8 steps in improving your Adwords Quality Score

1. Use Traffic Estimator for keyword analysis.Traffic Estimator is a great tool which helps to predict keyword performance in terms of CPC bid and positioning. It enables you to filter your initial choices and eliminate keywords which are either too expensive or don’t generate enough clicks. Make sure you are not logged into your Google account when using Traffic Estimator because it may skew the results.
2. Try Opportunities to Improve Option. Though generally skeptical of computer-generated tools offered by Adwords, I was pleasantly surprised with Opportunities to Improve button.It instantly increased the QS for some of the ads. Similar results are not guaranteed but since this tool is free, you have little to lose.

3. Eliminate generic keywords. The more targeted your keywords are, the greater your conversion rate is. Using broad categories for keywords may trigger a lot of clicks, but you have to ask yourself whether these are the clicks you need. For example: People, who type in “search engine optimization”, may be looking for definitions and encyclopedic information. Are they interested in using the actual services? Probably not. As a result, you spend more money for irrelevant clicks. With highly targeted keywords you don’t get as many clicks but you do get more value out of them.
4.Split keywords between ad groups.A commonly made mistake is to staff all relevant keywords into one ad. Instead, split keywords into smaller more targeted groups while maintaining the relevance of the keywords to the actual ad copy.
5. Separate “Good” Keywords from “Bad” Keywords. Keeping the keywords of different value mixed together can negatively impact the QS. After you run your campaign for a while, you will be able to evaluate the performance of each single keyword. Eventually, the keywords which don’t generate enough clicks can be deleted.
6. Experiment with Matching Options. If most of your keywords are broad match, try to add exact match and phrase match keywords to each ad group. Run the ad for a few days and then leave the option with better QS and lower minimum CPC. Although broad match is generally considered the most popular of the three, the exact match tends to be much cheaper.
7. Modify Meta Tags and Meta Descriptions. Adwords is a great test marketing tool. You can use keyword performance analysis to optimize your website. Ex.: Consider adding your best performing keywords to the meta tags or using the exact text from the best performing ad in the meta description.
8. Optimize your Landing Page. Landing Page Optimization is a topic in itself. Google analyzes landing page relevance to determine your site’s ranking in both organic and sponsored search results. In relation to Quality Score, you need to make sure that ads point to a landing page which is relevant to ad copy and the selected keywords. An effective landing page needs to have a compelling copy, good internal navigation and a powerful call to action. If your website doesn’t meet these 3 criteria, you should consider seeking professional search engine optimization help.

Without a creative well-thought out approach, Google Adwords can become a major expense in your advertising budget.  Improving the Quality brings you one step closer to your ultimate goal – convert more clicks into sales while keeping your expenses low.

As the price of online advertising increases every single day, it is vital to discover more efficient ways to advertise. Comparison shopping engines such as Shopzilla, Froogle and Shopping.com offer the ability to reach untapped markets without high upfront costs associated with other forms of advertising. The payment structure is similar to Google Adwords but since competition is not as fierce, you will spend significantly less money per click.

Current statistics provide even more arguments in favor of submitting data feeds to comparison shopping engines. One in three Internet users visits a comparison shopping site in a typical month. Comparison shoppers make up for a very distinct customer profile. They are savvier, more product-oriented and spend an average of 24% more than the average shopper. Forrester Reference. These numbers are impossible to ignore.

In order to achieve the best conversion rates from shopping engines, you need to optimize your data feeds. Time, diligence and a touch of creativity can get you further than you think. Here are a couple of ways to get started.

Step 1. Maintain data feed “hygiene”. We recommend randomly choosing a few of your live listings and checking whether product names, descriptions, prices, and shopping costs are correct. Also make sure you remove poor selling and out of stock products on a regular basis. Daily checkups help to detect problems at early stages and ensure a smooth-running campaign.

Step 2. Know your competition. It is advisable to compare both titles and prices to other merchants within the shopping engine. Perfect price doesn’t mean the lowest price. If you are bidding too low, there is a chance your listing won’t be found on the engine. Also you need to be aware when your competitors lower prices or run special promotion so that you can promptly respond with a creative solution. The right price in combination with the right promotion will get you good margins and more sales per unit.

Step 3. Optimize the product descriptions. Instead of using generic product descriptions provided by the manufacturer, use a creative approach to distinguish your product from its competition. Experiment with changing product titles and descriptions to see if your ranking moves. This will enable you to find the optimum variations for your listings and outsmart your competitors. However, make sure you always include MPN and UPC codes to make the products easily trackable for customers.

Step 4. Analyze your conversions. Google Analytics is a free tool which offers the ability to track goal conversions and traffic patterns. Implementing this tool on your website will enable you to track conversions at the product level, allowing you to analyze which data feeds are working best for you.

Creating data feeds needs some initial time commitment to extract the data out of your system in the required format, but once you get started, you can release the full potential of a new, less competitive market.

When optimized, data feeds can significantly increase your online visibility and improve ROI at a cost lower than Adwords. Take advantage of this new opportunity before your competition jumps ahead.