CTR).
Mobile Quality Score
Both PCs and mobile devices with Internet browsers calculate the Quality Score in a similar way. But the ad will have a different score for its mobile and desktop versions. One way to verify Quality Score across devices is by splitting a combined campaign designed for multiple devices, such as PCs, mobile phones, and tablets. This will give you insights on which of the ad versions need optimization.
How to increase your Google Ads Quality Score?
Quality Score in Google ads influences placement and visibility. Therefore, it’s important to focus your efforts on the following areas:
Improve Landing Page experience
Attracting visitors is one thing, but keeping them engaged is a completely different ballgame. Improve your landing page experience with these practices-
- Maintain consistency in tonality and messaging throughout your marketing efforts – from ad to landing page.
- If a person searches for “Organic soaps” and clicks on your ad for “Organic soaps,” the landing page should directly lead to your soap inventory. Give people exactly what they are looking for.
- Optimize your page loading speed. In today’s fast-paced digital world, the loading speed of your page may influence whether a visitor abandons your site in frustration or stays long enough to make a purchase.
- Create a mobile-friendly website. Users appreciate the ease of navigation and quick response time much more on mobile websites. To test how well your landing page functions on mobile devices, use the Mobile-Friendly Test.
Increase Ad Relevance
Since relevance is the main factor that determines your Quality Score, your ads should be organized into well-defined, cohesive categories of keywords to maximize your Quality Score. The quality and precision of your ads and website content will be automatically improved by better keyword research and organizing. This will allow you to target the exact demographic most likely to make a purchase. Try these best practices to enhance your ad relevance:
- Align your ad text’s language with user queries.
- Look for ad groups with different keywords that a single ad cannot effectively cover.
- Divide these ad groupings into smaller groups more relevant to users’ search queries to optimize your ad performance. Additionally, organize your keywords into themes to improve relevance.
Increase CTR
The expected CTR measures how many people will likely click on your ad. If you want to increase your CTR, try these recommended practices:
- Make your ad text more specific and your offer appealing to your target audience. Also, ensure that the ad’s content corresponds to the keyword intent. Answer “what’s in it for them (customers)” by highlighting the benefits of your product or service.
- Experiment with several calls to action (CTAs) and ensure they align with your landing page. There may be occasions when better-targeted ads result in lower CTRs but greater conversion rates. Look for the right balance to get better results for your goals.
Quality Score Misconceptions You Should Avoid
When it comes to Quality Scores, Here are some misconceptions you should steer clear of:
The connection between display and search quality score
Since multiple factors are used to arrive at each Quality score (display and search), they are independent. Google would have a hard time integrating search and display networks since they are different. The outcomes you achieve on one will have no impact on the other.
Your Quality Score will Improve as your Ad Ranks Higher
Contrary to what may appear to be the case, the Quality Score concept is intended to accommodate for differences in ad position. Google admits that higher ranks naturally create greater click-through rates (CTR). As a result, they modify the equation to disrupt the self-reinforcing nature of those higher ranks, assuring fair competition and preventing an unfair advantage based purely on position.
Removing or restructuring low-quality elements can delete the account history
Sadly, it is not true. Google says when you stop, remove, or reorganize an account element, its previous performance will continue to affect your account history. Google advises getting rid of low-performing keywords to prevent them from continuing to have a negative impact on your account history, though it will not wipe away the historical data. The good news is the negative impact of these underperforming elements progressively diminishes as more performance data is collected over time.
Wrapping up
To wrap up, we hope this article has helped you understand what Google Ads Quality Score is and how it impacts the performance of your ads. To sum it up, a higher QS can lead to increased ad visibility and lower costs per click. So, if you want to achieve better results with your Google Ads campaigns, keep an eye on your Quality Score and take steps to improve it. The key takeaway from this article is that a good QS can make all the difference in the Google advertising world.
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