Quality score, or sometimes called QS, is an estimate of the quality of your keywords. It runs on a 1-10 scale and is calculated based on ad relevance, CTR, and landing page experience. Quality score can affect where your ad ranks and when / if it shows at all.
You can find an ad’s quality score by adding it as a column within your Google Ads dashboard.
You should always be checking in on quality scores, reworking ad copy, and ensuring a pleasant landing page experience for users.
Benchmark
Having a quality score between 7-10 should be your goal. Below 7, and your ads may not be showing!
Quality Score Basics
When Google looks at your keyword, then at the ads directly associated with it, then at your landing page, then at the rest of your website. Then they do two things:
- They give you a number ranking from 0 to 10
- They determine what percentage of the time they’re going to show your ads when people search on that keyword, in what position on the page, and what price per click.
And very often, #1 has very little to do with #2.
Your Quality score (QS) impacts your account in several ways:
- How much you pay. A higher score = a lower actual cost per click.
- Where on the page you show. A higher score = higher positions on the search results page.
- How much exposure you get. A higher score = a higher impression share, i.e., your ads show a higher percentage of the times people search on your keywords.
Note
- When you first publish new ads and new keywords, Google’s system will review and estimate how they think your ads will perform. If your ads match your keywords and your website has minimally relevant content on it, Google will typically start you off with a 6/10 QS.
- Once starts clicks start rolling in, you may see your QS suddenly drop if the CTR is significantly below your competitors’ average.
- If you have a QS of 1/10 or less, it is an indication that Google has fundamental problem with your landing page or website. Your ads will typically not be shown in this circumstance.
- It is possible to to have a well performing campaign with a QS of 3/10 or 4/10.
Before you panic over your QS, check your CTR’s or impression to see if they are low and if your ads are showing in poor page positions.
Checking your Quality Score
There are two ways to check your QS:
- Mouse over the little bubble under the Status column next to your keyword. A small popup will display the QS number and briefly summarizes what is or isn’t working.
- In the ad group view click the “columns” button below the tabs and above the graph, and you’ll be given the option to add a column showing quality score.
How does Google determine Quality Score?
Like Google’s famed search algorithm, no one knows for sure – except Google. Here are some generalizations to help you understand the impact each element of your campaign has:
Quality score is a number that Google assigns to keywords based broadly on the following attributes:
- The past CTR of your keyword and your account overall
- The quality of your landing page (i.e. where you’re sending traffic)
- The relevancy of your keywords to your ad text and to the user’s search
It is estimated that the algorithm is broken down as:
- 60% of QS is the CTR of the individual keyword (plus the ads in your ad group), over the entire time you’ve had that keyword in your account.
- 5% is your account history, measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account.
- 5% is the quality of your landing page.
- 5% is how well you matched the keyword to the ads in their ad group.
- Other 25% are still a mystery, but experts think they revolve around how well is account is operating versus your competition.
Based on this information, you can assume that your keyword has the single largest influence on your QS. This includes your negative keywords (which help reduce unwanted impressions).
Also notice the impact of account history. Advertisers with an older account can perform better than newer advertisers. This is why having a high CTR from the beginning is so important. If you start an account with “bad performance” it can talk a while to reduce the negative impact on the overall account (often referred to as “account level quality score.”)
Google Rewards Your Quality Score
As explained above, the quality of your landing page amounts to about 5% of your QS. However, if you have human site visitors repeatedly bouncing from your landing page, Google could suspend your entire account, and after repeated warnings may even permanently ban you from AdWords.
Your goal should be to get as many visitors as possible to stay on your webpage for as long as possible.
Make sure your website is optimized:
- Pages that ask for opt-ins must have additional navigation so that visitors can see the rest of the site and find out more about you and what you offer.
- You should provide a link on the landing page to your contact information (including company name, a physical address and a working phone number).
- Make it completely obvious who you are, where your business is located, what your selling, and how your making your money (especially if your an affiliate marketer).
- Provide links on your landing page to your privacy policies and other legal disclaimers (like affiliate disclosures).
- Instead of using bullet points, try writing paragraphs with helpful, useful information.
- Use a sitemap that links to every relevant public page on your site so that visitors (and Google) can find your content.
- Start a blog and start posting articles.
- Become familiar with basic SEO and start employing some of the techniques.
Google employs human reviewers to patrol the vast index of sites. The webpages that don’t meet the above fundamentals typically get get flagged, and QS drop to 1/10.
