Google Ad Rank Quality Score
Quality Score is a major component of Google Ad Rank. Determined by Google, your Quality Score will impact the overall effectiveness and rank of your campaigns. In fact, Google’s Ad Rank can be simplified to an equation involving Quality Score:
Max CPC X Quality Score = Ad Rank
Thus, to improve your campaign rankings, you can either increase your bid or improve your Quality Score! Most marketers aim for the latter. At RivalMind, we always start with optimizing for great Quality Scores before increasing budget.
Below, we unlock the mystery of Quality Score, exploring what it is, how it’s calculated, and how to improve yours.
What is Google's Quality Score?
Google’s Quality Score is a score from 1 to 10, available at the keyword level, that is dependent on three primary factors. Following each factor listed below is Google’s definition.
- Your expected click-through-rate (CTR): “The likelihood that your ad will be clicked when shown.”
- Landing page quality: “How relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad.”
- Ad relevance: “How closely your ad matches the intent behind your user’s search."
Quality Score is Google’s way of alerting marketers that their ads are relevant and useful. The score determined by these factors ultimately affects your cost per click (CPC), impression share, and ad rank.
How is Quality Score Calculated?
Google is not transparent about the weights of each Quality Score factor, but digital marketing specialists have analyzed thousands of campaigns to deconstruct the Quality Score “formula” quite accurately.
To start, each primary Quality Score component – CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience – is rated as below average, average, or above average. Average indicates a competitive score to your competitors, for the same keyword.
Search Engine Land did the math, creating a helpful chart to show how Quality Score is constructed.
Deconstructing Quality Score should inform your ad improvement focuses. We look into these below.
Managing Google Ads can be difficult and expensive.
Hire the experts in Google Ads management.
How to Improve Your Ads Quality Score
According to the findings shared above, CTR and landing page experience have twice the impact as ad relevance. Thus, start here!
Next, the goal is ultimately to be above average. Once you are above average on a Quality Score indicator, you can move on – improving it further has no significant benefit.
Keywords play a role in improving the quality of each Quality Score factor.
Click-through-rate (CTR)
- Exclude irrelevant keywords from your campaigns, as you discover them. These waste your budget.
- Refine your Match Types. Identify the keywords that may show your ads to an irrelevant audience and narrow your focus.
Landing page experience
- How does your landing page look on mobile devices? Mobile experience is a significant quality factor.
- Next, look at page speed. Users expect web pages to load in seconds. If yours don’t, users are more likely to bounce. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to determine how fast your pages load.
- Consider the relevance of your landing page. Users will be apt to leave the page if it doesn’t meet their expectations, or if it doesn’t directly relate to the ad itself.
If you are unsure where to start, Google’s Quality Score diagnostic tool helps identify where improvements can be made.
RivalMind: Google Ads Experts
At RivalMind, we have extensive experience building successful Google Ads campaigns for clients in a multitude of industries.
Our paid search team implements cutting-edge research to continually improve our ad campaigns. We understand that the best Google Ads campaigns do not thrive by hoping for the best – they thrive on strategic creation, consistent attention, and regular evaluation.
To learn more about our paid marketing services, reach out at 331.228.9636, through our online contact form, or via DM on any of our social media channels.
Meet the Author
Harley Helmer
Director of Search Marketing
Harley Helmer is a digital marketing professional with nearly a decade of experience in the industry. Today, he's the head of search marketing strategy at RivalMind, responsible for developing and executing comprehensive SEO campaigns that improve online visibility and boost organic traffic. His pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to marketing – paired with a robust knowledge base – helps him deliver innovative solutions to technical challenges and deliver real client success.
Specialties: SEO Strategy, Google Ads, and Search Marketing Opinions
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