Google’s current fixed per-keyword Quality Score system is being modified. After an initial evaluation period with select advertisers Google is introducing some new and dynamic improvements are underway, according to a recent announcement on the AdWords blog.
This update to its current method for ad quality scoring, a critical measurement that influences whether advertisements are placed next to search results so that judgments of ad quality are made immediately, based on follow-ups to the most recent changes that Adwords has introduced such as the guidelines on slow loading Ad Landing Pages.
“This change will evaluate an ad’s quality in concurrently, each time it matches a search query.”
According to the AdWords team, the Quality Score is more accurate since it will be computed during every single query. Keywords will no longer be marked as “inactive for search.” Also, there is a “first page bid” to replace the “minimum bid.” The AdWords team explains:
“First page bids are an estimate of the bid it would take for your ad to reach the first page of search results on Google web search. They are based on the exact match version of the keyword, the ad’s Quality Score, and current advertiser competition on that keyword.”
Google currently uses an auction method to establish which advertisers’ ads are placed next to search results, but the winners of the auction are decided by more than how much an advertiser is willing to pay. To give users better ads, Google Adwords would now evaluate and determine an ad’s quality each time that ad matches a search query.
Google also in effect increases minimum bid requirements for ads that do not meet its quality criteria, such as good click-through rates or, in a newer addition, the speed at which an advertisers’ Web page loads. This would provide Adwords more accurate, specific and up-to-date performance information to determine whether an ad should be displayed or not when a search matches its targeted search keywords. For advertisers, this would give them more high qualified ad leads.
“We are modifying our static per-keyword Quality Scores with a new system that will evaluate an ad’s quality each time it matches a search query. This way, AdWords will use the most accurate, specific, and up-to-date performance information when determining whether an ad should be displayed,” Google said. Previously, Google used a static measurement of quality in assessing whether to display an advertiser’s ad for a particular keyword.
Google gave an example of how the improvements all work together:
Nancy’s Dairy advertises on the keyword “milk.” Nancy’s ads perform better on the keyword “milk” in the U.S. than in Canada. Her ads also perform better on the query “milk delivery” than on “milk,” and better on certain search network sites than on others. Instead of one static Quality Score and minimum bid that determines whether the keyword “milk” is eligible to trigger an ad for all search queries, we will now determine eligibility dynamically, based on factors such as location, the specific query, and other relevance factors. For that reason, Nancy’s keyword “milk” will be able to trigger an ad for search queries where it is likely to perform better, i.e., in the U.S., on “milk delivery” and on certain search network sites.
These changes will be rolled out to a few users in the coming days before they are made available to everyone. Also, Google is hoping to update AdWords Editor and the AdWords API to support first page bidding, but for now, it still just supports minimum bidding.