Google Adwords New Quality Score Reporting

September 18th, 2008 · No Comments

Google recently rolled out a fairly major change to the way that Quality Scores are reported for keywords in our Adwords accounts. For the most part, when Google changes things within their applications, I usually find them to be for the better. Though I can’t always claim the same for changes they make to their various search engine algorithms.

As with most changes, it’s taken me a little while to adjust to the QS reporting changes, but so far, I’m liking what I see.

The change to the QS reporting is complex enough that I’d just confuse you (and myself mostly) if I attempted to explain it in detail here. Far better for you to log into your Adwords account and read the help info under the “New Features” tab. The real gist of the change is that we are now presented with a much more realistic indication of where our individual keywords truly rank in Google’s eyes within the context of our Adwords campaigns.

I recall a while back, having a professional PPC consultant review one of my Adwords campaigns. She took a quick look at my account and then did a search on Google for the keywords I was targeting. She commented that my Quality Scores were rather poor. I protested that all of my keywords were showing as “Great” with very low minimum bids.

This was an eye-opener for me as to the depth of my naivete regarding Adwords Quality Scores.

That day I woke up to the fact that Google really had 2 types of Quality Scores — the one they computed and displayed beside each of your keywords and the actual Quality Score that ultimately determined where your ads were displayed based on your true Quality Score and your minimum bids.

Google claims these changes to the way the Quality Score is now reported is a direct result of feedback from advertisers and I don’t think this claim is too far off the mark. Though not completely accurate with regards to just how much you really are required to bid in order to get your ads shown on the first page, we at least have more transparency with regard to where our keywords and our campaigns stand as Google sees them.

What I’m really anxious to see is how future Google Slaps play out under this new reporting system.