Adwords: Click through rate and Google’s Quality Score Formula

The recent news about Google changing the AdSense algorithms really got me thinking about my adword campaigns and the results I have seen.  So I dusted off the old “War” book with all my crazy research and ideas and went through some of my data.

Here’s a quick explanation of how to improve your Quality Score with the big guy “Google”.

(Oh and I will be doing a video talking about the new changes to their algorithms.  I will try to shoot the video this weekend.)

The Google adwords blog mentions some of the factors that are used by the Google scoring algorithm while calculating the Adwords Quality Score. These are as follows.

- Click through rate of the keyword and the corresponding ad

- Landing page quality (this could be a biased measure)

- Account history

- Keyword/Ad Group relevance

An advertiser using adwords then has one overwhelming question before his eyes: How do I improve my quality score? The answer is mainly the CTR (click through rate).

Empirical observations, (fancy word eh?),  made from available data show that quality score progresses linearly in the same lines as click through rate does. From observations, the quality scores of 8 and 9 seem to be rare “transition” regions. Until the quality score of 7, the correlation between quality score and click through rate seems to be better visible (as a linear progression).

Those seeking to improve their quality score should first seek to improve CTRs. This is supposed to have the biggest impact on the quality scores. (as observed from experience).

How to improve the CTRs of adwords ads?

- Improving ad copy:

By writing clear ad copy

- By inviting the attention of the surfer to the ad through appealing ad copy (wordings)

- Improving ad placement:

Choose target keywords carefully so your ads can appear in just the right places and not ‘anywhere’.

- Choosing keywords carefully:

- Avoid using very general keywords, these are the ones that are likely to have too much competition. (e.g., flowers)

- Use targeted long-tail keywords which have higher chance of click through by being relevant to the surfer (e.g., peonies in San Francisco)

- Better grouping and management of ad groups:

- Group related keywords into ad groups so they become easier to manage.

- Create targeted ads that apply to all the keywords in that ad group.

These are observations I have made in my many many adword campaigns I have run in the past 12 months.  It is a brie explination and was something I wanted to get off my chest.  If you guys show a real interest I can dive into further detail in the future.

Hope that helps! ;)

Michael R Roberts