As you all know, in order to build account history, many people suggest that when we start a new Adwords campaign, we bid high so that we will get higher CTRs, which will result in high Quality Score (since one of the determining factors of QS is CTRs).
But here's what happened:
On Tuesday I started a new campaign, and because I made high bids on all my keywords, I got a "Great" Quality Score in all of my ad groups. Then starting Thursday, my Quality Score got lower and became "OK", and I think that's because I got more and more impressions but not so many clicks as Tuesday and Wednesday (not sure why; may be because buying behaviours are best on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.)
Now here's the strange thing: yesterday I lowered my bids, which resulted in lower ad position, and logically resulted in less clicks, which in turn causes lower CTRs. But how come today my Quality Score is "Great" in all ad groups? Since the CTRs have become lower, shouldn't my Quality Score become lower too? (i.e: going from "OK" to "Poor")
...yesterday I lowered my bids, which resulted in lower ad position, and logically resulted in less clicks, which in turn causes lower CTRs. But how come today my Quality Score is "Great" in all ad groups? Since the CTRs have become lower, shouldn't my Quality Score become lower too?
CTRs are equalized to eliminate the bias of position - judging how you and your competition perform in the same position... so, one CTR might be extraordinary for a certain keyword on a particular match type in a certain position while being entirely insufficient for another scenario.
In your current scenario, Google regards you as 'Great', but - in the higher position (an entirely different scenario), Google simply regarded you differently...
As you all know, in order to build account history, many people suggest that when we start a new Adwords campaign, we bid high so that we will get higher CTRs, which will result in high Quality Score (since one of the determining factors of QS is CTRs).
Instead of starting by bidding high, you could start off in the middle of the pack...if your ad is good (i.e., it gets more clicks in its position than your competitors in the same position), then the quality score will improve and you'll be able to either decrease your bid or increase your position. It's a less expensive way to reach a steady state than to start at the top.
That's one of the myths I see most frequently. As poster_boy said, the quality score takes into account your CTR and your position. So a CTR of 5% in position #8 will get you a very good quality score, but the same CTR in position #1 will probably lower your quality score.
Thanks a lot! I didn't know this.....do you know any source from which I can learn more about this? Google's own help page doesn't seem to help: [adwords.google.com...]
It only says that the determining factors for the QS (for determining minimum bids) are:
* The keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google; CTR on the Google Network is not considered
* The relevance of the keyword to its ad group
* The quality of your landing page
* Other relevance factors
Instead of starting by bidding high, you could start off in the middle of the pack...if your ad is good (i.e., it gets more clicks in its position than your competitors in the same position), then the quality score will improve and you'll be able to either decrease your bid or increase your position. It's a less expensive way to reach a steady state than to start at the top.
So what position do you suggest me to start with? 3 to 5 may be?
As for position, there are lots of factors involved and it varies from ad to ad, keyword to keyword, advertiser to advertiser, etc. Sometimes I find that positions #3-5 work best for me, and sometimes position #1-2 is better. It's just a matter of testing and working with the numbers.
Thanks a bunch Rehan!
