Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a great way to fast track the lengthy process of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and obtain higher visibility in search engine results page (SERP) while delivering traffic from different facets of Google’s advertising network. However, every shortcut has consequences and search engine marketing is no different. A rushed and unsuccessful campaign can hurt your website and consequently, end up costing you more money in the long run.
So how is no advertising better than any advertising?
First we have to look at how Google determines your positioning on their PPC results page. Google calculates your position with a simple equation
CPC x Quality Score = Ad Positioning
Cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser pays to Google every time their ad is clicked. The CPC can be dictated by the user to ensure that they are spending within their advertising budget. Google will also suggest a “minimum bid” that will give advertisers a ball park idea about how much is required to receive decent ad positioning.
So does this mean that whoever has the most money can bully out smaller companies in search engine marketing?
Fortunately Google also added into their equation “Quality Score” (QS) to ensure that money is not the only deciding factor in ad placements. Quality score is calculated on many factors and only some of them are known due to its ever changing algorithms. The known factors include
- Historical click-through-rate (CTR)
- How often does someone click on your add when it appears
- Quality of landing page
- Relevant and original content
- Transparency
- Navigability
- Following advertising policies, rules, and guidelines
- Relevance of keywords
- Website performance
- And more...
So what does it mean if my quality score goes up?
Higher quality score means less money is required (lower CPC) for your ad to receive good ad positioning. For example; (using arbitrary numbers that do not reflect what Google actually uses)
CPC x Quality Score = Ad Placement
| Competitor A |
$20.00 |
1 |
20 |
1 |
| Competitor B |
$1.00 |
15 |
15 |
2 |
| You |
$1.25 |
10 |
12.50 |
3 |
| Competitor C |
$5.00 |
2.3 |
11.50 |
4 |
So what does it mean if my quality score goes down?
Receiving a low quality score will result in having to spend more money (higher CPC) in order to receive higher rankings. As depicted above, “Competitor A” had to spend 20 times as much as “Competitor B” to receive 1 rank higher. Conversely, “You” only had to spend $1.25 to receive a higher ranking than “Competitor C” who is spending 4 times as much. Sustaining a high CPC campaign can be strenuous on any company; even those with large budgets.
Companies who rush into search engine marketing and don’t take time to develop specific keywords, adgroups, and ads will hurt their websites quality score and make it difficult and costly to fix.
So how do I earn a high quality score?
Come back to see my next blog where I discuss how to receive a high quality score and how to spend your SEM budget efficiently.
Missed a previous post?
SEM Campaign Part 0 - You are here
SEM Campaign Part 1 - Keywords
SEM Campaign Part 2 - Ads and Adgroups
SEM Campaign Part 3 - CTR