Online Marketers, myself included, will often suffer a fixation on the keyword quality score (def: Google Quality Score) and it’s impact upon a Google Adwords Campaign ROI.
The fact of the matter is that an increase, or conversely a decrease, in Quality Score can have a huge effect upon the overall financial success of your campaign. As highlighted in Craig Danuloff’s brilliant article on Quality Score from 2009, the financial implication of a single point increase in Quality Score can have an immediate 50% influence upon the actual CPC. The results can bring great, or devastating news, dependent upon which way the Quality Score indication swings…. but only on those terms which create significant traffic volumes.
At a micro-level, yes a swing in Quality Score may seem to be a blessing or a hinderance to your overall results for that particular keyword or phrase. But at the macro-level, do you see individual developments playing out which may impact upon your entire campaign? Could the swing in quality score be representative of a lack of focus upon your Paid Search campaigns?
The Click Thru Rate (CTR) of the individual keywords you’re bidding upon plays a large part in the Quality Score grading Google places upon your chosen keyword each and every time your ads are shown (for greater understanding of the make up of Quality Score I highly recommend this video by Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google). If your ad’s CTR is below average far that particular Ad Position you will start to see a deterioration in your Quality Score. The decreasing CTR will be down to one single factor – your Ads aren’t relevant to the end users search request. This could be due to;
- poor Ad copy
- lack of correct keyword targeting
- broad-matched keywords which do not reflect the Ad shown
all inherent aspects of a poorly-managed Adwords campaign.
More important than a simple decrease in the Adwords grading scale are the monetary implications…. you’ll be spending more money to gain that same Ad Position which may already be underperforming for your business. We’re currently talking about one single keyword – picture the scenario whereby your account continues to stagnate with poorly chosen keywords and disorganised Ad Groups – suddenly the overall implications are far far greater. Your Google Adwords campaign will erode any margins left in your product offering and suddenly the whole idea of running an Adwords campaign doesn’t hold the same appeal….
Conversely, an account which is structured correctly, whereby keywords are collated in tightly-knit content-focused groups and Ad Copy compels high CTR, Quality Score can have a hugely positive impact. Your Ads are ranked based on the simple equation “Ad Rank = Quality Score x Maximum Keyword Bid“. Taking a Quality Score from 4 to 7 could reduce your Cost Per Click (CPC) by as much as 75% for that particular Ad Position. An even greater impact is generated by maintaining the same Maximum Bid and seeing your Ad slowly eat up your competitors and increase it’s position up the Ad Charts.
If you take your foot off the pedal for one moment your Adwords Campaign will suffer. Your competitors are always willing to take advantage of any inefficiencies with your campaign… and Google are more than happy to reward them…
If you’re seeing your costs ramp up without any additional traffic through to your site it’s time to take a look at the current Quality Score gradings on your more popular keywords. Only then will you begin to understand just where your campaign may be flagging… and hopefully begin the process of turning around your campaign performance.
