Ad Rank - What
Is It?
Usually, there are multiple
advertisers competing for the same keywords, and so Google has to find
a way to determine which order to show the available ads in. They make
this determination by assigning an Ad Rank to every ad.
The Google Quality
Score (QS) system is a ranking scale, ranging from 1 (lowest) to 10
(highest), that measures the quality of an ad on the Google search
network. The score is then used to determine how much advertisers pay,
and what the Ad Rank (search position in the ad space) will be.
Ultimately, the Ad Rank
= Max CPC x Quality Scores.
Ready to delve into
this a little deeper? Let's go...
Why Does It
Really Matter?
Let’s break it down to
basics.
Advertisers want to show
relevant ads so that users click on them. The users want to click on
relevant ads and find relevant information for what they are looking
for. Google wants to create a great user experience so that both
advertisers and users come back to use their services.
Every time a query is
made on Google, an auction is made. The auction is for clicks, so
advertisers only have to pay when they receive a click.
If you have four
advertisers with different bids, say $1, $2, $3 and $4, the ads are
ordered in terms of the highest bids, but advertisers don’t have to pay
for their bid when they receive a click, they only have to pay the bid
of the second-highest advertiser.
This way, what they
have to pay is just enough to beat the competition.
In this example, I left
out how the quality of the ad itself comes into play. Google is
obviously concerned that ads are of the highest quality, so this is
where the Quality Score comes in.
What Are The
Influencing Factors of Quality Score
There are three factors
that are taken into consideration in the calculation of QS. The quality
score has a huge impact on your cost per-click (CPC) and Ad Rank, so
it’s important that you understand these components:
1. Click-Through Rate:
Biggest component
Historical
click-through-rates (CTR) have an overwhelming impact on Quality Score.
Essentially, users vote on the quality of your ads with their clicks,
so Google allows users to decide which ads are best for different
search queries.
When there's no history
in your account, Google will use other advertisers' historical
performance on specific keywords to evaluate what Quality Score you
should be granted. It is up to you to exceed that number with your
performance.
Tip: A
useful tip to improve the CTR with your ads is to utilize ad
extensions. These can play a huge role in improving the CTR of ads, so
it’s no surprise that Google rewards advertisers who have CTR-boosting
extensions. Just make sure that you only use the extensions that are
applicable to your business.
2. Relevancy: Second
largest component
Relevancy of keywords
to the ads, as well as ad relevancy to the users' search query, is also
an important factor in your quality score. Google determines relevance
by analyzing the language and context of an ad and query, determining
how well it relates to the keyword.
Google places focus on
the relevancy of keywords so that only useful ads are displayed to
users. This also prevents advertisers from paying their way to the top
of search results for unrelated products or services.
Tip:
Ensure that the keywords that you are targeting are used
in some way or another within the ad copy, as well as the copy on the
website. This will help boost the relevancy of your keywords!
3. Landing page
quality: Third largest component
It's important to
consider the user experience on your website. Do people leave as soon
as they hit your website? And if so, are you delivering on your promise
based on what's in your ad?
An ad is only useful to
a user if the landing page it leads to contains the information they are
looking for. A high-quality landing page will have relevant, original
content and be an easily navigable site with quick load times and
minimal pop-ups. It will also offer transparency and legitimacy about
the nature of the business.
Tip: Don’t
use the homepage as the landing page! Instead, take your visitors to
the most relevant page on your site or directly to a custom made
landing page. Monitor the bounce rates and time-on-site to gauge how
your users are interacting with your content.
Where Can I Find
My Quality Score?
In campaigns that are
targeted on Google Search, each keyword has a Quality Score. But it is
hidden by default. Here are the simple steps to show it as a column in
your Google Ads reporting:
1. Click the "Keywords"
tab in your Google Ads account
2. Click "Columns" and
then "Customize columns"
3. In the section that opens up, choose "Attributes"
4. Click on "Add" in the
Quality Score row
5. Click "Apply" to save
and you will see the Quality Score column in your data
Alternatively, under
your keyword tab, you can also hover over the speech bubble next to
“Eligible” in the status column. This will also give you your overall
quality score with a rating for each core element, as seen below.
What Do The
Numbers Mean and How Can I Improve?
In general, a 7/10
Quality Score is sufficient and we wouldn’t necessarily recommend
trying to improve anything that is rated a 7 and above unless you have
a low average position and you really don’t want to increase your
maximum keyword bids.
Going above 7 is great
but may not be worth the effort as sometimes it’s simply just not
achievable. A score of 5 or below is a sign that something is wrong and
should be improved.
This flowchart from Ten Scores is a
great guide and can provide insight into the changes you likely will
have to make to improve your quality score. It’s a great way for
beginner advertisers to understand what actions are required to boost
the score.
Conclusion
Understanding the
fundamentals of Quality Score is an important part of running a
successful Google Ads campaign. Make sure to stay up to speed with how
the different factors influence the overall score, how you can view
your quality score within Google Ads, and what you can do to improve
your Ad campaigns.
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