AdWords Tip: How to Boost Your Quality Score (in 24 Hours)

Yesterday, I helped one of our Marketing Breakthrough members clean up his AdWords account.  Together, we ran some reports and quickly saw that some of the keywords had low Quality Scores.  It didn’t take us long to see what the problem was by looking at the Keyword Status and within 24-hours we improved many keywords from a 5/10 to a 7/10 Quality Score.
 
Want to know how we did this?  It was only about 15-minutes of work and is sure to have a big impact on the campaign performance the rest of the month.
 
First, let’s get up to speed on Quality Score…

 

What is the AdWords Quality Score

The best way to think about the AdWords Quality Score is that it’s Google’s grade for your ad campaign.  If Google thinks your ads are not set up properly, then you’ll get a low grade of 1-3 out of 10.  If your ads are above average, then you’ll get a grade of 7, 8, 9, or even a perfect 10/10.
 
Your grade is then multiplied by your bid to determine your Ad Rank.  So a higher Quality Score leads to a higher Ad Rank, which means you’ll be ranked higher on the page.  If you do the math, you can also see that you don’t need to bid as high as your competitors to outrank them if you have a higher quality score.  For example, if you have a 10/10 quality score while bidding $2, and your competitor has a 5/10 quality score bidding $3, then you’ll outrank your competitor.
 

(10 QS) x ($2 bid) = 20 Ad Rank
(5 QS) x ($3 bid) = 15 Ad Rank

 

Again, the higher the Ad Rank, the better ad position you’ll have in the search results.  So in this example, a $2 bid would outrank a $3 bid.  Clearly, quality score is a huge leverage point in any AdWords campaign and that’s why it was the focus of my call yesterday.
 

How to Check Your Quality Scores

To check your current keyword quality scores, go to the Keywords tab in your AdWords account.  Under the “Status” column, you’ll most likely see “Eligible” along with an icon that looks like a speech bubble.  Click on the speech bubble and you’ll see your quality score, along with information about your expected click through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.  All three of those factors are ranked as “average,” “above average,” or the dreaded “below average.”
 
You can also check quality scores by adding the Quality Score Column to your AdWords report, but you won’t see the grades for the three factors above.
 

How We Improved Quality Scores in 24-Hours

When I reviewed the keyword quality score information with my client, we noticed some of the keywords had below average ad relevance. The click through rate and landing page experience were both average, but the ad relevance was dragging us down.
 
Ah ha! We identify an easy problem to fix.
 
If you find yourself in this situation, then navigate over to the Ads tab in your account to draft new ads.  In the new ads, include the keyword you’re targeting in the ad group.  Now, if your ad group has many different phrases, then you have another problem on your hands.  I recommend you restructure your account so only similar phrased keywords are in a single ad group.  That will allow you to match the ads precisely to the keywords.
 
As I mentioned earlier, by simply drafting ads that included the keyword, we were able to improve our keyword quality scores overnight!  Take a look at your keyword quality scores and follow these steps if you also have below average ad relevance.

15 AdWords Stats That Prove It Works

15 Stats That Prove Google Adwords Is A Great Investment For Your Business 

 

Not sure Google AdWords is a good investment for your business?
 
Then consider the 15 stats below, which I organized around frequently-asked questions (FAQs) that I hear from business owners.

 
First things first, if you’re considering search engine advertising, then you need to answer this FAQ…
 

Are My Customers Really Using Search Engines To Make Buying Decisions?

Let’s take a look at some key stats:

• 86% of consumers use the Internet to find a local business (WebVisible survey)
  
  
• 72% of consumers prefer to find information on local merchants via search. (WebVisible survey)
  
  
• 29% of consumers search for local businesses at least every week (BrightLocal survey)

OK, so your customers are searching, but that doesn’t mean you should use Google AdWords.  That leads us to the next common question…
 

Why Use Google AdWords Versus Bing or Yahoo?

I’ll let the stats speak for themselves here:

• Google owns 71% of the search market share. (Netmarketshare.com).  This stat alone answers the question, but we won’t stop at just search.  Here are some stats about Google’s Display network…
  
  
• Google owns the world’s largest online display advertising network. (comScore)
  
  
• Google display campaigns reach 80% of global internet users. (Google Benchmarks and Insights)
  
  
• Consumers exposed to display ads are, on average, 155% more likely to search for brand- and segment-specific terms. (Specific Media)

Before we move on, here’s one more stat that is important to understand:

• About 97% of Google’s total revenues come from advertising. (Google Investor Relations)

Why is this stat so important?  It highlights the importance of Google AdWords to Google’s business.  Since Google depends so greatly on Google AdWords, that means Google’s focus and priority is on maintaining and continually improving the AdWords tool.  This is important, especially today when we see so many complaints about Bing and Yahoo support.
 
