Cracking Quality Score

Cracking ’s Black BoxInside Information on AdWords Quality Scores

Overview:

What is Quality Score?

Why is Quality Score so important?

How can you influence It?

How can you analyze and increase your Quality Score?

Bjorn EspenesCo-Founder & CEO

Brad GeddesCo-Founder

finch.com @bjornespenes

What is Quality Score?

http://www.finch.com/en


https://twitter.com/bjornespenes


@bgTheoryAdAlysis

What Is Quality Score

Ad Rank

Bid Estimate: 50%

Quality Score Estimate: >40%

Ad Extensions Estimate: <10%

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

As QS goes up-position increases or CPCs decrease

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

The Breakdowns for Visible QS

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Expected CTR

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Brand term:

•6% below average

•15% average

•46% Above average

Why You Can’t Project What is a ‘Good CTR’

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Non-brand term:

•3.5% below average

•8.5% average

•14.5% above average

Why You Can’t Project What is a ‘Good CTR’

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Ad Relevance: Inverse Document Frequency

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

LodgingAd Description

% Off AirfareAirlines

AirportCall to Action

Cheap / Affordable

Deals / Discounts

Destination

Lodging

Official Site

Online PlanPrice / Pricing

Services

Superlative[Adjective / Adverbs]

Ad Title

% Off

Agency

Airfare

Airlines

Airport

Brands

Call to Action

Cheap / Affordable

Deals / Discounts

Destination

DKI [Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Lodging

Official Site

Online

Param Insertion

Plan

Price / Pricing

Sale

Services

Superlative[Adjective /

Adverbs]

Source: Microsoft Internal Data. Total Impressions Generated = 298 Million, Total Ads Analyzed = 149k, Analysis

Period = 12/1/2014 – 11/30/2015.Note: The categories represent groups

of similar keywords.

Great Good

Insufficient dataPoor

@bgTheoryAdAlysis 13

Reading a Heatmap Ad Description

% Off Airfare Airlines AirportCall to Action

Cheap / Affordable

Deals / Discounts

Destination

Ad Title

% Off

Airfare

Airlines

Airport

Call to Action

Cheap / Affordable

Deals / Discounts

Lodging

Official Site

Online

Search for Any Flight Online Cheap Flights to SJC

Search for any Flight Online10% off Popular Destinations

Some offers are so common, no one cares.

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Below Average Ad Relevance

Usually an indication that you need:

•Better organization

•Different Ads

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Sometimes You Don’t Want to Be Completely Relevant

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Mixing B2B & B2C Ads

@bgTheoryAdAlysis

Non-Linear CTRs are Almost Always Landing Page Issues

@bgTheoryAdAlysis


Why is Quality ScoreSo Important?





finch.com @bjornespenesfinch.com

HOW ADWORDS WORKS

CTR QualityScore

AdRank






IMPACT ON AD RANK

Bid50%

Other<10%

QUALITYSCORE>40%






THE MAGIC MOMENT

Max CPCAd Rank

Quality Score

COSTCPACPV

Two engines at work






THE WHEEL OF GOOGLE GOODNESS

Each piece is part of a unique click

profile that is established each time

a prospective customer hits enter in

Google’s search box.

HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS

PROGRESSIVE ATTRIBUTION

MODELING






How Do I Influence It?





YOUR PLAYBOOK FOR INFLUENCING QUALITY SCORE

1. Exact Match strategy

2. Single keyword ad groups

3. Building leverage behind each bid

4. Attribution modeling as a strategy

EXACT MATCH STRATEGY


WHY EXACT MATCH WORKS

EXACT PHRASE BROAD+ BROAD

5% 3% 2% 0.25%ConversionRate

THE GOLDEN CLICK!






HOW TO FORCE AN EXACT MATCH

ski racing pants gortex

NEW EXACT MATCH KEYWORD

Current keyword bank

ski racing pants

Search triggers Phrase Match





SINGLE KEYWORD AD GROUPS


4 Ad Groups per Keyword

Force the Ad Group vs. Keyword

Ad group

SINGLE KEYWORD

EXACT PHRASE BROAD+ BROAD

HOW TO FORCE AN EXACT MATCH






WHY EXACT MATCH WORKS

Influence begins here

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHER AD RANK

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

Google Wheel of Goodness

Exact Match






CASE STUDY: Match Type Strategy

Exact Match Increased 358.03% YoY





BUILDING LEVERAGEBEHINDEACH BID


HIGHER CONVERSION RATE

An Exact Match click has a higher

conversion rate because of

higher relevance. HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






HIGHER MAX CPC (BID)

Fewer clicks means you can set a

higher bid and still stay inside

your cost target. HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






HIGHER POSITION

Maximizing the bid inside your

cost target drives position, which

is CRITICAL because...HIGHER

AD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






HIGHER CLICK THROUGH RATE (CTR)

Higher CTR has two benefits:

1. More traffic

2. It drives Quality Score (~40%) HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






HIGHER QUALITY SCORE

Quality Score is Google’s way of

handicapping Ads based on their

ability to earn Google money. HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






LOWER ACTUAL CPC

Quality Score drives Ad Rank, so

once you hit position one the

relative cost will go down.

