Session on understanding quality score, and optimizing for profit instead of a specific score. Includes lessons learned around account structure, landing pages, and ad copy
2. | 2@navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com
Agenda
• Why Do We Panic?
• Using Quality Score as a Health
Indicator
• What Does Chasing Quality Look
Like?
• Case Studies
• Worked in digital marketing since
2008
• Work with agencies and advertisers
across WordStream’s international
customer base.
• I’m a proud pet mom and just
adopted dog named HK
About Me:
#PPCPuppy
6. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 6
We are capable of great focus, but only if we care
7. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 7
How many of you
read the Acquisio
study that told us to
strive for 7 quality
scores?
12. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 12
It Won’t Surprise Anyone To See This Chart of Average CTR by QS
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CTR
CTR
63000 US
accounts
in Q2
2018
13. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 13
Or this one on Average CPC
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
$4.00
$4.50
$5.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Average CPC
Average CPC
14. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 14
But What Happens When We Remove Branded Campaigns and Ad Groups
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CTR Average CTR without branded
63000 US
accounts
in Q2
2018
15. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 15
A similar impact is felt in CPC
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
$4.00
$4.50
$5.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Average CPC Average CPC without branded
16. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 16
• Quality score of 6 beat 7 with
cheaper clicks and higher CTR
• Quality score of 9 beat 10 with
higher CTR (flat CPC)
• Quality Score of 1 had
cheaper CPC than QS 2-7
Filtering out Branded:
17. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 17
Impression Share With & Without Branded
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Average Impression Share & Average Conversions By QS
Q2 2018
Impression Share with branded Impression Share without branded
63000 US
accounts
in Q2
2018
18. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 18
Conversions With & Without Branded
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Average Conversions By QS Q2 2018
Conversions Without Branded Conversions With Branded
63000 US
accounts
in Q2
2018
19. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 19
• Quality score of 2 beat 3 and 5
on impression share
• The gap in conversions
between 8-10 vanishes when
you remove branded
• Quality Score of 6 beat out 7
on conversions
Filtering out Branded:
20. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 20
• Higher click through rate (CTR)
and auction prices tend to be
lower.
• Perfect keyword to ad, to landing
page relevancy.
• Home pages tend to get the lion
share of development and design
(experience)
Why do Branded campaigns
have such a strong impact on
quality score?
21. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 21
Certain strategic objectives are predisposed to lower quality
scores.
22. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 22
Just because you have a good quality score, doesn’t mean your
leads are converting.
23. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 23
Same Quality Score – Drastically Different Results
24. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 24
Quality Score is a health indicator, not a KPI!
26. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 26
Let’s break down Quality score into its base elements
27. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 27
If we “solved” for those elements we
would have a healthy account.
28. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 28
CTR Suffers If We Don’t Rank In The Top 4
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
16.00%
18.00%
20.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Average CTR and Position by Quality Score (Account
Level)
General CTR General Average Position
29. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 29
Historical CTR Can Suffer if There Isn’t Enough Volume – Some
Industries Will Always Struggle Here
31. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 31
Expanded Text Ads Mean Your Copy Is Due For A Revisit!
Description text would
have made great
headlines!
32. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 32
It’s Hard To Build Relevancy If Campaign Structure is Flawed
33. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 33
Sort By Impressions to See Where Ad Networks are Trying to Put
Your Money
60% of
impression
s
Budget will
only go to
“winners”
instead of
everything
34. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 34
Serving For Auctions Your Ads Can’t Win On Will Hurt Relevancy. Audit
Broad Keywords!
35. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 35
Broad Keywords Can Drag Your Budget into Unintended
Auctions
162%
More
Than
Average
36. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 36
Am I Forcing A Relationship That Won’t Work, Or Am I Not
Honoring The Keyword/Ad Group/Campaign’s Needs?
37. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 37
If landing pages don’t deliver on your ad’s promise, you lose
relevancy.
38. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 38
Don’t put prospects/customers to sleep waiting for your site to
load!
39. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 39
Users shouldn’t have to hunt
through a text-wall to contact you.
40. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 40
We live in a mobile first world – don’t build bad mobile
experiences
Wall of Text
Unclickable
Number
Tiny Menu
42. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 42
• Too many targets
• Too wide a range in
auction price
• Too many objectives
Budgets Underperform
When:
43. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 43
Most Advertisers Struggle to Achieve 50%+ of
Available Impressions
Based on
2973
accounts
with at least
$.01 in
search
spend
Average
impression
share is 47%
44. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 44
3% cheaper
& perfect
conversion
rate!
What Auctions Will Give You a Positive ROAS
45. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 45
Are There Parts of Your
Business That Shouldn’t Get
Access To Budget
46. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 46
Any Redundancies to Clean Up?
Catching all “logo design”
keywords on mod broad
47. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 47
CTR and Conversion Rates Tell You If Your Message is Landing
48. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 48
All of This is Meaningless if Your Audiences Aren’t Aligned With
Your Value Proposition
53. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 53
• 79 in-home engagements:
$2,521 average customer
value = $199,159 gross
revenue
• 13 Board and Train: $4,037
average = $52,487.5 gross
revenue ($251,646.5 total)
In February they “crushed” it
54. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 54
That means we achieved 38X return on
ad spend!
55. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 55
They obviously wanted to fuel the beast and go for more leads!
57. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 57
• 73 in-home engagements:
$2,521 average customer
value = $184,033 gross
revenue
• 37 Board and Train: $4,037
average = $149,369 gross
revenue ($333,402 total)
May’s numbers looked off until
we looked at the metrics that
mattered
58. | @DigitalOlympus @navahf @wordstream e: nhopkins@wordstream.com 58
We outperformed Feb by 130%...but not all the metrics showed
that
Feb 2018
• CPA: $25.13
• Search Conversion Rate: 11.62%
• Search CTR: 4.68%
• Average QS: 6.96
May 2018
• CPA: $45.02
• Search Conversion Rate: 5.78%
• Search CTR: 5.51%
• Average QS: 6.89