Google Quality Score & The PPC Black Hole

• Got on the Internet in 1986• Working online with search since 1996• Paid & Natural Search – all aspects• Worked in house within Ecommerce, Publishing

& High Tech• Moved to i-level in 2008• Worked with Orange, Sony, COI• SEO Chick• Freelance through Seshet Consulting

Who am I?

Agenda• Quality Score• Deep Linking• Position Preference• Campaign Structure• Match Types & Ad Copy• Ongoing Optimisation

What is quality score?

"a dynamic variable assigned to each of your keywords. It’s calculated using a variety of factors and measures how relevant your keyword is to your ad group and to a user's search query." 

--- Google

Why should you care?

Quality Score influences your ads' position on Google and the Google Network. It also partly determines your keywords' minimum bids.

Cracking open the black box of QS

• QS is multiple math formulas -  one each for calculating:

a) ad position on search

b) minimum bid

c) eligibility & position on a content site

d) Other relevance factors

• When determining both minimum bid and positioning:

1) Google looks at CTR on Google, NOT the Google Network

2) Google looks at both the keyword's CTR and the account's overall CTR

DANGER! The Drop Zone

The Drop Zone

If you bid between the average CPC and the minimum bid, your position will drop like a stone so if position is important, bid more. You won’t pay more unless bidding increases.

Restructuring an Account

• Move, don’t delete accounts to keep QS

• Changing ad copy changes QS

• Changing destination URL changes QS

• QS is measured in context – don’t panic if changes aren’t instant

CTR

• Is it too low?

• Is it too high?

• Does it seem to have changed?

Quality Score

• Has it changed?

• Is it OK, Poor or Great?

• Is the ad showing no matter what the QS

What is “Deeplinking”?

“Linking to a page of content within a website that bypasses the home page, or lie several layers within the site infrastructure.”

Why should you care?

Landing page relevancy to the whole adgroup influences your ads' position on Google and the Google Network. Relevancy of this page determines cost and quality of user experience.

Landing Page

• Where are you landing people?• Is there anything on page relating to KW/ad?• Does ad relate to KW/landing page?• Does the page convert?• GOOGLE IS WATCHING! If user backs out

(browser back button) you lose QS points – make that LP relevant!

Factors that Influence Cost

• The keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google; CTR on the Google Network is not considered

• The relevance of the keyword to its ad group • The quality of your landing page • The historical performance of your account, which is

measured by CTR across all your keywords • Other relevance factors

Game It

• Bid high – higher position & CTR – lower cost later

• CTR across *ALL* keywords is measured – break down those big ad groups

• Bring together semantic variances in single ad group – move the rest (aviation, dentist both in same group?)

• Clear bad results/KW

What is Bid Placement

• more control over the positioning of ads

• Can set for single spot, range of high or low

• No guarantees

• Can lower CPC

• Maintain optimal exposure – minimal bid

How Bid Placement Works

• Activate it at campaign level

This will activate it for all ad groups on default setting of “any” for position preference

Set the position preference you wish

When to use Position Preference

• When position doesn’t matter but budget is tight

• When conversions increase when positioned in a certain slot

• To target visibility to match organic result

Campaign Structure

• Logical

• Focused

• Following structure of destination if feasible

• Enables top line analysis

• Changes or underperforming campaigns easy to spot

• Easy to apply optimisation later

Campaigns

• AdGroups focused singally, grouped in Campaign

• AdGroups can have thousands of keywords but all related to tightly focused group

• Fast check on performance

Ad Copy

• Use website/publication for relevant copy

• Analyse other relevant ad copy

• Check sections related to AdGroup

Ad Copy

• Clear call to action• Concise, targeted title• URL linked to focus of AdGroup• Keyword insertion where practical• Semantic variations of keywords employed• More than one creative per adgroup to ensure copy well

optimised• Pause underperforming ads, create new ones from well

performing ones

Ad Copy – Beware of...

• Vague descriptions

• Weak call to action

• Pure description

• Irrelevant copy to adgroup

PPC Match Types

• Broad

• Phrase

• Exact

• Negatives

Broad Match

• Default option• Matches anything – including similar words – in

any order• E.g. – ‘tall dark and handsome’ might also match

‘big (tall) black (dark) cab (handsome)’• Good for research or less fussy daters – can

capture unexpectedly related search terms

Phrase Match

• Matches terms in order they appear, with any text before or after

• Good for shorter keyphrases of two or so words

• E.g. – ‘hot tub’ will match ‘hot tub lover’ but not ‘hot sauna tub’

• If keyword research done and confident with it or for the dater who has core requirements in their date, but is open to variety

Exact Match

• Specific phrase in that order with no additional words

• The least impressions but most targeted clicks

• E.g. ‘likes long walks, dogs, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and good coffee’ will not match unless all keywords in that order present

• Good for specifically targeted ads avoiding less targeted traffic or the date who knows exactly what they want and will settle for nothing more or less

Negative Keywords

• Does not match when that keyword present• E.g. – “gorilla” – So if “hairy” is included as

negative, ad will show for “Cadbury gorilla” but not “hairy gorilla”

• Good to ensure no ad shown for undesirable/low conversion searches, keywords in other campaign, or for the date who knows what they absolutely don’t want in a date

Optimise your performance

Don’t pay for keywords that aren’t relevant…

… use the search query report to find and negative match them

Create additional adgroups containing new targeted terms…

…or add them to existing campaigns to increase relevance & lower cost

Focus, change, add, and remove ad creative…

… don’t just let it ride

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Shine

THANK YOU!

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