Indirect Quality Score Influences

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Indirect Quality Score Influences - Do You Know Them?

By Reena Shohet | Published on 06/23/2008 | AdWords Resources , Improving Conversions , Pay Per Click Basics |

Work with variables that can indirectly affect Quality Score

In this article, we cover factors that don't have a direct say in your Quality Score.

They're another step back from Quality Score if you like, the influence they exert is on the elements that are part of the Quality Score calculation.

If you've improved the main factors covered in the previous articles of this series and you're looking for more ways to improve, then these are definitely worth getting a handle on.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

I love dynamic insertion! It's a great tool (and I emphasize "tool") for pumping out relevant campaigns.

DKI itself does not increase or reduce your Quality Score, it's how you use it or abuse it.

The strength of the link between your keywords, ads and landing pages is your foundation. Relevant campaigns achieve higher click-through-rates. DKI is simply a valuable tool you can use to achieve more relevance in your ads and therefore higher CTRs.

If your ad groups are so big that the only way you can create targeted ads for each keyword is through DKI, then it's a crutch not an advantage. Your Quality Score will probably reflect this.

Example
If you're marketing a variety of products, you may use DKI to cover the volume. Your ad may look something like this:

Get {Keyword:Alt text} Here
Huge Range of {Keywords:Alt text}
Great for all ages. Buy Now!
www.dkiexample.com

If your list of products/keywords includes the following:

Christmas Hampers
Gift Hampers
Children's toys
Educational games
Crystal giftware
Perfume gift packs

then DKI is not being used effectively. Yes, each keyword is being inserted into your ad text, however the ad is not suited for all your keywords. Even with DKI, this is still more of a shotgun approach and won't fool your audience.

Re-structure your campaign, create tight ad groups around focused keywords and write targeted ad creative. Sorry there's no compromise with this!

Combined with the above, DKI helps you achieve relevancy in volume and saves you a heap of time.

Using Campaign Building software such as SpeedPPC, you can take advantage of a unique and sophisticated method of dynamic insertion. As opposed to search engine DKI, you also have complete control over what search terms are inserted in your ad and landing page copy.

So don't rely on DKI on its own to boost your Quality Score. Utilize it as a tool to create PPC campaigns that uphold the Quality Score principles.

Negative Keywords and Match types

Using negative keywords and match type options doesn't have anything to do with your Quality Score. Or does it?

Again, relevancy is the key. Negative keywords and match types contribute to your relevancy, which then affects your click-through-rate which does impact your Quality Score.

Let me explain.

By using negative keywords, you exclude search queries that you know are not relevant. Therefore, your ad doesn't receive an impression for these. Your click through rate is basically a ratio of clicks to ad impressions, so wasted impressions are detrimental to your click through rate.

In the same way, using match types increases your relevancy to users' searches. By making your ad impressions count, your click-through-rate doesn't go down because your ads are showing on unrelated searches.

Example
I was searching for a Motorola Q9 phone, and an ad appeared for a health store selling Co-enzyme Q10 capsules. They were obviously bidding on a product term, and possibly catering for searchers of Q9 capsules. However, by adding negative keywords for Motorola, phone, etc they could have excluded my unrelated search (and probably a few others).

Example where negative keywords could be used to exclude unrelated searches

Negative keywords and match types play a vital part in fine tuning your targeting. They can have a more significant impact on your click-through-rate than you realize.

Your click-through-rate does have a direct impact on your Quality Score, so defend it from irrelevant search queries!

Account Quality Score

Your Account Quality Score is exactly that - it's an overall summary of your Quality Scores.

More to the point, Account Quality Score has a say in what your minimum bids are when you introduce new search terms where there is little historical data. The better your Account Quality Score, the more grace you get from Google.

If you're a bit of a pioneer and always trying out new search terms, then the accumulated savings of lower starting bids could be quite significant.

Keyword Quality Score and Account Quality Score are interdependent.

Your individual Keyword Quality Scores contribute to your Account Quality Score.

Your Account Quality Score impacts all your individual Keyword Quality Scores.

The relationship between Keyword Quality Score and Account Quality Score

So instead of leaving poorer performing keywords in your account thinking they're not costing you anything, think again!

In a roundabout way they are costing you. The poor performance is pulling down your click-through-rates and both your Keyword and Account Quality Scores, resulting in higher minimum bid costs across all keywords in your account.

This is a great reason to keep refining your campaigns, not just by building your keywords and optimizing your ads, but trimming away what doesn't work as well. Don't leave it there to rot. Even though you may not see the dollar cost of it in the CPC column, you can be sure the price is paid in other ways.

Knowing your keyword Quality Score makes it easier to diagnose why some of your minimum bids are so high.

Instead of raising bids, it can be far more beneficial to raise your Quality Score.

I hope with this series of posts, you have a greater awareness of the main factors contributing to Quality Score. Optimizing each of these factors is a very manageable process. Your Quality Score is not out of your control.

So take a look at your account with fresh eyes. Identify which Quality Score factors need improvement and work out your strategy for each one. Chances are they won't cost you anywhere near what you'll gain from them!

Take the time and check out what Campaign Building tools like SpeedPPC can bring to your business. More advertising reach with higher Quality Score, lower minimum bids and less of your time adds up to powerful campaigns with far greater profits.

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About the Author

Reena Shohet is a PPC marketing specialist and the Product Manager for SpeedPPC. Increase your profits by overcoming the Top 7 Challenges of PPC marketing. Discover how and sign up for a FREE Email Course to Improve your PPC marketing - visit www.SpeedPPC.com.

Article Series

This article is part 5 of a 5 part series. Other articles in this series are shown below:

Quality Score – Best Friend or Worst Enemy?
Raise Your Click Through Rates for Better Quality Score
Keyword & Ad Relevancy - How They Boost Your Quality Score
Achieve Higher Quality Score with Better Landing Page Quality
Indirect Quality Score Influences - Do You Know Them?

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