Reason (according to the diagnostic tool):
"Ad not shown ¦ Reason: The clickthrough rate (CTR) for this keyword does not meet the minimum performance requirement. "
I thought, with the new policy, as long the min cpc is met, ads will show?
"Ad not shown ¦ Reason: The clickthrough rate (CTR) for this keyword does not meet the minimum performance requirement."
eyeinthesky, you may still see this message for broad and phrase matched keywords.
Broad and phrase keyword matching options allow your ads to appear for queries that don't exactly match your keywords. However, these broad- and phrase- matched keyword variations must maintain a high Quality Score. If these variations don’t achieve a high enough Quality Score, you may receive the above message from the Ads Diagnostic Tool.
AWA2
the problem for me is, how will these keywords ever achieve a good enough quality score if they are not shown and CTR is therefore never increased.
Say I have a new account and a low search term "widget widgets", and there are infinite combinations or red "widget widgets", blue "widget widgets",etc.
But phrase match "widget widgets" is NEVER or RARELY searched for by itself, it seems a catch22 situation, unless the quality score is influenced by the entire account then the ad will never show.
thanks
Broad and phrase keyword matching options allow your ads to appear for queries that don't exactly match your keywords.
Why do these discussions sound more and more like dialogue out of Catch-22 as a result of the change to a "quality score" that doesn't have anything to do with "quality" and whose components Google won't tell us but that we're supposed to guess at and implement if we want a higher position/lower ad cost?
"He's out, so you can go in."
"I always didn't say you couldn't punish me, sir."
And the way AWA/AWA2 keep coming back and trying to explain this stuff with a straight face--and then disappearing from the thread when we don't swallow it--reminds me of Arthur Rubinstein's remark: "And of course, as the absurd so often triumphs . . ."
I wonder if Larry and Sergey are aware of the Catch-22/Alice in Wonderland nature of the beast they've created with the latest Adwords incarnation. Probably so, and they get a kick out of it. Why does the suspicion persist that it's a large-scale psychological experiment and we're the rats pushing the levers for morsels of food?
how will these keywords ever achieve a good enough quality score if they are not shown and CTR is therefore never increased.
Derc, the Quality Score of these keywords is based on numerous factors including Google search queries, your ad text, keywords, CTR, and aggregate keyword performance data. Since the Quality Score is not solely based on the CTR of the keyword, it may still improve if the other factors improve.
mark1111, the Quality Score that I referred to in my previous response (and above) is not the same as the Quality Score that is used to determine the minimum bid of a keyword. It is the Quality Score that is used to determine whether broad and phrase matched keyword variations will be displayed.
The Quality Score that is used to determine the minimum bid of a keyword is not affected by the performance of the broad and phrase matched variations of that keyword.
AWA2
Your Quality Score is soley based on your wallet and your ad text IMHO. You could disassemble all of your campaigns and create as many ad groups as you do keywords and write a targetted ad for each keyword. Also remember to name your ad group and campaign with the keywords as I have seen this to have an effect on this stupid *** quality score.
If all else fails, just type out annoying posts like this to remove some of the steam. You cannot learn this system as it's based on making Google money, not the advertiser. ;)
If your new to Adwords at least you don't know how good it used to be. What you don't know doesn't hurt you... right?
P.S. <Note to self> and AdWords buffs, there are now multiple types of Quality Scores. It gets more interesting every day.
Quality Score = Super Secret Stuff only Adwords employees know in which they have AdWords accounts which are competing with your ads.
What does each of them do to our ads, ad ranks, delivery, whatever.
This is getting really confusing for us, advertisers. If we don't know what is affecting our ad performance, how can we improve our ROI?
the Quality Score of these keywords is based on numerous factors including Google search queries
We're seeing a very strong correlation between low search volume and higher minimum CPCs which does seem quite backwards in terms of picking relevant keywords.
The more targeted keywords, with less search, are receiving higher min CPCs in a large amount of areas. This is having an effect with launching new products, or for local based searches (think of a dentist in a town less than 100k, low search volume, but very targeted advertising that is useful for everyone involved).
Can you elaborate at all on how the total volume of search queries is effecting the quality score in general?
Do we need to prune out the low CTR words. How much impact do they have on our other adgroups?
Derc, the Quality Score of these keywords is based on numerous factors including Google search queries, your ad text, keywords, CTR, and aggregate keyword performance data. Since the Quality Score is not solely based on the CTR of the keyword, it may still improve if the other factors improve.
Thankyou very much for replying AWA2. As I understand, for low volume traffic we may have a problem in getting ads shown at all.
To set the scene I recently moved a low search campaign from an existing account (before the change) to a new account (after the change).
All factors I control remain the same, apart from CTR which is now at 0%. After a week I have failed to see a single impression and have had to turn back on the campaign in the old account, which is instantly getting impressions again.
In this instance it seems to me that the keywords are falling under the levels of the factors you named above and it is CTR solely that enables them on the old account. I can not see the factors named above improving over time and I am sure there are others in the same boat. Is Google weeding out its non-ideal customers?
The impressions and clicks maybe tiny, but for small to medium specialised business' the ROI is very much worth it.
