WHAT IS QUALITY SCORE?
Whether you are a PPC newbie or a seasoned pro, knowing about Quality Scores, how they impact your ad performance and how to improve this score is critical.
Ad Quality Scores consist of three pillars:
- Ad Relevance
- Expected CTR
- Landing Page Experience
These three aspects all spill into each other, for example, a higher Ad Relevance means a higher expected CTR, and a better Landing Page Experience means better Ad Relevance.
A higher Quality Score is vital as it can affect where your ad appears on the SERPs and your average cost per click (CPC). The lower your score is, the less likely your ads will be shown, and the more you pay per click.
Getting your ads to appear at the top of SERPs (search engine results pages) is vital in driving more traffic to your website. Studies have shown that the top position on SERPs receives about 33% of all traffic, which isn’t surprising when we think about how status and positioning drives behaviour - of course the first result is going to be the best.
This blog will go over some tips you can apply today that can help improve your ad Quality Score and start ranking higher with a lower CPC!
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND!
Before we go ahead with the amazing tips, there are some things you should know to ensure you are improving your Quality Score the right way. If your Quality score column displays a dash (—), then there aren’t enough searches for that specific keyword to determine a quality score.
Changing the match type of a keyword won't affect the Quality Score; because the Quality Score is based on the historical impressions for exact searches.
Tip #1 - Ad Relevance Improvement
So, how can you improve ad relevance?
Easy. Just ensure the keywords you are targeting are included in your headlines! Not every headline in your RSA has to include the headline, but we recommend having at least 2.
We also recommend structuring your account with STAGs (Single Theme Ad Groups). This is because you can increase ad relevance by grouping keywords into themes. For example, if you have a campaign for types of mugs, you can create an ad group with keywords such as coffee mugs, stainless steel mugs, glass mugs and so on.
Keywords are not just great for targeting headlines with paid. Their performance can also feed into your organic SEO strategy for determining meta titles and descriptions (and vice versa) for a truly integrated approach. Plus, optimising your ads with relevant phrases and terms helps users find your business, which ultimately fulfils their need for a solution. It’s a win-win all around.
Tip #2 - Expected Click-Through Rate
This metric is based on how likely someone will click your ad. This is where extensions and strong copy skills come in handy. Adding Sitelinks, Callout, Phone extensions and so on can help make your ad look more appealing and give the user more information on why they should click through. Experimenting with different copy and seeing which resonates best with users is a great way to improve your ads' CTR, which is why we recommend adding as many headlines as possible with your RSAs (Responsive Search Ads).
Adding more compelling CTAs could also help increase your Expected CTR Quality Score but ensure that these CTAs are connected to your landing page.
Tip #3 - Landing Page Experience Boost
To improve this quality score pillar, you must first ensure that your landing page is related to your ad and vice versa. If you send a user to a landing page showcasing a different product or service, that can lead to a high bounce rate and poor conversion rate, which can be detrimental to your Quality Score. You should also use similar messaging on your ad's landing page, CTAs and offers. And if most users come from mobile devices, you should check to see if your landing pages are optimised for mobile users and are user-friendly.
Checking all these can positively impact your Landing Page Experience Score, and you can refer to your conversion rates as a measure to see how effective your page is.
Having an optimised landing page directly related to your ad means that your user will have an easier journey; reducing the path to conversion. Plus, if users have an easier time using your page, this tells Google’s algorithm that your ad and landing page are closely linked, making them more likely to display your ads in a higher position the next time someone does a similar search.
In a Nutshell
Increasing your page quality score can have a significant impact on your SERP ranking for both paid and organic results, making your business reach wider audiences and increasing the chance of clicks. To achieve this:
- Ensure your target keyword appears in at least one of your headlines.
- Include compelling CTAs and bulk out your ads with enticing extensions.
- Use similar copy for your ads and landing pages - and don’t forget to optimise for mobile!
If you’d like to speak to one of our paid experts about how we could help improve your ad performance, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
