Google is the most popular search engine today with more than 3 billion searches a day and it’s already a known fact that being at the top of Google’s search results is worth a lot of money. There are two ways to appear in Google search results: organic and sponsored. I will focus on the aspect of the sponsored results (PPC – Pay Per Click) and how we can improve our position in these results using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques.

Google displays PPC ad’s based on these two main parameters:

1. Quality Score
2. Price

Therefore: Price X QS = ad score.

 

The Quality Score includes three parameters:

1. CTR – Click Through Rate, i.e. the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. For example: if your ad has appeared 10 times and was clicked on once, then your CTR will be 10%.
2. Ad relevancy – whether the ad’s content is related to the searched phrase. For example: if you’re looking for ‘Internet Marketing’, Google will display ads that are considered relevant to the subject.
3. Landing Page – similar to ad relevancy, this parameter relates to the relevancy of the landing page to the search query and the ad. Here are some questions that will help you understand whether the landing page is relevant: was the landing page associated with the ad clicked? Does the landing page fulfill the promise in the ad? Do the people who visited the landing page leave immediately, without converting?

 

Why do we need the quality score?

Why not settle for bids?

Quite simply, Google wants users to get what they were looking for, and the Quality Score is forcing advertisers to make ads and landing pages relevant to users. If users do not get what they want they will stop using the search engine and the result of that will be that advertisers will stop promoting, so quality score is a common interest of the users and Google.

Although it seems obvious, recent projects taught me that the campaign ads are not always matched to the relevant landing page, the keywords do not match the landing page’s content and tags, and the result is a drop in Quality Score and an unsuccessful campaign.

The following tips may help you improve your ads’ Quality Score easily and simply. By raising your Quality Score you will actually raise the ad score without increasing the costs. A higher Quality Score improves ads visibility and leads to a higher ROI.

 

5 Tips to increase quality score

Today, in order to create an attractive and appealing landing page, you must invest in the page’s design. Also, the landing page’s content is often limited, and you cannot write whatever you want wherever you want. For that reason, the following tips focus on technical changes, which are almost invisible to the page’s visitors, but are visible to Google, and they help us explain Google the main subject of the landing page.

PPC and SEO management are often completely separated fields and managed by different people. In my experience optimizing PPC campaigns, there are many SEO factors that can help us improve the campaigns Quality Score and increase our ROI.

 

#1 Tip: Include the campaign’s keyword(s) in the page title

It may seem too basic, but it is really a very effective tip – a simple change of the landing page title, so it would match the main and most relevant words and phrases of the campaign, could improve Google’s ability to understand what the landing page is all about significantly. As I mentioned before, Google rates the relevancy of the landing page with regards to the keywords searched by the user. By adjusting the title we help Google to understand the relevancy between the landing page, the ad and the phrase.

 

#2 Tip: Include the campaign keyword in the page’s URL

Changing the landing page URL is another method that can be used to better explain the main topic of the landing page to Google. I often notice that the landing pages URLs include generic names such as: www.Example.com/landing-page, while a more recommended practice would be to include the keyword in the URL name. For example: www.Example.com/key-word.

If the main keyword includes more than one word, use a hyphen (-) to separate them.

 

#3 Tip: Make Sure the H1 Heading includes the Keywords

The H1 heading is actually the main title of our landing page, and with the help of a creative designer and developer we can place it on different locations of the page. This way, if the landing page is minimal and has thin content, the heading won’t disturb the visitor, but Google would locate it and read it as the main title of the page.

#4 Tip: Add Keyword-Rich Alt and Title Attributes to Images

Another simple tip, in case the landing page is minimal in content including just 2–3 images and a contact form: we can add our keywords to the image descriptions. Generally, the visitors will not notice the difference, but Google will see everything.

An important note: do provide a relevant description of the image, but not without sneaking in the keyword.

 

Example Alt: How to improve Quality Score by inserting a keyword to alt tag.

 

#4.5 Tip: Company & Social Media Logos are Images too

Does the landing page contain the company logo, social media or customers’ logos? right here is a great extra location to add relevant keywords!

A very important note: you can describe the image in a sentence instead of just 1–2 words. For example, to add the keyword “emotional conversion optimization” in the alt attribute of the company logo,(move your mouse over the company’s logo to view its title) (add Alt & Title): “Conversioner company specializes in emotional conversion optimization”. To add a keyword to customers or partners logo: “Conversioner recommends emotional conversion optimization services by…”

 

#5 Tip: Name the video!

Today, many landing pages have videos. It is already a known fact that videos provide a better and clearer way to deliver messages compared to a written text.

Still, you can add the desired keyword to the video name to maximize the landing page optimization.

 

Do you have additional ideas and tips? we’d be happy to hear about them.

 

This post was written by Oded Livne a project manager at Nekuda Web Solutions. Livne is an authorized Google Adwords and Google Analytics partner, specializes in online marketing combined with social media strategy, a creator of memes and a gifted Texas Hold’em player.