Thankyou
(As a side note, the budgets have been raised very high compared to the keywords- so i do not see price relevant in this occasion)
...the Quality Score that I referred to in my previous response (and above) is not the same as the Quality Score that is used to determine the minim...Pththfft! <- That's my head exploding. Lucky I had it wrapped in duct tape to keep the mess down.
I still haven't figured out the double talk about the first incarnation of 'quality score'. Now you expect us to swallow this one? (I should have stopped at 'swallow' since I feel like I'm being F'ed)
I think either all the experience you've been getting by competing with your own customers has not helped you at all, so you should give up that immoral practice, or it has helped and you're using misinformation to give you the upper hand in your adwords account (that's what I would do if I was evil).
Exactly how many 'quality scores' are there? Or is that one of those things we're not supposed to know about but you can know and use in your own account?
Are there other metrics that we are not seeing but you are? Like the REAL numbers of fraudulent clicks? Or the REAL ctr? or some other position measuring system?
How do we improve a 'score' that we know nothing about?
-Dr.X (gone to buy more duct tape)
AdWordsAdvisor2, can you please let us know how many different variations of "quality score" are there?
What does each of them do to our ads, ad ranks, delivery, whatever.This is getting really confusing for us, advertisers.
As usual, these are all good questions. If it's okay with you, I may hold off for now and wait until AWA returns, because you'll be able to get more definitive answers then. ;) Thanks for understanding.
AWA2
Now that AWA is back...
general bump to see what QS info can be put forth. :)
I am a bit pushed for time just now, eWhisper, as I'm heading for a meeting in a just a couple of minutes - but I'll come back tomorrow and see if I can 'put forth' anything new about Quality Score. ;)
I'm running a bit behind on posting on WebmasterWorld, having a (not unexpectedly) long list of things to catch up on, after a week away from my computer!
(BTW, if AWA2 happens to be reading, thanks very much for standing in for me!)
AWA
And then three days later...
Oh my. It is nice to feel so...wanted. ;)
Just to set reasonable expectations, folks, I'd like to mention a couple of things once again, as newer members may not be aware of them.
Please remember that posting on WebmasterWorld is not my full time job at AdWords. At present, just to quantify it, posting on this forum is one of six major tasks for which I am responsible day-to-day. And then there are those pesky minor tasks to contend with...
If I have just returned from a week away from the office, say, or if one of my other responsibilities requires substantial attention for some days, then my time available for WebmasterWorld may shrink to nearly zero.
Last night, for example, I posted for the first time around 11:00 pm, some 16 hours into my day. (I am not shopping for sympathy - I love my job! But I am trying to make a point about time.)
I'm sorry if some feel shortchanged by my response time. I do trust, though, that 3000 posts over the space of 2 years will say something about my commitment to this forum. It certainly means a lot to me.
general bump to see what QS info can be put forth. :)
With all that said, I'll be back within a couple of hours to post again regarding the subject of Quality Score.
AWA
With all that said, I'll be back within a couple of hours to post again regarding the subject of Quality Score.
OK, back again. As I review this thread, it seems that it really goes all over the map. But clearly, the questions revolve around Quality Score.
So I'll do my best to clarify Quality Score - and it'll probably be most clear if I explain using bullet points, so here goes:
The short story:
* Quality Score effects your minimum bid per keyword, within a given account. (In other words, how much must one pay for the ad to appear for a given keyword?). It also effects your ad's position when it does shows.
The longer story - Part 1: Quality Score, Minimum Bid, and Ad Rank
* Quoting from the AdWords Help Center glossary: "...Quality Score is determined by your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors."
* Your Quality Score, as defined above, is a major factor in calculating your minimum bid, as has been widely discussed on this Forum. I think this point is well understood. Minimum bid essentially amounts to one thing: it is simply the least an advertiser may pay in order to have a keyword run.
* Quoting from the glossary again: "An ad's position is based on its Ad Rank, which is determined by your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) times the matched keyword's Quality Score..."
* So we know that Quality Score directly effects one's minimum bid for a keyword within a particular account. And we know that Quality Score is a component of the equation that determines Ad Rank.
* It is worth noting that Minimum bid is not directly related to one's Ad Rank.
The longer story - Part 2: Quality Score and Keyword Variations
* When using broad or phrased matched keywords, many advertisers are unaware that they will not show on all variations. Instead, they will only show for variations that are predicted to be relevant. This has been discussed previously in several threads, and has long been the case. This is not new, and is not related to the recent quality based minimum bid change.
* In an earlier post, AWA2 was trying to make clear that the relevance of variations determines whether they will run or not, and the term quality score was used in a generic sense, which resulted in confusion. However, variations do not have a unique 'Quality Score' of their own. Instead, variations all operate under the Quality Score of the 'root' keyword. And the algo that determines if a variation will run or not is the same one that was used before the recent changes.
Hope that helps - and sorry for the delay in responding. This took a while to write, and time has been short.
AWA
<edit> fixed typos! </edit>
[edited by: AdWordsAdvisor at 11:17 pm (utc) on Sep. 16, 2005]