It’s very simple
It’s direct marketing 101. Enter the conversation inside your customer’s head. Uncover it, and reproduce it in your Google ads, your website and beyond. Simple as that.
Want a great conversion rate? It begins by offering your customer precisely what they’re looking for as soon as they arrive on your website. Ignore this and fail – Guaranteed!
More Landing Page Tips
You want the exact spot between an AdWords ad that draws clicks and a landing-page message that moves people to act.
Target people who will actually buy. Is your message written to the CEO when it’s someone else who’s actually doing the Google search? Are you writing to husbands when it’s really the wives who are going to make the decision?
Show people exactly what you promised – immediately. If the point of your Google ad was offering a free report, then that should be the primary focus of the landing page. Whatever you’re promoting – take visitors there immediately.
Avoid bait and switch schemes… Fooling people to click on your ad, and then not providing what you offered while only make them leave the website that much quicker.
Be consistent with your message. If your ad is aimed at the junior sales associate, then your landing page should be too. If your ad is written to a Christmas gift giver, your landing page must be too.
Go for the close. Be clear, straightforward, relevant, action oriented, and compelling. Test and learn what gets your visitors to sign up and buy. Rinse and repeat.
Follow the rules. Do what Google says and avoid schemes. Your landing page has to be a real, working website. Do not use separate window popups. If you make a claim – prove it. If your offering something free – follow through.
Diagnosing and Fixing QS Problems
Not every issue you face is about QS. For example, if you receive a “below first-page bid” notification, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your quality score is low – it’s could be Google telling you that your competition has moved in front of you. But you won;t know this until you actually check the QS yourself.
Rules:
- Keywords “slapped” and in the 1-3/10 range usually (but not always) call for major fundamental revamping of a whole website and sales process.
- Keywords scoring 4/10 to 7/10 can often improve their quality scores by doing a better job of matching keywords to ads. This is not a hard and fast rule, but putting your keyword in the headline of your ad is a great place to start. You’ll need to explore all the possibilities with your ads and your site and experiment for yourself.
Google’s penalties can seem more like an SEO problem rather than a simple pay-per-click issue. Here’s a checklist you can start with to help diagnose what’s causing your low quality score:
1. Does the slapped keyword match your ad perfectly? Does it show up in the headline of the ad?
2. Is your landing page clearly about that keyword, and is the keyword used repeatedly on the landing page?
You want Google to understand that the entire site is about your keyword’s topic and that yours is the best site people could go to in order to learn about the topic.
3. Does your landing page link to other pages on your site (and other good quality sites) that are about that keyword as well?
4. How many people leave your site after they hit your landing page? How many hit the back button and go back to search on Google? What is the time frame before they leave your website?
Google has been incorporating site visit time into their quality score decisions based on actual users’ behavior. When people click through your ad to your site, what happens? Is the majority of your visitors thinking, “No, this isn’t what I’m looking for” and leave? You want people to stay, and stay a good long time.
5. How much time do people spend on your site before they click back or click away?
Interesting, relevant content is the best way to keep people to arrive and stay put. Blogs, online calculators, audios, videos and other “involvement devices” will keep people around longer. Do whatever you need to in order to keep people there in larger numbers and for longer times.
6. Is a large number of affiliates bidding on the same keywords and sending the Google click traffic to your site?
Google doesn’t want 10,000 affiliates all buying clicks, placing ads and sending traffic to one single website. This scenario could trigger a low QS and a notice from Google. Ideally, Google world like one site per advertiser, no more.
7. Is your site heavily templated or pre-fab content?
Google wants every new ad to point to fresh, new content. If your site was provided to you by an organization or service that provides near-identical sites with near-identical content to other site owners, Google can easily tell. And you’ll get slapped.
If every word, phrase and sentence on your site is entirely your own original content, you have nothing to be afraid of.
(8) Is your site a review site that compares multiple products, and you’re an affiliate for any or all of them?
This is another model Google dislikes. A major telltale sign for Google is when your landing page is heavy with affiliate links to other vendors and sites. They want visitors to hit your landing page, find good quality, and stay on your site – not just get herded off to some big vendor.
(9) Do you have bold or outrageous claims on your site?
If your target market is health and nutrition, money-making or business opportunities, sexual issues or adult content, or anything remotely dicey or high-visibility, Google will scrutinize your website and campaign very closely. Anything overstated, exaggerated or outrageous will involve a human editor to review your account to tag or rate your site negatively. You won’t be informed of this, but it can lead to an instant lower QS.
Fixing Quality Score Problems
< PREVIOUS | NEXT >