What are the Three Main Factors that Determine Ad Quality?

There are several things you may be referring to when you talk about the quality of your ad. You might mean how effective it is at meeting your goals. One of the most common meanings, however, is the Quality Score. Thinking of quality in terms of the Quality Score, what are the three main factors that determine ad quality?

A Quick Refresher on Quality Score

Before getting into the answer to what are the three main factors that determine ad quality, let’s make sure you understand what Quality Score is.

Your Quality Score is a number between 1and 10. You have a Quality Score for each keyword, and it estimates the quality of not only your ads but also your landing pages. When you have a higher score, this means that Google’s algorithms feel your landing page and ad are useful and relevant. The Quality Score also influences how much you need to bid in the auction.

Your Quality Score is based on data regarding your past performance. If there is not enough data, then you will have a Null Quality Score, which appears as “—.”

Keep in mind that if you have the same keyword in various ad groups or campaigns, they may have different quality scores.  You can check your quality score performance report here.

What Are the Three Main Factors that Determine Ad Quality?

With a clearer understanding of Quality Score, what are the three main factors that determine ad quality? Google is completely transparent about these factors, making it easier for you to improve your Quality Score.

They are:

• Relevance of ad
• Expected CTR (Clickthrough rate)
• Visitor experience on the landing page

Google cautions that you can have a high Quality Score with a low score in any category, thanks to the other factors that also go into your Quality Score.

We’ll take a closer look at each of those factors.

Relevance of Advertisement

As the name implies, the ad relevance is a measurement of how well your keyword and advertisement relate to each other.

Potential Ad Relevance Statuses

Google can assign you one of three statuses for ad relevance.

• Below Average: Your ad group might include too many different topics, or your keyword or ad might need to be more specific. Improve the status by creating ad groups with tight themes.
• Average: Your keyword has no major issues for ad relevance compared to other Google Ads’ keywords.
• Above Average: There are no major ad relevance issues with your keyword.

Expected CTR

The expected clickthrough rate (CTR) is a keyword status that predicts the likelihood that your ads will be clicked for a given keyword. This rate does not account for extensions, the ad’s position, or ad formats that may affect its visibility. Essentially, this status is a predictor of whether your keyword will likely cause people to click on your ad.

Potential Expected CTR Statuses

Google will assign you one of three potential statuses for the expected CTR.

• Below Average: You should adjust the ad text to better relate to the top keywords.
• Average: Your keyword has no major problems related to the expected clickthrough rate.
• Above Average: There are no major problems.

You can learn about effective keyword research techniques to have such keywords which can give you better quality score. PPCexpo Keyword Planner can help you in finding good and relevant keywords for your niche.

How Google Determines It

Your expected clickthrough rate is based on the past performance of the keyword and your ad’s position. Google’s algorithms assume that the person will use your exact keyword for the search term when calculating the CTR.

You will notice that the expected CTR becomes more accurate when Google accounts for the type of device, search term, and other factors.

Visitor Experience on the Landing Page

The landing page experience helps to measure the usefulness and relevance of your landing page to someone who clicks on your ad. The status for the landing page experience indicates if people are likely to have a good experience when they click the ad and go to the landing page.

A higher-rated landing page tends to feature text relating to search terms and is better organized.

Potential Landing Page Experience Statuses

The potential statuses for your landing page experience are as follows:

• Below Average: You should probably work to improve your landing page.
• Average: There are no significant issues with your landing page experience.
• Above Average: There are no major issues with the landing page relevance and experience. It is likely well-organized and highly relevant.

What Other Factors Matter and Don’t Matter for Your Quality Score?

While the above covers what the three main factors that determine ad quality are, there are also some other factors to consider. As with the above main factors, Google directly lists these factors, so you know how to improve your Quality Score.

What Else Matters for It?

• User’s Device: Because of this, you should ensure you have a mobile-optimized website. You may also want to consider pages and ads specifically designed to be mobile-friendly. You don’t need a separate mobile website; just make sure mobile users can easily navigate it.
• Relevance to the Intentions of the User: Expect a better Quality Score if your ad and website help visitors complete tasks (including sales), easily navigate, or gather relevant information.
• Related Keyword Performance (for New Keywords): In the case of newly-launched keywords, Google will look at your past performance for related keywords. This will only be the case until there is enough data on the new keywords.

What Doesn’t Matter for It?

• Your Account Structure: You can structure your account, including ad groups and campaigns, any way you want without it affecting your Quality Score.
• Running Ads in Other Networks: You can use ads across Google’s various networks or search partners without any problems.
• Ad Placement on a Page: Having a higher position on a page will not affect the Quality Score or the expected CTR. Google normalizes the rate based on your position, as well as other visibility-related factors.

FAQs:

What are the Three Main Factors that Determine Ad Quality?

Answer: The three Main Factors are following: Expected clickthrough rate, landing page experience, and ad relevance.

Wrap Up

You need to regularly monitor your campaign performance reports. If you want to know what the three main factors that determine ad quality are, the answer is expected clickthrough rate, landing page experience, and ad relevance. Put your knowledge of these factors to good use. Work to improve your status for each of them, and you will likely find yourself saving money on future ad campaigns while getting even better results. Combined with other advice for Google Ads, you will be on your way to a successful ad campaign.