Low Quality Score - Any Ideas?

[Discs Like New]

Hi guys,

I have started promoting http://www.discslikenew.com through Google Adwords this week.

It is my first campaign but I have played about with PPC a little in the past so I thought I knew the basics!

So far I am seeing;

• A conversion rate of 5-10% (initial problem with tracking code so hard to be exact but nearer 10% than 5)
• Average CTR of around 3%
• Average CPC of 70p

I am using the following landing page to drive traffic to;

http://www.discslikenew.com/scratched-disc-repair

As far as I am concerned everything seems to be working quite well, other than the CPC which is far too high for my average profit from sale.

When I started running through my account I noticed that my Quality Score was between 3 and 4!!!

From what I have been told such a low score which raise your CPC considerably so I need to do something about it.

Any pointers on how to get it moved up, best practices etc? The information Google provide is hardly a blueprint for success.

If anyone fancies a quick sneaky peak into my account to diagnose any issues then that would be ideal.

I'd like to hire someone to oversee the Adwords campaign but with my budget only being £10.00 per day it doesn't really seem cost effective to be paying a monthly fee?

Kind regards,
Anthony

 

[sigurog]

Your analysis seems correct from what I can tell. £10.00 a day is quite a lot, ever thought about organic seo due to it being a long term solution and more cost effective in the log run?

Also what keywords are you wanting to rank for as just looked up 'disc repair' and it doesnt seem extemely competitive.

ps. Website design is very good, i like it.

 

[Higley]

Have you recently changed your adverts? I had a problem like this when I changed my adverts, the cpc shot up as the quality score dropped.

 

[Discs Like New]

Your analysis seems correct from what I can tell. £10.00 a day is quite a lot, ever thought about organic seo due to it being a long term solution and more cost effective in the log run?

Also what keywords are you wanting to rank for as just looked up 'disc repair' and it doesnt seem extemely competitive.

ps. Website design is very good, i like it.

SEO is definitely an important part of our strategy, however as I am sure you will know it takes time to get results!

The website has only been live for a few weeks so I don't want to push it too hard link building wise right now.

We will be starting to add alot more content soon though - 1-2 blog per week posts and some more website information pages.

I was really hoping to combine PPC with SEO to bridge the gap (and also use my PPC data to help with my keyword research for my SEO)

Have you recently changed your adverts? I had a problem like this when I changed my adverts, the cpc shot up as the quality score dropped.

I launched it on Sunday evening and haven't made any changes since then other than tweaking the CPC.

Anthony

 

[estwig]

Only one landing page??

Assuming you only have one one landing page, that's not enough. You should have a landing page for keywords and ad groups, based around CD repair, another for disc repair, another for broken cd, another for scratched cd, etc.


What I'm trying to get at is, one landing page will be too generic, this will cause a low quality score.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

So far I am seeing;

• A conversion rate of 5-10% (initial problem with tracking code so hard to be exact but nearer 10% than 5)
• Average CTR of around 3%
• Average CPC of 70p

What's your average position?

Steve

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

£10.00 a day is quite a lot

Is it?... :|

 

[Dave Thomas]

Make sure that the campaign is structure very well dont go balls out and add as many terms as you can possibly think. Separate into themes....and create specific ads around those themes and make sure that you include the keyword in the advert and that the landing page contains the keyword ( or related as best possible to it)

So......

Ad group:

Scratched Disc

Keywords

scratched disc repair, repair scratched disc etc....

Ad

Scratched Disc Repair

Remove the Marks from your favourite Scratched Discs in 24 hrs.
Free delivery prices from £0.02 (Ha ha) etc (just a dummy ad please no comments about length and grammar etc)

Then this needs to direct to a page relevant to scratched disc repair......


from here control and find in spread sheet or editor....and replace disc with cd or scratched with marked ...get the idea...

o and it can be hard to undo bad QS you may want to trial a new build campaignm...

 

[sigurog]

Sure it takes a bit of time to get results, but from what your saying, ppc doesnt seem to be cost effective. Also do not be afraid of hitting link building just because youre website is new, there is no reason not to at all.

I have launched a website recently, hit link building hard from the start and seen the site go from Page 21 to Page 2 within the first month - so don't pussy foot!

Yes a combined comination of seo and ppc is the way forward. The blogs are a good idea as well so thats a good start from an seo perspective.

 

[Discs Like New]

Only one landing page??

Assuming you only have one one landing page, that's not enough. You should have a landing page for keywords and ad groups, based around CD repair, another for disc repair, another for broken cd, another for scratched cd, etc.


What I'm trying to get at is, one landing page will be too generic, this will cause a low quality score.

I've set up quite a few landing pages for SEO in my time but I didn't realise I had to create so many different ones for PPC!

What are the key components needed on the landing page? I will go through my Adwords account and have a rethink.

