Google is a pay per click platform and many people think that everyone pays the same price but that’s not the case. Google created a simple but creative formula that calculates your cost per click (CPC) and your cost per sale (CPS). This is what we call quality score.

In this article, How To Pay Less For Google Ads, we will further discuss how much do Google Ads cost, particularly how you can lower your ad costs and still get more leads in return. In relation to this, we will also tackle what quality score in Google Ads is and how this is important in achieving lower CPC and the highest return of investment.

 

Watch the video version of this article below:

How is the quality score calculated?

Quality score is calculated on a scale from 1 to 10 and is made up of expected click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience.

Google wants to protect its platform and rewards advertisers who do a good job while penalizing those who do not.

By rewards, we mean if your ad complies well to Google Ads standards and your quality score is high, your ads will likely be more visible to your target audience.

 

Factors Affecting Your Google Ads Quality Score

Expected click-through rate (CTR)

 The expected CTR helps you understand if the chosen keyword lacks relevance. A low CTR means that the ad is not relevant enough for people to click your landing page or to complete a specified action. Furthermore, a low CTR has a negative impact on your quality score, which is not cost-effective for your ad campaign.

Read more about the expected click-through rate in Google Ads here.

 

Ad Relevance

 Ad relevance means that your headlines, descriptions, and ad groups need to be related to the keyword being searched. Planning your headlines and descriptions being relevant to the keyword is really important.

On a scale of 1-10, the benchmark is 5. That’s the number you want to shoot for and maintain a minimum.

If your score is higher, then you’ll see your cost per click (CPC) reduced. At a 6 you get a 16% discount and at 10 50%.

 

 

Landing page experience

The landing page experience is another factor where Google measures how well your website performs in terms of giving people what they are looking for once they clicked on your ad.

The landing page is the link that you place on your ad for people to click on. Google analyzes the whole experience from clicking the link to the ad until the moment people land on your website. This experience affects your quality score, which affects your ad rank, which affects your CPC.

 

The landing page is one of the places that I see a lot of mistakes made that cost Google advertisers money and poor quality scores. People have a short attention span. You don’t want to lose your customers and you don’t want to be penalized in your quality score either. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Your terms and privacy policy should be in the footer
• Be mobile-friendly. You’d be shocked if I told you how many times I see a landing page built for desktop but they forget to check the mobile version. Take note that over 80%-90% of clicks are coming from mobile. Thus, your website should be mobile optimized as well.
• Make sure your offer is unique
• Your call-to-action (CTA) should be clear
• You must have a fast-loading site. I suggest you test our site with Google site speed’s developer tool.  This is a free tool from Google where you can analyze your website speed on desktop and on mobile
• An easy, simple navigation where visitors can find what they need

Your landing page experience affects how often your ad shows based on whether you offer a poor or great user experience. To understand more about improving your landing page experience, click here.

 

What happens if I have a low-quality score in Google Ads?

On the other hand, a poor-quality score can really cost you. Just one point below at a 4, your CPC’s can increase by 25% and at a 1, your CPC pricing can be up to 400% more than your competition.

For example, if your budget is $10,000 per month and your competitor’s is also $10,000 per month for the same audience. If your average keyword price is $12, and you have a 10 and your competitor has a 1, that means you will probably get 1,666 clicks and only 208 clicks for the same $10,000 investment.

It’s no rocket science. Even an eight-year-old can tell you that 1,666 potential customers are better than 208.

 

Conclusion

Not everyone is focused on the whole Google Ads experience. Some advertisers only focus on running the ads without even checking the other factors affecting their ads and ads cost. This article is your guide in lowering your CPC and at the same time increasing your ROI by improving your Google Ads quality score. I hope you had learned something new today to improve your campaigns in Google. I suggest you start testing the things you have learned here to make immediate changes to your ad cost and ad performance.