From the back, this creature looks like any ordinary sheep, as it wheels about you can tell that it is a very special animal. Compared to the common barnyard sow the sheep-pig is a creature that may seem like something conjured out of a drug-laden dream. Just looking at the sheep-pig it makes the whole world a little bit more confusing, but if shaved there is no mistake, this animal is a pig.

If you are beginning research on Google Adwords Quality Score, be forewarned that understanding the intricacies of this relevancy indicator may seem intimidating but underneath its wooly exterior is just another way for Google to bring home the bacon (relevancy to searchers).

Google’s Adword’s Quality Score by definition “helps ensure that only the most relevant ads appear to users on Google and the Google Network”. Before we go into more detail about what Quality Score is, let’s discuss why it was implemented in the first place. From the very beginning the Pay per Click model was built similar to an auction platform. This platform is where people would go to bid on items and whomever was willing to pay the most would win that time. For the pay per click model it was keywords that people were bidding on and the item they would win would be highest placement in the sponsored listings section. The higher up you were placed then the more likely your ad would be clicked on. What this meant was that the company with the most money wins. Not only were the companies who were willing to spend more money making more money, Google was making money off the click arbitrage. Google saw recognized flaws in their Adwords platform as they received complaints from advertisers.

This model was very similar to the Organic Search model that positioned companies at the top of the Search Engine’s based on an algorithm that could easily be manipulated. For organic search they changed the algorithm to give favoritism to those who met a certain criteria that provided better results for the consumer. This triggered Google to change their paid search program so that ads for products/services that best matched what the consumer was searching for would be served up at or near the top even if they did not have the highest bid. This is known as “Google’s Adwords Quality Score”, which by focusing on this, your company could run a more cost effective.

Here are just a few ways that you can feed your sheep-pig to keep it happy and healthy:

* Matching landing page heading and text header
* Landing page loads quickly
* Picture of products and/or services displayed on landing page
* Picture of products and/or services displayed on landing page
* Optimal path from landing page to conversion goal

These items are components of the three most important factors to determining quality score; click through rate, relevance, and landing page. CTR is arguably the most important criteria, and the best way to improve this is by writing better ad text and testing. By following these guidelines you will not only achieve a higher quality score but you will achieve higher conversion profit potential. When quality score goes up, you ad position goes up and your cost per click goes down. Any English speaking pig will clearly illustrate that when the feeding trough is lowered for them it’s easier to feed. Higher “Ad Rank” and a lower “Cost per Click” you can run a more successful campaign at a lower cost.

Here is a formula to help determine Ad Rank which defines Cost per Click.

Ad Rank = Max CPC Bid x Quality Score

In the examples below, you will see that Quality Score can affect not only your Ad Rank but also your cost per click. Example 1 shows that although you have the third highest bid you can still achieve the #1 position with a high quality score. Example 2 shows that by increasing your Quality Score while your bid remains the same you cost per click goes down as well as your Ad Rank goes up. Higher ad placement due to relevancy will result in higher click through rate which in turn should increase conversions.

As you can see, it is now more important to meet the guidelines of the perfect quality score than to have highest budget. That is, if you want to run a highly optimized and successful paid search campaign in Google.

In shaving the proverbial sheep-pig, you can see that at its core, the qualitative factors of Google’s quality score is the same stinky pig that we’ve been dealing with in one form or another over the last decade. Take the time to understand how relevancy relates to bid cost and position and you’ll find yourself harvesting top quality pork products at your farm.

References

Retrieved April 3rd, 2010, from Google Adwords website:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215
Retrieved April 3, 2010, from Search Engine Land website:
http://searchengineland.com/is-the-hype-over-google-adwords-quality-score-justified-18031