Setting up your Google Adwords if you haven’t done so before can be a daunting task – however with all the blogs and help out there it is possible. However, if you’re Ads Quality Score (QS) is only 1, 2 or even 3 out of 10 across the majority of your keywords – it’s highly likely that you have some fundamental issues with either your keywords, your ad intent or even your approach to the ads.

A number of signals and factors determine an adverts QS but Google tends to lean towards three categories: Ad relevance, landing page experience and the expected clickthrough rate.

Essentially, you want your keywords in your ad groups to be natural and similarly themed, so that your ad copy will make sense for any of the keywords in that ad group, sending users who click on the ad to the most relevant and useful landing page.

– Keywords –

The first step to increasing your QS is to evaluate your keyword choices. During the keyword choosing process, there is an assumption that these keywords are related to products, services and topics that should already be covered on your site and optimised with SEO.

The keywords you choose should reinforce what your site is about and match a variety of queries. The broader the match type, the more variety of search queries your keywords will match.

When your ad gets an impression for an irrelevant search query, a user isn’t likely to click on it and if they do, they’ll realise that the landing page doesn’t match their search intent. This will harm your CTR, bounce rate and your budget. By narrowing your match type and utilising negative keywords, there will be an improvement in CTR as your ads will be more relevant. The improvement in CTR will help improve your QS score.

If you’re QS scores are 3 or less, that would indicate that the keywords populating your ad groups aren’t relevant to what your site is about. You need to be realistic about what your site ranks for organically, not what your brand aspires to be.

TIP: To get an idea of how your keywords are currently performing, you can take a look at your search terms report.

– Ad Copy Relevance –

When a user searchers for a particular product or service, their intent may vary, however with strong ad copy, there is an increased chance that they will click on your ad. It doesn’t end there though, your ad needs to entice and contain a call to action.

But what makes good ad copy? It needs to:

Alter Perspectives

In the digital age, we have all become experts at blocking out adverts. Your copy needs to resonate with the reader and break down that barrier with a new and unusual approach.

Find Connections

Steve Jobs once said:

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.

Avoid Jargon, Buzzwords, Hyperbole and Sales Waffle

When a copywriter is struggling to effectively convey what is special about the company or product, they revert to horrible, inhuman, spammy buzzwords to try to make their point. Good copy doesn’t need dressing up, good copy should

When writers struggle to convey what is truly special about their company, product, or service, they sometimes fall back on jargon or hyperbole to underscore their point. The truth is, good copywriting doesn’t need dressing up. Good copywriting should speak to the reader in human terms.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t broadcast your achievements, just do it in a human and direct way.

TIP: Include your keywords in your ad copy, but don’t overuse them.

– Landing Pages –

Google reviews landing pages for their expected performance, they refer to this as the ‘landing page experience’. You need to ensure that your landing pages are relevant to your ads and that they match user intent.

One of the worst things I see companies doing is making decisions on behalf of the user. These inevitably lead to poor user experience as nobody likes being told what to do, and on the internet – it’s highly likely that there will be hundreds of other sites offering the same product or service, for a similar price and have a better user experience.

– Summary –

– Through your keywords provide great information about your product/service in your copy, include your unique selling propositions and enforce any deals or promotions.
– On your landing pages provide a clear and easy path for users to achieve their goals on your site.
– Remember that the internet is not Harrods or a boutique high street store. Unless your business is a well-known name, people will shop around and look elsewhere if you try to enforce your desired user experience on them.

Also, remember that users can return to a site. If your user experience is good and your ad was relevant and matched their search intent, the user may return and convert on a second, third, fourth or later visit.

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