AdWords Quality Score - What's in a Name?

[abbottsys]

A lot!

I've always felt a bit uneasy about the word "quality" in AdWords Quality Score, because the main component of QS is (Bid*CTR), and this is Google's financial yield from an ad.

Put another way, I could take one of my best performing ads, one which both I and Google agree has superb quality, and suddenly change the bid to $0.01. The ad quality would not change, but Google's QS would nose dive.

So, what is QS really measuring? It's measuring Google's financial yield from the ad. QS measures money.

I'm not complaining, I would do exactly the same thing in Google's position, but calling it "quality" score is a bit of a stretch.

[Gooner151078]

Hi Abbottsys,

Isn't the equation to generate a rank bid*QS?

I don't think the QS measures money. It simply provides an indication of the amount necessary to pay, given the other factors that exist (landing page quality, creative targeting etc.)

I think the real issue is that you can purchase quality. As you say, one of the main components of QS is CTR. Setting a higher max cpc will inevitably generate a higher CTR and thus a higher QS, assuming everything else is equal.

[Baylow]

Ya Abbot

it's Rank = Bid X CTR (X) QS

Quality Score is a mesh of lots of factors including the ever vague "relevancy", but has nothing to do with how much you bid. You can bid .01 but still have a Great QS, however your bid will probably be too low to show.

[AdWordsRep]

I've always felt a bit uneasy about the word "quality" in AdWords Quality Score, because the main component of QS is (Bid*CTR), and this is Google's financial yield from an ad.

Put another way, I could take one of my best performing ads, one which both I and Google agree has superb quality, and suddenly change the bid to $0.01. The ad quality would not change, but Google's QS would nose dive.

So, what is QS really measuring? It's measuring Google's financial yield from the ad. QS measures money. [...]

As has been said by others, this is not correct.

Quality Score impacts Miniumum CPC - but Maximum CPC (bid) does not impact Quality Score.

I don't think the QS measures money. It simply provides an indication of the amount necessary to pay, given the other factors that exist (landing page quality, creative targeting etc.) [...]

This is correct.

Quality Score is a mesh of lots of factors including the ever vague "relevancy", but has nothing to do with how much you bid. You can bid .01 but still have a Great QS, however your bid will probably be too low to show.

Correct.

[...] I think the real issue is that you can purchase quality. As you say, one of the main components of QS is CTR. Setting a higher max cpc will inevitably generate a higher CTR and thus a higher QS, assuming everything else is equal.

I am not sure I completely agree with a high Max CPC inevitably resulting in a higher CTR. It may tend to do so, given that a higher Max CPC tends to move one's ad up towards the top of the page. Still, many advertisers find they have improved results (perhaps more in terms of conversions than CTR, though?) farther down the page, and bid accordingly.

Also, along the lines of 'buying quality' many folks are under the impression that if their keywords are given a very high Minimum CPC bid that Google anticipates that they will actually raise their bid to that level (so we will 'Make more money'). In fact, we do not expect advertisers to pay very high Min bids - and would much prefer that they will take the high Min CPC as a financial incentive to improve the quality of their keywords/ads/landing pages - thus earning a lower Min CPC.

AWR

[abbottsys]

I apologize for the confusion!!! I was really discussing ad ranking (Bid*QS), which in practice can often be approximated by financial yield (Bid*CTR).