What are Quality Scores? And why are they critical to my Google AdWords campaign?

A Quality Score (QS) is calculated by Google every time your Google AdWords campaign displays your advert. They are marked out of 10. Simplifying slightly, if your keyword has a QS of 4, you’ll be paying twice to get to the same position on the page, compared to if the same keyword had a QS of 8.

This means having a high QS can save a huge amount of your campaign budget.

To make matters worse, AdWords will often not even use keywords with a low QS – however much you’re prepared to pay for them – even if you bid $450 per click. (Yes, really). At this point Google is refusing your business. You can either cry yourself to sleep – or fix the problem.

But don’t bother complaining to the folks in Mountain View. I’ve tried – sorry, but you’ll get nowhere.

OK by now you’ve realised QSs are really important. But how do you improve them?

There are reputedly hundreds of factors affecting QS scores – nobody outside of Google knows for sure – and they’re certainly not telling.

BUT there are some important general points. Ensure your:

• Keywords are reflected in your adverts. This will ensure your adverts are directly relevant.
• Advert is directly relevant to person searching on Google.
• Overall website experience is good. Visitors can easily find the information they need