Quality Score Myths Debunked – AdTech NY
At the recent AdTech conference held at the New York Hilton, Google representative Frederick Vallaeys discussed the ins and outs of AdWords Quality Score, and how far reaching its implications are.
Included in the presentation were 7 common myths that are associated with Quality Score.
Myth # 1: If there are no ads running for a particular search, it must be a cheap keyword.
Fact: The number of ads (or lack of) for a particular search does not indicate lack of bidders for that term.
Ever since Google instituted the Quality Score, they have been on a witch hunt to eliminate any “irrelevant” ads for searches. The reason given was that users will only continue using Google if they will have a “quality experience.” Therefore, any ads appearing for a particular search must be deemed useful for the user in order to appear. Hence, the Quality Score was born.
If Google feels that a user will not require the ads to find the information he/she was looking for, they will judge that keyword to have low Quality Score for any advertiser seeking to bid on it.
See the following example:
Only one advertiser for this term, and guess what, it’s Google!
But for a similar search, you will find many bidders:
Simply put, Google decides that for the first search, users are probably not looking for any sponsored listings, whereas for the second search the ads can and are useful for them. Therefore, the first search term will have a poor Quality Score, and the second search term (assuming that they actually sell Sarah Palin gear) will have a high Quality Score.