Fans of Google AdWords Quality Score, listen up: Microsoft adCenter has recently announced the launch of an improved Quality Score feature that will reveal to advertisers key elements of a successful keyword campaign.
Available this spring, Microsoft developers are confident that their new Quality Score tool will provide advertisers with invaluable feedback on how competitive their keywords are in the online marketplace. Preliminary features include:
As many marketers know, this much-needed change has been a long time coming. Microsoft adCenter campaigns have always underperformed when compared to Google’s juggernaut AdWords. For example, not long after its launch in 2007, advertisers received a nasty shock as their ads appeared in comically irrelevant searches. But that was then – and this is now. All glitches aside, Microsoft’s new-and-improved QS launch is a major step in the constant effort close the innovative gap between Microsoft and Google.
But just what does this new Quality Score mean for you as an online advertiser – and how can you optimize your keyword performance to get the highest QS possible?
First, it’s important to understand that although adCenter’s QS mimics Google’s own Quality Score – there are key differences that could profoundly impact your keyword campaign. While adCenter notes that it’s QS is based upon keyword relevance, landing page relevance and landing page user experience, Google uses additional metrics to determine QS such as a keyword’s historical click-through rate and geographical performance (for example, a keyword’s impact on a local vs. national level). In other words, Google’s QS still provides a superior examination of a keyword’s performance in the online world; Microsoft’s QS is just a scratch on the surface.
But don’t underestimate that scratch on the surface, especially if you’re looking for a helping hand with your keyword campaign. While many online advertisers joke that using Google AdWords is more of an art form than a science, Microsoft is looking to position itself as the first platform to actually help an advertiser improve their keyword campaign should their QS be lower than expected. And while we can’t know for sure just what the above-mentioned “outlined actions” will be until their new QS is rolled out, we can imagine it will go far to level the playing field between Google and Microsoft.
So now that you know more about Microsoft’s plans to update their Quality Score, what can you do to ensure that your keyword campaign is in prime position for the highest QS possible?
Simple: implement these pivotal QS concepts to optimize your online success:
While this isn’t a definitive list on how to optimize your Quality Score, it certainly will put any online advertiser in the enviable position of enjoying a sky-high adCenter QS. So before Microsoft rolls out its latest adCenter advancement, take another look at your ads and keywords – a few simple tweaks could make the difference between a so-so campaign and powerful keyword performance.