With the increased emphasis by Google on quality score these days, advertisers simply can’t afford to stay in the dark when it comes to best practices – especially when minimum bids are at stake.

Ah yes, yet another rousing article on the importance of quality score.

You might think that the subject is getting a little bit tired and played out, but I assure you that the crack journalism team here at WebProNews wouldn’t be repeatedly covering the topic if we didn’t feel it to be of paramount importance to the search community as a whole.

The conversation becomes especially vital now, since Google has begun to lift the veil of mystery surrounding its calculation of quality score, a move that most within the SEO community feel is long overdue given the very real impact that a “poor” rating can have on an advertising partner’s bottom line.

Google now allows you to actually see your quality score, and as Brent Hodgson writes, this is the first (and perhaps most important) step in improving the overall quality of your AdWords campaigns:

Check Your Quality Score. The first thing you want to do is check your Quality Score to find out which ads are (and aren’t) rated well.

It only takes a moment to find your adwords quality score – and it’s all pretty self explanatory. “Great” means your score is great, “OK” means it’s OK, “Poor” means poor. (Quick – someone go tell Dave Pasternack this PPC stuff isn’t rocket science! ;))

Also look at your minimum bid – the lower it is, the better.

Obviously you want as many of your keyword to be listed as “Great” as possible – because quality scores of “Great” are rewarded over quality scores of “Poor” or “OK”.

You’ll probably need scores of “Great” if you want the $0.05 clicks.

Quality scores of “Poor” might see your bids jacked up to $1.00 - or even $10.00!

Just a quick note: You’ll generally receive scores of “Great” when you first start an ad group. However, as Google gathers more data on your advertising, this can change [read:deteriorate] quickly.

Imagine paying $10.00 a click for a “poor” quality score. Ouch! Even if you’re at this lowly place, just remember that the first step required to change anything is to admit where you are currently. If your ads are consistently rating poorly, then at the very least, you can rest assured that what you’re currently doing isn’t working.

The bottom line surrounding quality score is the concept of relevancy. As he continues in his article, Hodgson gives a helpful tip in understand just what Google is looking for in terms of appropriate content:

Point To Relevant Landing Pages. This is wise from a Conversion Maximisation perspective – not just from an AdWords Quality Scoring perspective.

Send people to the most appropriate page of your site… the one which best addresses their needs - why they’re searching Google, or what they wanted to receive when they clicked on your ad.

– If there isn’t a particularly relevant page, create one!

It’s smart marketing, and Google will reward you for it.

It seems simple, but it all comes down to giving Google what they want. Don’t try to get cute. Don’t try to game the system. Just follow the rules and come up with some creative, interesting content and you’ll be surprised at the positive results.

Tags: Google, Quality Score, AdWords, SEO

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