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Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Optimizing the Quality Score for Higher Rankings and Lower Click Cost
 As time goes on PPC (Pay-Per-Click) paid search costs continue to rise leaving advertisers scrambling to find ways to keep their PPC campaign ROI positive. The best way to squeeze the most out of your PPC paid search budget is to get a good Quality Score for the campaigns you’re running with Google Adwords and Yahoo Sponsored Search. This will translate into better placement and more clicks for less money. In the near future we can expect Google to continue to shape the Quality Score standards for PPC paid search within their Adwords ad network leaving paid search advertisers with no other choice then to either adapt or drop out.
How can you keep up with these constant changes? Looking back on how Google’s Quality Score has been shaped so far is the best way to determine a course of action for the future. Google’s constant adaptation - meant to enhance the “user experience - will lead to more changes down the line for PPC paid search advertisers. And it’s safe to say that Yahoo is going to make similar changes over time. Recently Yahoo Search Marketing implemented a change to minimum bids, the minimum charge for ads to be displayed in the search results. Now a Quality Score, that Yahoo sets, will affect minimum bids. Many advertisers have seen their minimums go up since then, in some cases from $0.10 to over a $1.00. However, many advertisers should have seen this coming. They all went through a similar experience when Google instituted the same policy a year and a half ago by tying the minimum bid to the Quality Score. Once again, Yahoo is following suit. Until Microsoft finds a way to become more competitive against Google’s AdWords system with their adCenter PPC paid search program, advertisers are forced to follow Google’s lead. So long as we’re following Google it’s important to remember what their stated objective is - enhancing the user experience.
Quality Score Components
User experience has played a role since Google’s first major move in taking PPC paid search from a straight auction to a hybrid auction system. CTR (Click through rate) was the first measurement besides bid amount that affected the ad ranking of ads within the search results. To this day CTR is still the most important part of the Quality Score, and it makes sense. It’s the best measurement of user preference for a particular ad. However, that’s only the beginning. Since then Google has implemented a number of Quality Score components related to the relevance of keywords, ad text, and landing page content. Most recently Google has even factored page load times into the quality score; most users certainly will appreciate a landing page that loads quickly. While other factors, including historical performance of your account or the keywords you are using, have an effect, it’s still safe to say that the factors that enhance user experience are still the ones that have the most bearing on your Quality Score. If you’re looking to squeeze the most out of your account then this is something that should have your attention.
Landing Page Keyword Optimization and Web Server Performance
The best thing you can do to prepare yourself against future changes in Quality Score conditions is to implement an integrated search marketing strategy. Factors that are related to your web site are now also starting to affect Google AdWords ad ranking and bid cost in the PPC paid search campaigns. Optimizing web page or landing page content with relevant keyword phrases, once the territory of organic search engine optimization (SEO), now can affect your Quality Score for PPC as well. Your messaging for ad copy and web site copy may have been different; now you want to make sure your messaging carries over to improve relevance. With page load times affecting Quality Score even web server performance becomes important.
The fact is that if Google is deciding something will be a factor in calculating your PPC campaigns’ Quality Score, then that is something that should be on your radar. We may have no choice but to follow Google’s rules right now, but if it’s going to help your ad rankings in the search results and enhance the customer experience, then there’s no reason not to. The benefit is your Quality Score, which will most likely increase as the overall quality of your web site or landing pages improve.
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Upcoming Events
495/MetroWest Business Expo
Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 11:00 am
Sheraton Framingham Hotel
Pre-Expo Keynote Presentation
“A Strategic Approach to Integrated Marketing”
Presenter: Louise Rijk, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales
Learn more…
Past Presentations
Bentley College, 2008 - Waltham, MA
“Planning and Integrating a Targeted Internet Marketing Campaign”
Click here to play the video.
WebmasterWorld Pubcon 2007 - Las Vegas, NV
“Planning and Integrating a Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) Campaign”
Click here to play the video.
BizAction 2007 - Washington DC
"Email, Social Media and Search in the Overall Marketing Mix"
Click here to play the audio.
128 Business Expo 2007
"Blogging and Podcasting For Business"
Click here to play the video.
495/Metrowest Business Expo
Pre-Expo Keynote
"The Rise of the Internet as a Mass Advertising Medium"
Click here to play the video.
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If you would like more information on Internet Marketing, Consulting, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing, please
click here.
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Copyright © 1996-2008. Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
251 West Central St., Suite 28, Natick, Massachusetts 01760, USA
Tel: 508-647-5151 Fax: 508-647-5150
E-mail: info@advmediaproductions.com
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