2008 June

Click through rate (CTR) is probably a very familiar term to you by now. It’s basically how many times your ad was clicked, compared to the number of ad impressions.

This simple percentage figure has a pretty big impact on your Quality Score.

Any good tracking software should show you CTRs, however if you’re calculating it manually then this is the formula:

The way CTRs affect your Quality Score is like a popularity contest. When a person clicks on your ad, in effect they are ‘voting’ for it, telling Google that it was relevant to their search. Google records this and kudos to your account.

When Google calculates Quality Score, your CTRs are taken into account (not including Content network) for the entire history of each keyword, not just for a certain period.

So you can see why it’s crucial to monitor search terms and take action on any low-performing keywords.

When deciding the relative value of click through rates, the below criteria are considered and weighted accordingly:

1. CTR history is weighted so although a keyword’s whole history matters, the most recent CTRs are more important - this is an extra incentive to continually improve your campaigns! It also means that all is not lost if you want to resurrect old keywords.

2. CTRs will be different depending on ad rank. Google does not equally compare the CTR of an ad positioned on the right hand side, with an ad appearing above the natural search results.

   The variance in ad rankings is taken into account. For example, in the search results below a 2% CTR for position 8 would be great, 2% in position 6 is still alright, but 2% in position 1 would be quite disappointing. The same CTR is weighted according to the ad rank.



3. Search terms - usually the more specific a search term is, the better the CTR should be because you are more closely matching a user’s search query.

   A very broad or general search term would be expected to have a lower CTR as the SERPS may not be specifically what the user had intended, and so the ads are not as relevant.

   The exact same CTR figure may be considered low or high depending on the search terms used, eg. 0.8% may be satisfactory for a broad search term, but quite low for a long tail search phrase, where the user’s intent is fairly obvious.

   For Example
   Broad search term - tv (0.8% CTR understandable - users could be searching for ‘tv’ for many different purposes - to purchase, rent, repair, look up tv guides, etc)
   however
   Long tail search term - plasma tv repairs Brooklyn (0.8% CTR fairly poor)

There are a number of variables you should look at to improve CTRs. Funnily enough, these are also the same areas you’d address to improve your Quality Score.

Next week we look at How to Boost Your Quality Score with Keyword & Ad Relevancy, and then:

• Achieving Higher Quality Score with Better Landing Page Quality
• Indirect Quality Score Influences

Have a look at your account now and become familiar with your various click through rates. Then look closely at the relationship between your CTR and Quality Score. You can always better your CTRs and you should, because they’re your ticket to better Quality Score.

What’s your first reaction when I say “Quality Score”?

If you’re already Quality Score savvy, you may have considered it the arrival of a long lost friend. Or maybe it’s one you wished had stayed lost. For others, Quality Score is still something of an enigma.

Whatever your current knowledge (or opinion) is of Quality Score, we’re going to put it under the microscope and dissect its parts.

A common myth is there is only one type of Quality Score. There are in fact a few, which include:

• Account Quality Score
• Search Campaign Quality Score
• Content Campaign Quality Score
• Landing Page Quality Score
• Ad Group Quality Score
• Ad Text Quality Score
• Keyword Quality Score

In this series, we’ll be focusing on Keyword Quality Score, which is currently the only score you can view inside your AdWords account.

If you know how to work with it Quality Score can be one of your best competitive advantages. It’s also one of the most cost-effective optimization methods since it doesn’t require you to spend more (in fact it could reduce your costs!). There are not many methods of significantly improving your PPC campaigns without throwing more dollars at them. So read on!

What is Quality Score?

Google defines Quality Score as “a dynamic variable assigned to each of your keywords. It’s calculated using a variety of factors and measures how relevant your keyword is to your ad text and to a user’s search query. The higher a keyword’s Quality Score, the lower its minimum bid and the better its ad position.”

In simple terms, it’s a rating of how “good” a keyword is based on a set of criteria.

What’s Quality Score Used For?

With relevancy being Google’s middle name, it’s not surprising that Quality Score is designed to provide a better experience to users by displaying more relevant search results.

For users, Quality Score is another way of making sure relevant and topical ads are presented.

As advertisers, Quality Score is used to determine three things:

1. Your minimum CPC bid
2. Keyword status/whether your ad runs or not
3. Your ad’s ranking position

I’m sure you’ll agree these are all pretty important to your campaigns!

Why you should take the time to learn about Quality Score

Is Quality Score something you need to worry about? Well consider that a poor Quality Score means higher bid prices, less ad impressions and lower positions when the ad is displayed. It’s hard to put a positive spin on any of that!

A higher Quality Score lowers your minimum bid prices and raises your ad rankings. Conversions and more importantly ROI, are both improved by a higher Quality Score.

The example below shows how Quality Score can affect your minimum bid cost and ad position, rather than the CPC determining everything else.

It’s a competitive and sometimes crowded market place, so no matter what business you’re in, any advantage is great right? Right.

When they introduced Quality Score, Google leveled the playing field somewhat. Ad ranking is no longer about how much money you can throw at your campaign. Smarter, better campaigns are rewarded which enables SMEs to compete in the same space with the “big boys”. Sound good to you? It should!

Where do I find my Quality Score?

To find out what your Quality Scores are, just log-in to your Google Adwords account, then view your keyword listings. From the “show/hide” columns drop-down, select “Show Quality Score” and a new column will be added after keywords showing a score of Poor, OK or Great.

How is Quality Score calculated?

Keyword Quality Score has many contributing factors based on both relevancy and performance. It’s a dynamic variable which is dependent on other dynamic variables including:

1. Click through rate (excluding Content Network)
2. Relevancy of keywords and ad copy
3. Landing page/web site quality and relevancy*
4. Your Account’s Historical performance (based on CTR across all keywords and ads)
5. Other Relevancy Factors

* Quality Score for keyword minimum CPC differs from the Quality Score used to determine ad ranking. Most factors are the same, however Landing Page Quality is not used in ad ranking Quality Score.

We can only take a stab at the “other relevancy factors” - IP targeting, geo-targeting, demographic targeting, ad scheduling could be influencers. A Google Engineer once said “There are over 100 factors that can affect Quality Score. However, not all will be triggered depending on the conditions involved”.

Over the next 4 weeks we’ll be delving deeper into Quality Score, focusing on variables 1-4. These are the ones we have some control over.

So check back for our series of weekly articles on:

• Raise Your Click Through Rates for Better Quality Score
• Keyword & Ad Relevancy – How They Boost Your Quality Score
• Achieve Higher Quality Score with Better Landing Page Quality
• Indirect Quality Score Influences – Do You Know Them?

If you haven’t yet gotten to know your Quality Scores, log-in to your account now and display your Quality Score column. Are yours Poor, OK or Great?

Great Quality Score is your key to more effective and profitable campaigns with lower bid costs.