Good Quality score can save you tons of $$

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Google search ads are tricky.

They take time to optimise, they are usually very competitive & if not done properly they can be hugely expensive.

Having said this, the good side of running Google ads is that it also provides a level playing field to all the brands.

Myntra may have deep pockets to run Google search ads but they equally have to focus on the quality of ads and user experience.

The same goes with any brand on search.

They may have money to spend but if they do not work on user experience, quality of the ad and relevancy they will not get great results.

And Google’s barometer to measure the quality of a search ad is the ‘Quality score‘

Quality score is a score on a scale of 10 which tells you how relevant is your ad against each keyword.

Every keyword on which you decide to run the search ad will have a quality score.

And Google decides on the quality score of a keyword by looking at three things:

• Ad relevance

• Landing page experience

• CTRs (click-through rates)

Landing page experience determines how relevant a user's experience will be when they land on your website after clicking on your advertisement.

This includes factors such as load time, ease of use, visual design, and customer service availability.

Ad relevance is determined by how closely related keywords are used in an advertisement compared to what users type into their search engine queries.

In some cases, Google also considers your historic account data to determine the quality score but majorly it derives the quality score on the basis of the above three factors.

If you have a good quality score, google rewards you with both:

• Higher rankings

• Lower costs

There is a close correlation between the quality score of your search ads and the amount you pay to google for every click (CPC).

Have a look at the below graph to understand how a good quality score can save you money.

This is research done by Wordstream according to which if we consider a benchmark quality score of 5/10, then as we move closer to 10 our CPC decrease and as we move closer to 1 our CPCs go up to as high as 400%.

How to improve the Quality score if it is below 7?

1. Campaign, ad group and keyword structure

Organise campaigns and ad groups with a granular structure, using as many ad groups as necessary.

Within each ad group, only include closely related keywords.

This will mean that ads within a given ad group can be better tailored to keywords.

A granular setup has other benefits when it comes to optimization, but it’s also really important for Quality score.

As an example, an online sweets shop should adopt the following ad group and keyword structure when building campaigns.

This ensures ads within each ad group are relevant and closely related to the ad groups keywords:

2. Write relevant and compelling ad copy

Following on from the previous step, write relevant and compelling ad copy.

Include the best-performing keywords within an ad group in an ad’s headline, description and URL slug.

The two main benefits of this are the following:

• The person searching will see their search query in the ad copy, meaning they will be more likely to click on the ad, increasing CTR

• Google will perceive a higher ad relevance, one of the key components that make up Quality Score

3. Include as many relevant ad extensions possible

Although ad extensions do not directly impact Quality Score, they have been proven to increase CTR.

Ad extensions are a way of expanding your ad.

They increase the amount of space your ad uses up in the search engine and give users additional information about your business and offers.

Therefore, your CTR and expected click-through rate will benefit from including as many relevant ad extensions as possible.

You can add extensions on price, offers, location etc.

4. Use negative keywords and review campaigns regularly

When phrase and broad keyword match types are in play, ensure you are using a robust list of negative keywords.

This is a best practice and will automatically exclude search queries that you know are not relevant to your business.

By excluding non-relevant searches from the get-go, your ad relevance and CTR will not be negatively impacted.

5. Work on the landing page

Landing page experience is a key component of determining your Quality Score.

it’s important to consider the following factors on your landing page:

• The messaging is consistent, from keyword to ad, and then ad to landing page.

  Ensure the keywords are present on the landing page and the landing page is consistent with what is being searched for

• Use the best URL possible for every ad group, in terms of giving the searcher exactly what they are looking for.

  For example, if someone is searching for blue jeans, take them to the blue jeans page instead of the homepage of your website

• Improve site speed, this is one of the most underrated ways of increasing the quality score, use Google page speed insights or lighthouse reports to reduce the page load times across all the critical pages in the e-commerce journey including the landing page.

  Faster websites result in better user experience and good user experience leads to people spending more time on your website, navigating deep on your website hence improving the quality score.

That’s it for today, folks!

Have an awesome Sunday ahead.

Cheers,

Apurv

PS: If you want me to cover a specific topic in my content, reply back to this email with the topic and brief and I will add the topic to my growing list.