Adwords Quality Score

GuerrillaIM · 06-04-2011, 07:58 AM

Hi,

I have started a fresh adwords account a few months ago and I am having difficulty improving my quality scores.

Previously I had an account advertising in the exact same niche and most of my keywords had a quality score of 9 or 10 but I have had a 2 year break from advertising and since coming back with a fresh account things seems to have changed a lot.

I have done all the onpage stuff like creating relevant landing pages but I can't get my quality scores above 7.

I understand in the time I have not been using PPC that Google have changed the quality score system. It now takes into account CTR and overall spending.

Does anyone know a good guide that works that has some good methods for increasing adwords quality score?

dburk · 06-04-2011, 12:36 PM

Hi GuerrillaIM,

CTRs have always been the major component of Quality Scores, this in not new. What may have likely changed for you is the keyword's system-wide historical CTR as compared to your individual account's keyword CTR history. Simply put, the competition has consistently improved while you have been out of the market.

There has been an overall improvement in the competency of your average AdWords advertiser. Many have developed skills or hired professional management firms that continuously test and improve their campaign performance. In the past a small, less advanced, advertiser could easily prosper on the crumbs leftover by other advertisers. Nowadays, many advertisers leave behind few crumbs, so you must step up your game, even if it is to just to fight over the crumbs left behind by the advertisers using more aggresive strategies.

You may need to reduce the overall number of active keywords in your campaign to just a few less competitive keywords, so that you can optimize the CTR and build a little positive CTR history. Split test different ad text candidates to find which have the highest CTR. Then ramp up the number of keywords, optimizing each batch, as your resources allow.

It's important to keep in mind that AdWords is a competitive auction based system. How your CTR affects your QS is relative to your competitors' CTR. High QS is, the result of of a CTR that outperforms your competition.

Defunct · 06-09-2011, 02:02 PM

Basically what the guy above me said, your CTR vs the historical CTR of those keywords in similar ad positions.

Focus on your ad copy relative to those keywords and try get your CTR up.

If you are using phrase or broad match, make sure you add the right negative keywords from the search query report.

GuerrillaIM · 07-26-2011, 05:06 AM

I have my main keyword (3 words long) that has a 8% CTR, 30% opt in but only a quality score of 5.

The keyword is used throughout the whole site in several different places. I really can't understand why that is 5 and some other keywords with lower CTR and conversion that I don't even use on my site are 7.

dburk · 07-26-2011, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM

I have my main keyword (3 words long) that has a 8% CTR, 30% opt in but only a quality score of 5.

The keyword is used throughout the whole site in several different places. I really can't understand why that is 5 and some other keywords with lower CTR and conversion that I don't even use on my site are 7.

Hi GuerrillaIM,

The primary component of Quality Score is your CTR as it compares to the historical average of all other AdWords users for that particular keyword.

While you may have an 8% CTR and consider that good, there may be several competitors that are averaging 12-18% CTR and due to their higher CTR you have a lower Quality Score. That is how the system works.

Of course there are other components that make up about 35% of the QS and it would be wise to pay attention to those factors as well. You can verify the relevancy of your landing page to the targeted keyword by running the landing page URL through the AdWords Keyword Tool. This tool will return keywords listed in the order of relevancy. If your targeted keyword isn't the top of the list then you may need to tweak your landing page content a bit.

You can also go through the landing page guidelines and check off every item for compliance. However, a completely compliant landing page is only part of the QS, you also need to focus on the relevancy of your ad text to the keyword. Even if ad text relevancy and landing page quality are perfect, you still need high CTR as compared to your competitor's CTR to get high Quality Scores.

I suggest that you experiment with different ad text to see if you can get better CTRs. It's all about testing and adapting.

smorse1 · 07-26-2011, 09:11 AM

I spend enough on adwords that I have a dedicated Google rep, and they once told me that except for brand terms, and terms with a very high CTR, you won't get much above a 7. Terms that have a Quality Score 5-7 are in good shape when it comes to being competitive.
Even my some of my branded terms only have a 7 and the team at Google that assists me has analyzed it thoroughly.

06-04-2011, 07:58 AM	#1
GuerrillaIM One Man Army War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,893 Thanks: 93 Thanked 313 Times in 183 Posts	Adwords Quality Score Hi, I have started a fresh adwords account a few months ago and I am having difficulty improving my quality scores. Previously I had an account advertising in the exact same niche and most of my keywords had a quality score of 9 or 10 but I have had a 2 year break from advertising and since coming back with a fresh account things seems to have changed a lot. I have done all the onpage stuff like creating relevant landing pages but I can't get my quality scores above 7. I understand in the time I have not been using PPC that Google have changed the quality score system. It now takes into account CTR and overall spending. Does anyone know a good guide that works that has some good methods for increasing adwords quality score?

06-04-2011, 12:36 PM	#2
dburk Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tampa, Florida Posts: 4,643 Thanks: 162 Thanked 671 Times in 581 Posts Contact Info	Re: Adwords Quality Score Hi GuerrillaIM, CTRs have always been the major component of Quality Scores, this in not new. What may have likely changed for you is the keyword's system-wide historical CTR as compared to your individual account's keyword CTR history. Simply put, the competition has consistently improved while you have been out of the market. There has been an overall improvement in the competency of your average AdWords advertiser. Many have developed skills or hired professional management firms that continuously test and improve their campaign performance. In the past a small, less advanced, advertiser could easily prosper on the crumbs leftover by other advertisers. Nowadays, many advertisers leave behind few crumbs, so you must step up your game, even if it is to just to fight over the crumbs left behind by the advertisers using more aggresive strategies. You may need to reduce the overall number of active keywords in your campaign to just a few less competitive keywords, so that you can optimize the CTR and build a little positive CTR history. Split test different ad text candidates to find which have the highest CTR. Then ramp up the number of keywords, optimizing each batch, as your resources allow. It's important to keep in mind that AdWords is a competitive auction based system. How your CTR affects your QS is relative to your competitors' CTR. High QS is, the result of of a CTR that outperforms your competition.
	Don Burk * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management * Get a Keyword Domain Name - www.SeriousNames.com

06-09-2011, 02:02 PM	#3
Defunct HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 254 Thanks: 23 Thanked 47 Times in 33 Posts	Re: Adwords Quality Score Basically what the guy above me said, your CTR vs the historical CTR of those keywords in similar ad positions. Focus on your ad copy relative to those keywords and try get your CTR up. If you are using phrase or broad match, make sure you add the right negative keywords from the search query report.

07-26-2011, 05:06 AM	#4
GuerrillaIM One Man Army War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,893 Thanks: 93 Thanked 313 Times in 183 Posts	Re: Adwords Quality Score I have my main keyword (3 words long) that has a 8% CTR, 30% opt in but only a quality score of 5. The keyword is used throughout the whole site in several different places. I really can't understand why that is 5 and some other keywords with lower CTR and conversion that I don't even use on my site are 7.

07-26-2011, 09:11 AM	#6
smorse1 Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Nebraska Posts: 56 Thanks: 11 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Adwords Quality Score I spend enough on adwords that I have a dedicated Google rep, and they once told me that except for brand terms, and terms with a very high CTR, you won't get much above a 7. Terms that have a Quality Score 5-7 are in good shape when it comes to being competitive. Even my some of my branded terms only have a 7 and the team at Google that assists me has analyzed it thoroughly.