When running or looking to begin Google Ads the quality score is an important factor which will impact the effectiveness of your Google Ad campaigns and return on ad spend.
The quality score is useful to analyse multiple factors to identify any areas that need improvement. This includes looking at the ad relevance, landing page experience and expected click through rate CTR.
When a Google Ads account is ‘above average’ in each of these areas it can help to improve the quality score, which in turn will likely benefit the cost per click and cost per conversion. The likelihood of conversions being much higher increases with having a good quality score.
Our blog post explains this in more detail first and also looks at how the quality score is calculated. Why is it so important, and provide tips and advice to help improve the quality score too.
What Is A Quality Score?
Google Ads quality score is a diagnostic tool provided by Google. The aim of having quality scores is to show advertisers how relevant and useful different elements of their Google Ad campaign are. Each element of the quality score helps to identify the factors which define a positive user experience for their search query. This in turn will impact where your Google Ads are shown for a user’s search query.
The reason for having the Google quality score along with other factors, such as ad rank and bid cost is due to Google wanting to ensure users searching on Google are finding the answer they are after and receiving relevant search results. This goes right from clicking the advert through to the landing page quality.
Key Components
There are three key components which impact the quality score calculation. Each of them is marked within your Google Ads account with either ‘above average’, ‘average’ or ‘below average’. With an overall account’s total quality score given between 1 – 10. With 10 being a high quality score and 1 being the lowest quality score.
The three components that affect quality score should be regularly reviewed, tested and optimised are:
Expected Click Through Rate (CTR): Of the three elements this is considered one of the most important for the effectiveness of any Google Ad campaign. Google look at how likely they believe your ad is to be clicked on based on the keyword level quality score, ads and search queries. Google reviews historical performance for your own Google Ads and other advertisers too for the same search query. If the expected CTR is high this will help to have a higher quality score.
Ad Relevance: This element looks at how well your ad matches the intent of the search query. The aim is for the ad to closely relate to the relevant keywords and the specific user’s exact search query. More relevant ads will score higher for this component.
Landing Page Experience: Not only does Google take into account the ads and keywords, but it also is looking for relevant landing pages. This means landing pages which correlate to the ads themselves, closely related keywords and provide the answer to the search query. It should be simple for a user to take action such as complete a download or a purchase. Other factors are included such as the experience on mobile, load times and general ease of navigation.
Ultimately quality score assesses the relevance and usefulness of each element to your Google Ad campaigns. By improving ad performance and each element above it will likely go onto benefit the results of your PPC advertising on Google. Therefore making it worthwhile taking the regular time and resources to continuously monitor, test and optimise.
How To Improve Quality Score
As you can see there are several elements which impact your quality score. Here are some points which are important when looking to improve your Google Ads quality scores.
Expected Click Through Rate: To achieve a high expected CTR it is important to take the time to thoroughly conduct your keyword research. This will enable you to organise relevant keywords into various ad groups, ideally, these will be tightly themed ad groups. This is needed so you have the right target audience to help your ad to be shown for the right searches on Google. Regularly review performance so any negative keywords, broad match keywords etc. can be adjusted if needed. Low quality score keywords will have a detrimental impact on the expected CTR.
Ad Relevance: If you have a lower quality score, this could be due to ad relevance. Testing plays an important role here to see what works well and what doesn’t. Such as testing the ad text to see how different versions perform. The account structure such as ad groups, keyword targeted ads can all be reviewed to identify any areas which could be improved to make it more relevant and also to be highly targeted.
Landing Page Experience: Ultimately to improve your quality score a visitor needs to have a positive experience not only when viewing your advert, but also on the landing pages they are clicking through to. Achieving a good conversion rate will involve ensuring there is a clear correlation between the keywords used on the ad copy and the landing page itself. It should be simple to navigate and find the expected action on the landing page, such as a download or purchase now button. Don’t forget to make sure the landing page is a positive experience on mobile too, such as fast load time and functionality.
Testing and Optimisation
With the above, it highlights the value of having a good quality score for your Google Ads. To achieve the best results from your Google Ad Campaigns, you should continuously monitor, test and optimise different elements.
This can include the ad groups, ad text, relevant keywords and landing page experience. There are various elements which can be tested and monitored to identify the successes and any areas for improvement.
The testing and optimisation should be done on a regular basis, as Google Ads will deliver the most effective results and return on ad spend when time and effort are taken to make any needed changes and tweaks from your learnings, whilst also making the most of what is working well.
How Can We Help?
We hope you found our blog post useful to explain in more detail why your quality score is important to the success and effectiveness of your Google Ads. Having a good quality score is in part due to needing to ensure you have achieved a high expected CTR, ad/keyword relevance and a positive landing page experience.
It will give the best return on ad spend, with it in turn benefiting the cost per conversion whilst also ensuring other factors are also performing highly for your Google Ads account to achieve an impactful campaign.
At 1PCS Creative we are a Google Partner and have the right knowledge and expertise to deliver effective Google Ad campaigns which provide a high return on ad spend and help your business to grow. Please feel free to contact us to discuss how we can help.
Ben Webster
Creative director at 1PCS. Addicted to design, SEO, pizza and helping companies big and small succeed online.