If you want traffic for your website, you can always buy it. That is how Google makes billions of dollars off its AdWords service. But buying traffic doesn’t guarantee you will make a profit. In order to maximize your returns, running a successful Adwords campaign requires significant knowledge and an understanding of what is necessary to convert your ad into new customers.
As a result, the Google AdWords Quality Score has achieved an almost mythical status. The higher your score, the higher you will appear on page one, and the more clicks you will get on your ads. The complexity of the Quality Score is a problem for a lot of online marketers and business owners, many of who don't really understand how quality scores are calculated.
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Relevance to Searches
Some advertisements match keywords that users search for on a regular basis. There's a bigger audience to read such ads than those that aren't as popular. Therefore, these targeted ads are likely to have a higher quality score.
When preparing an ad, carefully considering what users are searching for. Most online marketers can borrow a few tricks from the world of search engine optimization to pull this off. Know your keyword phrases and select the terms and phrases that will best convert. The density of keyword usage is not nearly important as the relevance of terms.
Click-Through History
Ads that have had a high click-through rate in the past will have a higher overall quality score in the present. Increasing the click-through rate of an individual ad isn't easy. Learning as much as possible about an individual marketing demographic can help to increase the odds of someone clicking on an advertisement.
That being said, users are what really decide which ads get clicked. That's why it's so important to understand your customer base and test different types of ads and gauge conversion rates. Higher ad placement usually helps to improve click-through rates.
Load Times
At times, Google's developers have calculated the load time of landing pages. Slow pages received lower Quality Scores. This is perhaps increasingly important with the number of people who access the Internet from mobile devices and through services that limit bandwidth.
Landing pages shouldn't be bloated anyways. Flash movie introductions are popular, but they're often unnecessary and won’t render on Apple devices. Good design and efficient page load times are critical.
Google Network
Overall quality scores often have a lot to do with how different ads are placed on the rest of the Google network. Many people don't realize this, and think of AdWords as just being sponsored links either on Google's search pages or on affiliate sites. The rest of the network is an untapped resource.
Have Patience and Adapt
When you add new keywords to a campaign, Google rates you based on the historical Quality Score for that phrase, not your own campaign’s performance. Once Google has enough data on the individual campaign, the Quality Score can be updated to reflect is performance. This can take time so be patient and be constantly seeking out new ways to improve your ad.
Online marketers who want to target all of Google should pay especially close attention to their overall AdWords Quality score. Improving it can mean a substantial increase in revenue.
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I think that making Google happy has become harder with PPC. I hope that the increased competition will lead Google to lower the barriers it has placed with the quality score. I understand that this score may lead marketers to have better websites and better ads but I still find the standard to be high.
I have not done a lot of Adword PPC. But, based on what you said and also based on what I have learnt from others, this source of traffic seems to provide value. Thank you very much for your tips.
on
This article was very helpful to me. I think I need to step up my Adword Quality score like you suggested. It could mean the difference between my current success and any significant improvements I could see. Thanks a lot!
on
I have tried ppc before but with no real success. Now that I am armed with this helpful information I hope I can run a successful campaign the next time I decide to pay for traffic. Thanks for the information.
on
I find ppc to be very somewhat okay but also confusing. I want good quality campaigns but I also want them to be very cost effective. I do try and make my landing pages the best they can be. I can see why Google is trying to make you have a successful ad campaign with all these guidelines and quality scoring.