If you are using Google Ads to improve your company’s reach, then you might have seen the phrase “quality score” and you might know it has something to do with how your ads are placed.

 

And the last thing you want is for your ads not to be placed where your audience can find them.

 

What is your Quality Score?

Your quality score is Google’s estimation of the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It’s designed to keep companies from using keywords that are unrelated to their actual company, or otherwise tricking the algorithms that try to target your ads to customers to whom they are relevant. The Quality Score has three components:

• Expected clickthrough rate

• Ad relevance

• Landing page experience

 

Why does it Matter?

Your quality score matters for a couple of reasons. First of all, your ads will be positioned better, and shown to a better targeted audience if you maintain a high quality score. If all else is equal, then ads with a higher Quality Score are placed above ads with a lower one on the search results page. Many customers will just click on the top ad.

 

Second, it determines your ad rank in the ad auction process, which can help you save a lot of money on bids. It’s also a good benchmark to help you determine if you’re hitting the mark with your keyword choices.

 

You can check your quality score from Google’s dashboard. Go to the campaigns tab, then to keywords, then find the columns drop-down above the statistics table. Quality Score is disabled by default, but can be enabled by selecting modify columns, selecting Quality Score and adding Quality Score and its related metrics to your statistics table.

 

How can you Improve it?

So, if Quality Score is so important, then how do you improve or optimize it? Here are a few tips:

 

• Work on your landing page. The quality and relevance of your landing page has a huge influence on your Quality Score. Make sure to test the landing page on phones and tablets as well as computers, and do so manually rather than relying on automated tools.

• Drop your number of keywords per ad group. Google recommends 15-20, but 10 or less is actually better for relevance. Larger accounts may not be able to use this.

• Avoid overly broad keywords. For example, the keyword “helmet” could refer to motorcycling helmets, cycling helmets, ski helmets, horseback riding helmets, skateboarding helmets, medical helmets used to help reshape deformed skulls in children, even helmets used by reenactors. “Helmet” is thus not a very relevant keyword without some kind of qualifier.

• Make more use of negative keywords. A lot of people forget about negative keywords. When the prospect’s search includes those keywords, your ad won’t run. For example, if you’re selling saltwater fishing tackle, then including freshwater as a negative keyword can improve your CTR by excluding people who are looking for river or lake gear.

• If you are using longtail keywords, then it may be worth paying for expanded text ads, which can give you more space and allow you to make better use of them.

• Avoid dynamic keyword insertion. Inserting the user’s search term into your ad copy might seem like it would make your ad look more relevant, but it doesn’t help your Quality Score and can make your ad read awkwardly and look like it was made by a robot.

 

Quality Score should not be the only metric you use, but taking steps to keep it from being bad can save you money and improve your CTR and ROI. At MAB, we put extra care into our client’s digital ad campaigns, making sure you have a good Quality Score and that your ads are properly targeted to the audience you seek to improve your reach in a way that does not waste your money.