Kind regards,
Anthony

 

[Discs Like New]

What's your average position?

Steve

Between 2 and 3.

Make sure that the campaign is structure very well dont go balls out and add as many terms as you can possibly think. Separate into themes....and create specific ads around those themes and make sure that you include the keyword in the advert and that the landing page contains the keyword ( or related as best possible to it)

So......

Ad group:

Scratched Disc

Keywords

scratched disc repair, repair scratched disc etc....

Ad

Scratched Disc Repair

Remove the Marks from your favourite Scratched Discs in 24 hrs.
Free delivery prices from £0.02 (Ha ha) etc (just a dummy ad please no comments about length and grammar etc)

Then this needs to direct to a page relevant to scratched disc repair......


from here control and find in spread sheet or editor....and replace disc with cd or scratched with marked ...get the idea...

o and it can be hard to undo bad QS you may want to trial a new build campaignm...

Really appreciate you taking the time to write it out for me - really, really useful thanks!

Out of interest, Is your QS comment based on your previous experience or an industry wide consensus (ish?)

I'm more than happy to start a new campaign - Discs Like New Mk2 haha!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Between 2 and 3.

In that case, it's possible that the ctr is low for those positions for your keywords.

If so, that could explain it.

Or it could be that google doesn't think your landing page is relevant. Or it could be that your ads don't use the same language as your keywords... or it could be something else entirely...

Steve

 

[Discs Like New]

In that case, it's possible that the ctr is low for those positions for your keywords.

If so, that could explain it.

Or it could be that google doesn't think your landing page is relevant. Or it could be that your ads don't use the same language as your keywords... or it could be something else entirely...

Steve

Like Gremlins?

Seriously though, I think the Ad Group/Copy could be improved and the landing page as well so I will start with those.

Kind regards,
Anthony

 

[fisicx]

You landing page hardly mentions scratched discs (apart from the page title) and your H1 is:

Professional DVD, CD, Video Game Disc Repair Service

I couldn't find you advert so can't comment on it's relevance but I'd suggest your landing page isn't the best.

Why even have this landing page? Make your homepage the lead generator and get rid of all the current guff you have there.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Like Gremlins?

Like all the other things that Google use to decide quality score... but don't tell anyone about.

Steve

 

[Discs Like New]

You landing page hardly mentions scratched discs (apart from the page title) and your H1 is:

Professional DVD, CD, Video Game Disc Repair Service

I couldn't find you advert so can't comment on it's relevance but I'd suggest your landing page isn't the best.

Why even have this landing page? Make your homepage the lead generator and get rid of all the current guff you have there.

The H1 is taken from the alt text on the logo. Ideally we need to change it so that it is dropped to H2/H3 and use the main heading as the H1.

In terms of directing traffic to the homepage - not a problem for users as it is a very simply website but I can't see it doing my QS, and therefore CPC any favours

By guff I assume you mean the copy? If so, then it's there for a reason

 

[Colin Parker]

A key part of QS is the previous CTR history of other advertisers on the keywords you bid on. If the CTR history is low and you are a new advertiser then your QS is likely to be low. Why? Because Google does not want its system bunged up with ads and keywords that searchers rarely click on.

Your market does not appear competitive and therefore previous CTR history may be sparse and low. Your 3% CTR is also low for positions 2/3.

However ... if you get smart and really target your keywords into highly relevant groups with specific landing pages you should get high CTR and QS and - because you don't have much competition - very low CPC.

A couple of other points; do not bid on broadmatch with the exception of modified broadmatch - Google modified broadmatch to see how that works. Bid mainly on phrase and exact match and use as many negative keywords as you can think of/find - I would think there are plenty in your market. Using negative keywords can hugely increase you CTR because your ads do not show for irrelevant searches.

Last point - are you sure there is a big enough market for your service? Low CTR can simply mean there are not many people searching!

Colin Parker

 

[gordi555]

Hi Anthony,

I'm just getting started in my own company after being a PPC manager for a few years. I'd like to offer you a free 30 minute consultation where you can show me around and I'll help you optimise if you like? Maybe you could provide a nice testimonial in return?

In the mean time, I've started writting articles on the subject (only a few yet but growing) and you can read some here...

http://www.yourmarketing.co.uk/category/web-marketing/google-adwords/

Hope they can save you some money!

 

[fisicx]

By guff I assume you mean the copy? If so, then it's there for a reason

I meant to get rid of all the imagery showing the stages and the blog and newsletter and even the testimonials and replace them with the order form. If you look at the current homepage there isn't actually a call to action. The images just shows the 4 stages - it doesn't say 'click here to get your disc repaired'.

Sorry, going off topic a bit.

 

[dagaul101]

I agree Google is purposely vague, simply because the lower your quality score, the more they can charge you, and the more money for them