One of my keywords has a low Quality Score, but I don't see why

[budbiss]

The Quality Score of this keyword is a 4. The keyword is the name of a product we sell, it is actually three separate words and it is designated as phrase match.

This keyword's ad has the identical keywords in the ad title, and the landing page is the item detail page of this product on our website. I would say that the keyword density on the landing page is good and the keywords are also in the page title.

And, for what it's worth, when you type this keyword into google and search, we come up as the 5th organic result on the first page.

Also, Adwords said that I have to bid $4.25 to get on the first page. I was at $3.00, but I reluctantly increased my bid to $4.25 to see if that would increase my Quality Score, but thus far that hasn't happened.

Any ideas?

[netmeg]

I'd try writing a couple more ads and test them out. Just having the keywords in the ad often isn't enough; the focus of the ad should be the focus of the page. If you're selling on price, then both the ad and the landing page should be talking about how great your price is; if you're the only source for this product, then both need to refer to THAT. Whatever your selling point(s) - ad / keyword / landing page should all be in sync.

Also, you might want to consider isolating that one keyword (if you have other keywords in the same ad group) into its own ad group, so you can write an ad specifically for that keyword and nothing else. An ad that works great for one keyword can be slightly off for another.

[budbiss]

Hi Netmeg, thank you for responding.

I'd try writing a couple more ads and test them out.

I tried this and unfortunately it didn't help my quality score.

Just having the keywords in the ad often isn't enough; the focus of the ad should be the focus of the page.

I feel that the focus of the ad does genuinely reflect the focus of the landing page.

Also, you might want to consider isolating that one keyword (if you have other keywords in the same ad group) into its own ad group, so you can write an ad specifically for that keyword and nothing else.

Good tip :) Actually, before I started this thread, I already did this as a last attempt to rectify the problem. It's been a few days now and the quality score remains at 3.

What do you think...at this point does it sound like I should contact Google about this? Any other suggestions?

By the way, I also wanted to mention that I used a keyword density tool on the landing page and it did report that the keyword I am targeting is the most used keyword on the page.

[dawnstar]

budbiss, what’s the Quality score recommendations say? Are they all "No problems found".

The reason I ask is that if it's a "Landing Page is not relevant"; I've heard of no one yet who has been able to improve that. (I stand to be corrected if they have).

[budbiss]

Dawnstar, Adwords says "This keyword isn't highly relevant." I really don't understand why. As I mentioned, this keyword is the name of a product and the words are not words that are very common. The first word is the manufacture's name which is a word that doesn't exist in the dictionary, it's sort of an acronym. The second word is a compound word (two words put together) and is pretty much exclusive to this brand (although I have seen the two words used together, but not connected as a compound word as a product name for a product in another industry...however, I believe these words are more commonly used in my industry). Anyway, lastly, the third word in this keyword phrase is simply a number.

[netmeg]

At this point, I'd find a third party to take a look, be it Google or a consultant.

[Oliver Henniges]

Plz, excuse my silly Questions:

1) How do you get some quick information about the Quality score? Currently I am using the adwords editor and the ordinary webinterface, but not google-analytics. At the broead overview the webinterface says only "ok" or "high", but you have to click on that javascript-question-mark in order to get detailed info. Is this only a question of setting up my account? (I am also currently trying to understand the api-interface. Seems I can get better access that way).

2) As most people do, I obviously made some classical beginner mistakes with my first campaigns and adgroups insofar as I put too much into one group, instead of starting with a user-friendly target-URL. If I now rearrange some of my groups: Is there any way to preserve the CTR-values I have already acchieved, or will I start from nill again?

[netmeg]

1. No, that's the only way to get the detailed QS. Wish they'd fix that. Who *doesn't* want that information without having to click on it? I'll add it to the wish list.

2. Your existing groups will keep their histories, but the new ones won't have any history. I actually don't worry too much about history and move things around where it makes sense, but if you are nervous about it, just pause the ones you want to move in the old group, and create a new group with them. If it doesn't work out, you can always delete the new group and set the paused keywords in the old group to active.