PalatnikFactor.com

10 Things You Should Know About Quality Score

August 17, 2009 by Pablo Palatnik

For those advertisers that have been running Adwords for quite sometime, Quality Score is something we have come to get very familiar with over the past 2-3 years. It determines a few things in our campaign. In the Google Adwords blog, there is a guide to Quality Score that explains a few things. For those who are just starting out in the PPC game with Adwords, Quality Score is always a question mark.

Even for some veterans, Google always tells us something new. Something we heard somewhere now is not true.

Let’s go down the list:

* There might not be ads on all search results, even for queries that advertisers are bidding on.

This usually happens with very broad keywords or trademarked terms.

* Just because there is low competition for a keyword doesn’t mean that it will be inexpensive.

This is the big question for most new advertisers. Google knows what each keyword is really worth to an advertiser based on the data of searches for that keyword. So, just because no one is bidding on that term, doesnt mean your bid will be .5 cents.

As they explain it:

“Remember that competition is only one of the variables that determines your actual CPC. The price you pay for a click is also determined by your relative keyword Quality Score for that query. If your keyword has a low Quality Score relative to the other ads on that page, you may find that your actual CPC is close to your maximum CPC, even though there is low competition for that keyword. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll never be charged more than your maximum CPC for a click, no matter how low your Quality Score.”

* Your ad position is not a factor in your Quality Score.

This has also been a mis-conception as those who argued that bidding higher will get you a better CTR, hence better QS. Truth is, Google is smart enough to understand if you are in the 7th position, there is an expected CTR for that ad.

* Your bid primarily impacts your rank, not your Quality Score.

If you outbid your competitors, doesnt mean you have a higher quality score and won’t get you one. Although it may get you a higher ranking. Read point above.

* Quality is given extra consideration when determining which ads appear in the top slots.

Basically, they are saying, look, if you are bidding the same as an advertiser, what will push you over the ranking spot is your quality score.

* Your ad conversion rate does not affect your Quality Score.

* A few bad days of performance will not ruin your Quality Scores.

* Quality Score doesn’t suffer when your ads are showing infrequently or not showing due to pausing or budgeting.

* Restructuring your account doesn’t cause you to lose your historical Quality Score information.

* Google does not keep track of your landing page quality history.

Check out these post for more QUALITY SCORE related post and PPC Related Post:

– Guide to Google Quality Score (Video)

- How Google Adwords REALLY Works

- Optimizing Your Ads for Better Conversions