Ads, AdGroups and Quality Score

This week, when talking about AdGroups, we talked about how to make our ads better. Well, actually we talked about improving keywords and bids to get more impressions, then about making ads better to get more clicks.

One interesting thing about writing and improving ads is that it actually takes some skills in English! One of the few things aside from my actual website, seeing as it's a blog about creative writing.

Anyway, basically, how good your ad is will determine whether anyone clicks on it, and if they'll stay after they've clicked. If your ad has nothing to do with your site, they won't stick around. My site is about writing advice, so my ad says "writing advice" in the headline. It also mentions creative writing and novels in the body, so that they know what they're looking at. These words refer back to the keywords people will use.

Suggestions for making good ads include:
1. Have a call to action (Buy now! etc.)
2. Put your keywords in your description
3. Have an effective title
4. Have your keywords in your display URL
5. Note how you are different
6. Make it mobile friendly
7. Mention promotions
8. Use Title Caps
9. Use proper Grammar and Spelling (Yes!)

Quality score is linked directly to specific keywords, but the ads have something to do with it, as the relevance of the ad to the landing page factors into quality score. Click Through Rate (CTR) is also a factor, as well as the overall experience. Quality score affects placement of your ad, and how much you pay. You want to try for a Quality Score of 5 or more, and if it's ever less than 3, you might want to pause or delete the keyword.

Avoid falling into the "death spiral." This occurs when your CTR falls, and your ad falls in its placement, resulting in fewer people clicking your ad, and thus your CTR falls even farther. You basically kill your ad if you don't try to improve it. The opposite can also occur, if you have a really good ad.