How to improve your Google AdWords quality score?
That’s right ladies and gentlemen, as promised we are back with a follow up to our “How does Google AdWords work?” post from a couple of days ago.
I would highly recommend you go and read that one first or, if you’re already a self-proclaimed AdWords aficionado, by all means read on and you may just learn something new.
Without further ado, let’s get straight into this important PPC topic.
What is quality score?
Quality score is of paramount importance when it comes to running a successful AdWords campaign. It is Google’s metric of how relevant your ads, keywords and landing page are to a user viewing your ads.
A higher quality score leads to a lower cost per click and better ad positions which is why a quality score of 8/10 or higher is very desirable.
After you’ve chosen the keyword(s) you want your ads to rank on, there are two determining factors that contribute to quality score…
Ad Relevance
Ad relevance indicates of how closely your keyword matches the message you’ve placed in your ads. Google will tell you if your ad relevance is above average, average or below average.
If your ad relevance is below average, it means your ads are not specific enough to answer the queries of the users searching for your chosen keyword(s) or that the keywords you’ve chosen are not relevant to your business.
It’s most likely the prior. Choosing keywords is a pretty straightforward process but it’s when it comes to writing the ads that many fall short.
To ensure your ad relevancy score is high, make sure you include the keyword you’re intending to rank on in both the headline and in the description of your ads.
Around your keywords, the rest of the copy should exhibit:
- Attractive features of your product/service
- Offers or discounts
- Copy promoting urgency e.g. Limited Stock Remaining
- A call to action
Landing Page Experience
The final determining factor of your quality score is the landing page experience. It is the measure of how useful your landing page is to users who have clicked onto your ad. The content on your landing page and how easy it is for users to navigate is crucial here.
Your chosen keyword should feature throughout the content of your landing page (without engaging in keyword stuffing) i.e. in the URL, meta title, meta description, headings, in the alternative text of any image and sporadically in the rest of the page copy.
For example, if you’re selling single ovens, don’t send users to a generic oven page. Create a landing page centred around single ovens specifically, and make that page users land on.
To improve navigation, keep the landing page relatively short i.e. not blog length, have a call to action on the page and ensure the speed of your site is good. The last point is often overlooked but a long landing page load time can have a serious impact on quality score.
There you have it! That’s exactly how to improve your Google AdWords Quality Score. Now, go out there and get some conversions! Thank us later.