Now, if you’re familiar with search engine optimization, then you’re probably asking this next question…
 

Why Not Just Invest in SEO?

Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple, as the following stats highlight:

• 89% of the traffic generated by search ads is not replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused. (Google Research)
  
  
• For high commercial intent search queries, the top three ad spots take about 40% of the clicks on the page. (The War on Free Clicks)
  
  
• 98% of searchers choose a business that is on page 1 of the results they get. (BrightLocal).  This emphasizes the importance of ranking on the first page of Google.  If you’re investing in SEO (which I highly recommend for many of the same reasons listed here), then advertising is yet another way to get your business on the first page to ensure you in front of 98% of your audience.

And, of course, we need to address the most important question…
 

Do Google AdWords Campaigns Really Work?

When set up and managed correctly, then businesses can see strong return on investment from Google AdWords, as indicated by the following stats:

• Businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on AdWords. (Google Economic Impact Report)
  
  
• 72% of AdWords marketers plan to increase their PPC budgets (Search Engine Watch).  This is a strong indication that those businesses were generating positive ROI, because if they were not, then they wouldn’t increase their budgets.
  
  
• 70% of mobile searchers call a business directly from Google Search. (Expandedramblings.com)
  
  
• 70% of mobile searches result in action being taken within an hour. (Mediative Labs)

Of course, there are a lot of factors that determine the success of a Google AdWords campaign so these stats should not imply that every ad campaign will be profitable.  The reality is that you must set up and manage your ads correctly to see positive results.

Data vs. Emotion: How to Avoid Bad Marketing Decisions

 

In the past, when you published an update on your Facebook business page, it would reach a large percentage of all of your fans, but those days are long gone.  Now businesses are forced to pay for that same distribution that was once free.

 

In response to Facebook's changes, Eat24 is threatening to jump ship and close down their Facebook fan page at 11:59 PM tonight.  What do you think, is that a smart move?  When things change, do you think it's best to pack your bags and move elsewhere?

 

How you answer that question, reveals a lot about you and how you approach business and marketing.  In this article, I'll explain why change is actually a good thing for your business, and how to avoid making a big mistake like Eat24 is on schedule to make tonight.

 

Change Equals Opportunity

Here's the reality with digital marketing: things change fast!

 

Google constantly updates their search algorithm and the layout of their search results.  Ad networks, tactics, and formats are constantly evolving.  New devices like smartphones and wearables are now forcing change in nearly every digital marketing tactic.  And a hot new social media platform is bound to pop up any minute now.

 

Change is often scary, so most people avoid it at all costs.  But in business and marketing, change equals opportunity!  Every time Google shakes up the search results, you have an opportunity to overtake your competitors.  If you're one of the first businesses to try a new ad format like YouTube's TrueView ads, then you'll reap the benefits of low cost, targeted traffic before your competitors.  Or, in the case of Eat24, if you realize Facebook is now a highly targeted ad platform, and you change your tactics accordingly, then you'll think twice about deactivating your account.

 

It's all about perspective.  Sure, it was a heck of lot better to get free exposure via Facebook than it is to pay for it now.  But doesn't that also mean it's now harder for other businesses to reach your prospects and customers?  When Facebook changed their platform, they gave some businesses a real competitive advantage.

 

Use Data (Not Emotion) to Guide Your Marketing Decisions [Tweet this]

I'll admit, I have no idea if Eat24 is getting any return on their Facebook marketing.  I didn't even know who they were before I stumbled on their shared article.  So I guess their PR stunt worked to some extent.

 

But based on their article, they are making their decision to leave for all the wrong reasons.  I hear similar complaints all the time from business owners regarding Google algorithm updates, Yelp hiding reviews, and rising AdWords costs.  It's OK to get frustrated, but don't let emotion guide a big marketing decision.  Instead, let the data do the talking.

 

Google Analytics allows you to track all of your marketing channels so you can evaluate the return on investment from your campaigns.   Once you're tracking your campaigns, then you can make an informed decision.  For example, Eat24 should be able to see how much traffic is coming from Facebook, and more importantly how much is converting to sales.  Based on that data, it'll be clear if they can afford to invest in Facebook ads to continue that channel.

 

If it's profitable, then it doesn't make sense to shut it off.  As I'm sure you've heard, and as my wife repeatedly reminds me, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." :)