Comments on: Better Quality Score = Better Results?

By: Michael Wiegand

Michael Wiegand — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:03:30 +0000

That’s a fantastic point, Jayson. Many, many B2B clients use ad text to pre-qualify leads, which has a direct negative impact on QS, even though it’s positive for their business.

Absolutely need to understand the client’s goal first before you go QS crazy. It’s paramount.

By: Michael Wiegand

Michael Wiegand — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:01:15 +0000

CRO changes absolutely have an affect on QS, whether directly or indirectly.

Some examples:

Direct – Landing page quality affects QS.
Indirect – Ad copy affects CTR which affects QS.

Just food for thought. Thanks for the comment, Dan!

By: Dan Butcher

Dan Butcher — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:22:29 +0000

How can you say that QS has an impact on CR? I get the CPA piece – as QS has an effect on your cost. But how does going from 9 to 10 change the conversion rate? Can’t see why this is possible – conversion rate changes are more likely to be due to ad copy / landing page changes rather than QS. Would like a bit more clarity on this :-)

By: Jayson

Jayson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:36:57 +0000

Quality score is just another indicator. There are times when lower quality scores need to be tolerated to get the result for a client. Good example is “removalists” $8-$10 cpc. My client is not the cheapest, actually &10 ph more than competitors. I use price in ad to prequalify, which does effect CTR and quality score. It works even though quality scores are 5-6 we are able to get high conversion rate and more importantly high conversion from lead to sale. Understanding your leverage points is the key and one size doesn’t fit all

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:59:20 +0000

I’m glad I found your post, I was only just today going through my own account data looking at the affect QS has on CR.

In my small sample with brand keywords removed, I found higher QS led to higher CR and lower CPA. This has led me to pause many keywords below QS7 as the CPAs were too far off of the target.

I’ve found this a good method when starting a campaign to get a good footing, once the campaign is profitable I can then open it up to QS6 keywords and so on.

By: David O'Donnell

David O'Donnell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:31:26 +0000

Thanks, and agreed. My follow question would have been, damn, what were your methods to achieve those quality score increases !

By: Michael Wiegand

Michael Wiegand — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:02:54 +0000

That was my point in regard to CPA. I was talking more in the context of conversion volume that QS isn't as important. If your client is willing to pay a premium for more leads, QS4 or QS9 will be of little consequence to them.

By: Jeroen Maljers

Jeroen Maljers — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:39:58 +0000

Good study Michael, thanks for sharing this.

You say ” but looking at only CPC doesn’t matter much to our clients at the end of the day”.

But if the conversion rate is not really effected, than the CPC must be the only other variable resulting in a lower CPA. Since CPA = CPC / CR% .

So this study even proves that a lower CPC focus (ceteris paribus) is not really a bad thing in QS optimizing strategies, isn’t it?

By: Michael Wiegand

Michael Wiegand — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:55:56 +0000

Again though, the Non-Brand balance was about 95%. These are small businesses with virtually no Brand awareness.

Totally feel you on correlation vs. causation. That’s the rub with any PPC study, as there are so many moving parts.

By: Michael Wiegand

Michael Wiegand — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:53:57 +0000

We looked at a bunch of keywords at each of these scores on aggregate. Charting their progression over time would be an even more fascinating study, but I’m not sure I’ve seen anybody do that yet.