How Google Calculates Quality Scores of Websites

Google, Bing, and Yahoo assign a score to the keywords and ad words you use in content posted online. The score is an estimate of the relevance and quality of your keywords in relation to the ad text, to the landing page, and to the user’s search query. This score or variable can affect the rank and the CPC (cost per click) of your ads.

Defining Quality Scores – How Do They Work?

A higher score pushes up your ad ranking (or ad placement) at a lower cost. To determine the ranking of ads, the following formula is applied:

Bid * Quality Score

Based on the results, ads are listed in search engine results. They are typically categorized in descending order, from the highest score to the lowest score. Google announced in 2008 that the Quality Score determined the placement of ads above the organic results listing and that ads with high Quality Scores would jump over those with lower scores. This would allow the search engine to enrich the quality of its ads.

Factors Affecting the Quality Scores of Websites

The Quality Score of an ad is affected by a number of factors:

• Click Through RateAn important factor for all three search engines when calculating Quality Scores is the click through rate of the
  keyword(s) and the corresponding ad. This is, in fact, the most critical factor for Google.
• Relevance of Advertising CopyGoogle, Yahoo, and Bing have all stated that ads with relevant ad copy impact positively on the Quality Score.
• Quality and Load Time of Landing PageAnother factor for all three search engines is the quality and load time of a landing page. The search engines check whether or not the information on the page is relevant and easily navigable. Moreover, the landing page should contain the keyword, otherwise its ranking may go down. The load time also influences rankings.

Significance of Quality Scores

The Quality Score is a very useful variable that helps search engines determine the ad ranking, which in turn has a direct impact on the Ad Position, Impression Share, and CPC, and therefore a direct impact on the amount of conversions and the cost of each conversion. Quality Scores take many factors about the overall quality and relevance of your keywords and your ad content into account, so the score your ad obtains is a strong indication of the overall health of your ad. A high score will tell you that you are doing great, but a low score will remind you that improvements are urgently needed.

Quality Score and Search Engine Ranking

Your ad’s Quality Score has a direct impact on its ranking in search engine results. Every search engine wants to return the most relevant and useful results in response to their users’ queries. The underlying aim is to maximize users’ ad experience as this will encourage them to click through them more often, increasing ad revenue for search engines.

Ways to Improve the Quality Score

You can improve your Quality Score in the following ways:

• Write Down Relevant Keywords – Make sure the keywords you are using are relevant. Jot down different ways in which people are using these keywords and then place them in your ads. However, you must keep it balanced since ads that contain too many keywords might receive a negative ranking.
• Make Thematic Keyword Groupings – Once you have prepared your keyword list, look for emerging patterns and themes. Create ad groups by thematic content and relevancy based on concepts such as product attribute or type, geography, sophistication level, buying intent, etc.
• Use Split Testing – No matter how much time and effort you invest, some ads will always outperform others. Make sure to run two versions of your ad to see which one performs better.
• Always Deliver on Your Word – A good Quality Score is great, but you want to optimize your reader’s experience. Unless you back your content up with a great service, it is unlikely users will revisit your page. Eventually, your rankings will also go down.

Also you can check out this post on “What Does Google Consider Low Quality Content?“