Keyword Quality Score has a major impact on both the success and the costs of your pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaigns. High keyword Quality Scores mean you end up paying less for more ad exposure and higher conversion rates. Learn more about keyword quality score with WordStream.

1. Keyword Quality Score – How to Increase
the Quality Score of Your Keywords
Keyword Quality Score has a major impact on both the success and the costs of your pay-per-
click (PPC) marketing campaigns. High keyword Quality Scores mean you end up paying less
for more ad exposure and higher conversion rates.
The following two best practices will raise your Quality Score at every level, from your entire
AdWords campaign down to a single keyword:
Practice ongoing keyword grouping: Effective organization of your keyword database
is crucial for successful PPC and will greatly increase your chances of achieving high
keyword Quality Scores.
Write compelling, relevant ad text: Better ads mean better click-through rates, which
raise your keyword QS and save you money.
Let's take a closer look at how you can use WordStream's keyword management tools to start
improving your Quality Scores today.
What Does Keyword Quality Score Mean to You?
Keyword Quality Score is a dynamic figure, meaning AdWords calculates a Quality Score on the
fly for each of your keywords whenever they match a user's search query. Your keyword's
Quality Score may vary based on location, search query and search network. In other words, if
your keyword performs better on certain searches than others, in certain areas than others, or on
certain search network sites than others, its Quality Score will be higher under those
circumstances. That's a lot to keep track of! But one thing is always the same: The higher your
keyword Quality Score, the better your ad positioning, and the lower your costs.
Basically, Google uses Quality Score to ensure that users only see the sponsored links that are
most relevant to their queries. This system is good for you too, because more relevant ads get
more clicks and bring you more business.
Aside from variable factors like location, your keyword's Quality Score is determined by:
The click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and its matched ad.
Relevance of the keyword to its Ad Group.
Landing page quality.
Relevance of your ad text.
Historical account performance.
These factors are closely related and reinforce each other. For example:
Tight keyword groupings make it easier to write relevant (and compelling) ad text.

2. Compelling and relevant ad text translates to higher click-through rates.
Creating small, focused keyword groups at the outset and then building self-reinforcing
campaigns gives you strong historical account performance and compounding pricing and
positioning benefits. But how exactly are you supposed to organize the thousands of keywords
(or more) that you need to manage for successful search engine marketing? You can't possibly
look at every single keyword individually, hand-sort it into an appropriate group and then write
the perfect ad for it. There's not enough time in the day.
So how do you raise your keyword Quality Score so you can start increasing your visibility at
lower costs?
How WordStream Can Help You Increase Keyword Quality
Score
The WordStream keyword management system helps you create and maintain high Quality
Score keywords and Ad Groups with two key functionalities:
Keyword grouping tools that guide you in creating tight, relevant keyword groups, which
you can easily convert into high-performing Ad Groups.
Ad text creation tools that make it fast and easy to write relevant, compelling ads that get
more clicks.
Creating strong keyword groups is the single most important step you can take toward improving
your Quality Scores and overall PPC performance. WordStream's sophisticated AdWords
keyword grouping tools make it easy to segment your proprietary keyword database into
manageable, closely knit groups on an iterative basis. These groups pass value down to each
individual keyword, increasing the chances that your ad will show (at a low cost) for a relevant
search.
Let's say you're the owner of an online pet supplies store. You know the keyword group for
"dog" is too large and too broad, but how do you begin to segment it down into narrower, more
manageable groups? If you manage your keyword database with a spreadsheet application, going
through all your keywords and trying to sort them into logical groups can be monstrously time-
consuming and tedious. But in WordStream, you simply segment the keyword group you want to
subdivide with the click of a button:

3. This opens the Keyword Group Segmenter, which sorts through your many keyword phrases and
provides intelligent grouping suggestions in a fraction of a second:
Now you can begin segmenting the “dog” keyword group. Highlight a suggested term to preview
the new, smaller keyword group. Start with those suggestions at the top of the list – these are the
keywords with the highest frequency and most visits, so they should be your first priority. This is
one of the ways that WordStream helps you determine where to spend your time to get the most
return on your search marketing efforts. Learning to trust WordStream's suggestions will greatly
improve your search marketing workflow.
To create a keyword group, select the term in the Keyword Group Segmenter and click "Create
Keyword Group". You'll then see the group in WordStream Explorer on the left, under “dog.”

4. Now, rinse and repeat! Further segmenting your parent-level keyword groups into tighter
subgroups will result in increased relevance and higher Quality Score for each keyword.
WordStream Makes Writing Highly Relevant Ad Text Easy
Another way that WordStream increases keyword Quality Score is by helping you write more
relevant ad text, thereby increasing the click-through rate of your keywords and their
corresponding ads.
Because WordStream is integrated with AdWords, it's incredibly easy to convert the keyword
groups you've created into AdWords Ad Groups: Just right-click the keyword group and select
“Create Google AdWords Group for Selected Group” from the pop-up menu. Then select the
AdWords campaign you want the Ad Group to belong to. As soon as you've set the Ad Group's
properties, you're ready to start crafting high-CTR text ads.
After creating an Ad Group, click the Text Ads tab and then "Add New Text Ad". WordStream
will automatically suggest text for your ad's headline, description lines, display URL and
destination URL, based on the Ad Group's keywords and properties – a big timesaver.

5. You can (and should) adjust the ad text to your liking; the preview box on the right shows what
your ad will look like when it appears in Google SERPs. Here are some factors to keep in mind
when writing ads to ensure high click-through rate and Quality Score. Your ad text should be:
Relevant to your product.
Relevant to the keyword (and therefore the searcher's intent).
Relevant to your landing page.
Be sure to include the keyword and variations of it in the headline and description lines, and the
display URL if possible. The ad should draw the user in and tell them what they'll gain by
clicking. The destination URL should take the searcher to a landing page that corresponds to
their search query and intent (not something too broad or too narrow).
Remember, your ads will be useless if they don't actually help people find what they're looking
for! Plus, when more people click on your ads, your AdWords Quality Score goes up and your
keywords, Ad Groups and account all gain value – leading to more and more low-cost
impressions as your campaign goes on. That's more opportunities for conversions, all for lower
costs per ad!
Try WordStream and Start Improving Your Keyword
Quality Score Today
Don't waste another day paying more than you have to for less than desirable ad positioning.
Increase the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns, and save time and money while raising your
keyword Quality Score.
Try WordStream's keyword Quality Score tools free
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