6 Google quality score misconceptions
1. There is only one quality score
False. The Google content network and search network have separate quality scores. This is generally because the content network performs very differently to the search network and if there were only one quality score this could adversely affect your overall score.
2. Using different match types improves your quality score
False. Google maintains two types of quality score: one to compute minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids and another to determine ad position. Neither is directly impacted by match type.
So if you were to add the same keyword but with three different match types, all three would have the same quality score.
3. You can buy a good quality score
False. Many are under the impression that if they bid high and maintain a good click-through-rate (CTR) then their quality score will be high. But Google’s quality score is based on relevance so even if your ads are in lower positions Google will measure relevance relative to position.
4. High CTR = High quality score
False. As mentioned above quality score is based on delivering relevant results to keyword searches. Quality score is calculated by many factors, CTR being only one of a host.
5. Quality score is reset when optimising your account
False. After creating an account or optimising an existing account, quality score will automatically go in at an average level. Google will then calculate the true quality score and will either increase or decrease the existing average. If you optimise an account and are trying to better the relevance of results, you can be sure that Google will compensate you with a higher quality score.
6. Quality score is affected if your ads are not running
False. If you pause an account quality score will not be affected. But bear in mind that seasonal trends can affect your quality score if you reactivate an account.
For example, you have recently run an excellent Adwords campaign selling Christmas trees and Google reward you with a high quality score. But perhaps you reactivate the account in May and due to the lack of relevancy or demand, your quality score drops.
How to retain Google history in AdWords Editor
I can’t imagine my working life without it now. In actual fact – how did we cope before AdWords Editor?
If you’re not already familiar with AdWords Editor it’s a great offline tool from Google to speed up creation and management of AdWords accounts.
You install Editor on your local machine, download your current configuration and make changes to your account offline until you are happy to upload the changes. Find more information here.
I find AdWords Editor incredibly useful when taking over management of existing client PPC campaigns. This frequently involves a lot of restructuring as accounts may have been set up with 10’s if not 100’s of keywords crammed into the same Ad Group. Editor allows me to get things right offline, so I can be confident everything works well before going live.
If an Ad Group contains one particularly well-performing keyword then we look to ‘peel and stick’. Peel and stick? It’s the process of pausing a better performing keyword (generally with high click-throughs) and placing it in its own highly targeted Ad Group.
Isolating effective keywords using ‘peel and stick’ generally improves CTR’s as your advert can be much more targeted. A high performance keyword just isn’t as cost-effective in amongst lots of under-performing variations in one huge Ad Group.
What about the keyword history? Will it be lost?
Well, it depends how you restructure the account. I’ve read some well-known books which advocate deleting the keyword and then creating it again in a new Ad Group. Personally I think this is unwise as once you delete a keyword you can’t restore it, and if something goes wrong then your history is lost.
It’s not only keyword history you will loose, ad history is important too. If you’ve spent 6 months testing new ads and trying to improve click-through-rates and then create a brand new Ad Group, Google will view this as entirely new and untested. By starting from scratch you will end up paying more to prove to Google that you are a relevant and reliable source all over again.
So how do you retain the keyword and ad history?
Using AdWords Editor right-click and copy the entire Ad Group which contains your keyword and paste into your desired location, whether it be in the same campaign or a new one.
Once the Ad Group has been copied, delete all irrelevant keywords. My advice would be to keep the existing adverts associated with the old Ad Group but to introduce new ones into the mix. This way Google can tell that you’re introducing a new ad amongst tried and tested ads and these generally ‘bed in’ quicker.
Although you cannot see any history on the Ad Group you’ve just copied, don’t worry, Google can. I recently tested this on one of our client’s main keyword phrases which they’ve spent near to £1M on and have drastically lowered the CPC over the past couple of years. In fact this keyword is incredibly expensive to target if you’re new to the market.
I used the technique above and managed to switch from the old to the new Ad Group without any increase in CPC. But I would personally advise to be careful and err on the side of caution and test, test and test.
This issue of account history raises another question. How much can you edit or change your advert before Google views it as new? This question will be tackled in the near future, so keep on checking our blog or subscribe to our RSS feed.
The opinions expressed herein are the personal opinion of the author and are not intended as statements of fact and do not represent the view of Coastdigital Limited in any way
