What is the Google Quality Score in Google Ads?

Google Quality Score in Google Ads is an estimate calculated by the algorithm to determine the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. Higher-quality ads can lead to lower cost-per-click including better ad positions, especially if the ad groups and keywords are semantically coherent. The quality score is composed of expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

*Only traffic on Google.com counts toward Quality Score. If the majority of traffic occurred on search partners, this traffic won’t be factored in to calculate Quality Score.

Ad Ranking Factors for Google Ads

1. Expected clickthrough rate
2. Landing page experience
3. Ad Relevance based on search intent/keywords
4. Type of bidding and amount of the bid

How to check for a decrease in ad position in Google Ads? 

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. Click Keywords.
3. Click the columns icon Columns and select Modify columns.
4. Open Competitive metrics and check the box for Avg. position.
5. Click Apply.
6. Look for any changes in your average position over time by adjusting the date range.

How to improve clickthrough rate in Google Ads?

1. Be very specific with tailored ad copy in your ad: Include keywords in your ad text (especially in the headline) to show people that your ad is directly relevant to their search terms.
2. Experiment with different calls to action: Do you offer free shipping or free returns? Call now vs. book now? Free Trial or 7-Day Free Trial? Decide which terms generate the most activity and preferred business objective.
3. Highlight a unique benefit of the product or service: What makes this product or service stand out from the competition? Think about what matters to consumers (perhaps an exceptional warranty or return policy).
4. Create specific time or location-specific ad text: Test seasonal creative ads around the holidays or special events, or test location-optimized ads.

*Location extensions are recommended for local companies with a Google My Business page and a specific service area in order to show ads in the GMB section. (Sign up for Google Maps) 

To improve your landing page experience, you may want to:

1. Send traffic to the proper landing page: Direct clicks to pages related to a user’s query. If a search is for “striped pants,” the landing page should feature striped pants, not some other variety of shirts or clothing in general.
   1. The landing page URL could also include keywords such as domain.com/striped-pants to boost the quality score and other SEO-related benefits.
2. Be consistent with keywords/ad groups/landing pages: Make sure the landing page ad copy continues the conversation set up by your ad and follows through on the ad’s offer or call-to-action.
   1. Ad Groups > Ads > Keywords > Landing Page > Product/Service should all be coherent and make sense to the consumer’s search intent and Google.
   2. Enterprise accounts that are managing a complex ad environment with thousands of ad groups and millions of active or non-performing keywords may need additional expert assistance in order to reach optimal performance. Many bandwidth issues and operational inefficiencies could be solved by partnering with a Scalable Google Ads Management Platform called MotiveMetrics. Powered by artificial intelligence, MotiveMetrics creates the optimal paid search environment in Google Ads guaranteeing the most relevant and highest performing ads show against targeted search queries at the right time. All of the services offered by MotiveMetrics build upon a powerful data-driven solution with capabilities of deploying thousands of ads and relevant keywords in minutes through its Google API integration. Learn more at www.motivemetrics.com
3. Make your site transparent and trustworthy: Make it so easy for visitors to find your contact information, and clearly state what your business does. If you request personal information from customers, make it clear why you’re asking for it and what you’ll do with it. Privacy and return policy are recommended on sites that sell products/services.
   1. Google Ads Lead Forms require a privacy policy since you are collecting customer’s email addresses and other info directly from the ad.
4. Work on loading speed and clarity: Help users quickly find what they’re looking for by prioritizing the content that’s visible above-the-fold.
5. Rethink mobile and optimize for speed/usability: Ease of navigation is valued by users even more on mobile websites, so make sure mobile site is optimized. Even the font may need to be increased from your blog posts or landing pages or site speed improved for a better landing page experience.

These are just a few techniques to help generate high-performing relevant Google ads based on semantically coherent keywords and quality score improvement. Keep in mind that if your quality score and landing page experience is better than a competing company’s bid, you can win the auction to receive the impression which leads to a click at a LOWER COST reducing your cost per acquisition. The only 2 levers you can really adjust are bid and quality. Most companies would prefer to improve quality instead of spending more money on the same click.

 Improving quality can reduce ad costs and improve your return on ad spend.

For additional assistance with your Google Ads campaigns and ad copy, please CONTACT US today for a FREE PROPOSAL.