For those who have been using Google AdWords to advertise their products and services online, you probably know how important having good Quality Score is when managing a PPC (pay per click) campaign. And because it is important, it makes perfect sense to know the latest when it comes to improving your ads quality score (QS) and running AdWords ads. Just recently, Google has published “Settling the Quality,” a whitepaper that updates the famous five-year-old AdWords Quality Score video made by Hal Varian. Let’s take a look at these new pieces of information and discover what we can learn from them.
Info No 1: QS is just a helpful diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator. For the last few years, marketers and advertisers have believed that achieving high QS is essential as it plays a vital role in determining your ad’s position and how much you’ll pay for a click. After all, wasn’t it Google who stressed out the importance of QS on video it created on 2011? This time, however, it seems that the tech giant is singing a different tune. On the whitepaper, Google explained that quality score is just a simple “warning light in a car’s engine that shows how healthy your ads and keywords are,” not a key performance indicator. The tech giant also pointed out that it should not be the focus of marketers’ account management strategies. While Google downplayed the role of QS in the success of your PPC campaigns, Larry Kim, founder and CTO at Wordstream, firmly believes that having a good quality score still matters. According to him, the CPC (cost per click) savings associated with above average QS keywords is now worth up to 200% more than it was four years ago. This is a clear indication that QS has a direct impact on the quantity and price of one’s conversions, as opposed to what Google is saying on its latest whitepaper.
Info No 2: A user’s device matters. According to Google, optimising your ads for mobile devices can affect their quality scores. The whitepaper revealed that a user’s device (laptop, tablet, or smart phone) is taken into consideration when ad quality is calculated. As such, to improve the performance of your AdWords ads, ensure that they are optimised for various devices, not just for desktop PCs.
Info No 3: Relevant keywords can affect the performance of new keywords. If you think that old and related keywordsor existing landing pages and ads do not have a bearing on newly launched ads and keywords, think again. On its whitepaper, Google confirmed that these elements do have an effect on your new PPC campaigns. “Instead of measuring new keywords from scratch, we start with info about related ads and landing pages you already have. If your related keywords, ads, and landing pages are in good shape, we’ll probably continue to have a high opinion of them,” Google said. This basically means that if you want to give your new ads and keywords a boost, you should improve the overall health and performance of your existing AdWords ads. Also, the tech giant stressed out that you should take the time to grow your “coverage on relevant searches” to improve your ads’ quality score.
