We’ve mentioned in the past how important the design and construction of your website is, for a wide variety of different reasons, from usability to conversions. Another important thing that the design, construction and content of your site can affect though is your Google Adwords quality score.
What is Quality Score?
In short, the Adwords quality score is a score that Google assigns to your keywords, based on a number of factors. These factors include the relevance of your targeted keywords to the content of your advertisement and the search terms entered by a user, but among other things, they include the quality of the page to which your advertisement directs users.
This page is known as the landing page, and the quality of your landing page can have either a positive, or a negative, affect on your quality score. And in turn, the better your quality score is, the less you might need to pay for each click on your advert. (Depending on the other factors affecting quality score.)
How Your Site Affects Quality Score
In this section, you’ll find a brief explanation of how various design and construction issues may affect your quality score for Google Adwords. For a comprehensive description, visit the Adwords Help.
Content – Relevant, Original & Transparent
According to Google, the relevance and content of your landing page, and of your site, is of great importance to your quality score. Content needs to be both relevant, and original, in order to affect your quality score positively.
Relevance refers to the necessity of making it easy for the visitor to find the information, product or service that your advertisement promised them. Your landing page (where visitors land after clicking on your ad), should be the page which is the most relevant to the offer in your advertisement.
Google also recommends (strongly) that the content of your page and site be original. Unique content is important, because Adwords won’t show multiple advertisements that direct users to the same, or very similar, pages.
The final guideline that Google suggests in terms of content is that your site be transparent. In other words, your site needs to be contain explicit information about the nature of your business, how it interacts with a visitors computer, and how you will treat any information that the user provides, if you request such information.
All the information that a visitor needs, including pricing and billing information, should be provided clearly and obviously, and your business should adhere to whatever offers are made in your Adwords advertisement.
Navigation & Site Structure
Making it easy for visitors to find what they need is one of the most important factors when it comes to converting visitors into leads. Your site needs to be clearly navigable, with a clear and easy path for visitors to follow, in order for them to get what they need from your site.
Your site should avoid intrusive or distracting elements as much as possible, and you should ensure that your landing page, and preferably the entire site, loads as quickly as possible.
In addition, Google specifically prohibits certain types of sites from being displayed through Adwords. These include data collection or information harvesting sites which promise free stuff in exchange for private information, sites designed for the sole purpose of displaying other advertisements, “Get Rich Quick” sites, and sites that send visitors to other sites rather than providing information.
Keep Your Quality Score High
One of the best ways to ensure that you maintain a high quality score is simply to design the most user-friendly, informative site that you can. The more honest and straightforward the purpose and intentions of your site are, the less likely you are to have any trouble with the Adwords quality score.