Remember Brad’s example of how

Quality Score and CPC are closely

related?

HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






HIGHER MAX CPC

Set a higher Max CPC on other

keywords because of overall

portfolio performance gains. HIGHER

AD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






BID MODIFIERS

Bid modifiers for device, re-marketing,

locations, etc., add more fuel to

compete effectively at each auction.

HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING






PROGRESSIVE ATTRIBUTION MODELING

How you model your attribution

will have major impact on Quality

Score.

HIGHERAD RANK

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING





ATTRIBUTIONMODELINGSTRATEGY


HOW ATTRIBUTION DRIVES THE VALUE OF A CLICK

Last click

Last ad click

Cross device

Last ad click

Cross device

Phone calls

Off line

Last ad click

Cross device

Phone calls

$1,000

$2,000

Att

rib

ute

d R

eve

nu

es

$1.00

Max cost per clickbased on 10% cost of

revenue target; 1% conversion rate

$2.00

$1.75

$1.55

$1.35

Max

CP

C

GoogleAnalytics

Google AdWords(all-conversions)






ATTRIBUTION MODELING






AD RANK

The concept to the Wheel of

Google Goodness uses every trick

in the book to drive Ad Rank

while staying inside your cost

constraints.

HIGHERBID

HIGHERPOSITION

HIGHERCTR

HIGHERQUALITYSCORE

HIGHERCONVERSION

RATE

LOWERCPC

HIGHER MAX CPC

BIDMODIFIERS


MODELING

HIGHERAD RANK





CASESTUDY


CASE STUDY: Avg CPC vs. Match Type






CASE STUDY: CPA vs. Match Type






CASE STUDY: Match Type Strategy

Exact Match Increased 358% YoY





Influencing Quality Score

delivers

more profitable clicks.


How Should I Analyze & Increase My Quality Score?





@bgTheory

Improving QS: Start with Your Impression Benchmark

AdAlysis

@bgTheory

Then Use a Workflow

AdAlysis

@bgTheory

What Ad Groups Need Help?

AdAlysis

https://youtu.be/Df7Lo7CMQiI

•Use pattern or multi-ad group testing for low volume ad groups

•Use A/B testing for your top ad groups

@bgTheory

Testing for Overall CPI/RPI Increases

AdAlysis

@bgTheory

Powerful Ad Testing & QS Analysis

AdAlysis


Free “Roadmap to Growth” Analysis

● Tracking and attribution validation

● Market coverage (keyword coverage)

● Competitive gap analysis

● Account structure and bidding strategy

● Historic spend analysis with recommendations

● Growth roadmap





Re

vie

wx What is Quality Score?

A great diagnostic tool for your AdWords account health. But not a good KPI.Ad rank is: Max Bid, Quality Score, & Ad ExtensionsQuality Score is made up of three factors: Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, Landing Pages.

● Expected CTR has a strong correlation between average CPCs and financial impact● Ad Relevance has a partial correlation between its factors & CPCs● Landing Pages have a weak correlation between their factors & CPCs

Why is Quality Score so important?Quality Score influences everything Google and it will affect your budget.AdWords is made of three factors: Quality Score, Ad Rank and CTRQuality Score has a huge impact on Ad Rank (~40%)

How can you influence Quality Score?Many ways but the key strategies that make the “Google Wheel of Goodness” go are:

● Exact match strategy ● Single keyword ad groups ● Building leverage behind each bid● Attribution modeling as a strategy

How can you analyze and increase your Quality Score?Understand your campaign organization and through ad testing.

Bjorn Espenes in/bjornespenes @bjornespenes

Brad Geddes in/ewhisper @bgtheory

Programmatic Paid SearchProfit-Driven Advertising

www.finch.com

PPC SoftwarePowerful Ad Testing Made Simple

www.adalysis.com

QUESTIONS?

Let’s Connect!

Cracking Quality Score

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Transcript of Cracking Quality Score