Have you been noticing those high CPCs? It might not be due to aggressive competition or your bidding strategy. What if the real issue lies in your ad quality? By improving your Quality Score, you can achieve better results without overpaying.
If you’re finding that CPCs are on the rise, it might not be about your budget or competitive bids. The hidden issue could be low ad quality, something I’ve come to recognize over time.
Allow me to guide you through understanding the most foundational metric in your Google Ads account— the Quality Score. If you want to stop overpaying and start winning on merit, you need to grasp how the Quality Score truly works.
Before we continue, let’s clear up any confusion. Google presents numerous “scores” and diagnostics. However, Quality Score is the one that genuinely matters and can’t be ignored.
Ad strength focuses on your ad-level diagnostics, ensuring your responsive ad adheres to best practices. Although important, it doesn’t affect auction performance directly.
Optimization score is more of a guiding tool for using Google’s recommendations, not a reflection of true campaign success.
However, Quality Score goes deeper. It plays a vital role, as it summarizes the quality of your ads at the keyword level. Its interaction with your bid decides your Ad Rank, influencing your ad’s position on the SERP and the cost per click.
Here’s the basic formula: Ad Rank = price × quality. The 1–10 score you see reflects the real-time quality evaluation Google conducts for every search. Simple, yet crucial.
Let’s set up your Google Ads dashboard to locate your Quality Score. Navigate to your Keywords report and add these columns: Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience.
I recommend analyzing Quality Scores at the ad group level instead of focusing on individual keywords. If most of your keywords score a 7 or higher, you’re on the right path. Should they average a 5 or below, start improving ad quality swiftly.
Let’s address the three components you can improve:
1. Ad Relevance: The ‘message match’ involves ensuring that your keywords match both the ad and its landing page. Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion to automate this, or manually check that keywords feature in your ad copy and landing pages.
2. Landing Page Experience: The “Delivery” can be evaluated using PageSpeed Insights. If your landing page receives a “Below average” rating, the reasons often involve slow load times, inadequate mobile experiences, or poor navigation.
3. Expected CTR: The “Popularity Contest” shows that Google favors ads that get clicks. You can use Auction Insights for competitive analysis or check the Google Ads Transparency Center to see and learn from competitors’ successful ads.
While aiming for a 10/10 Quality Score everywhere may be overambitious, a regular quality review can pinpoint underperforming ad groups. Tackle the most lagging components to gradually lift your results.
Improving ad quality involves more work than just raising budgets, but the rewards of increased clicks at lower costs are undeniable.
This piece is part of our ongoing Search Engine Land series, presenting concise insights into Google Ads. In quick reads, Jyll covers diverse features to optimize your Google Ads results.
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
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