If you’re an Internet Marketer using Google Adwords PPC, than your life is ruled by two variables: your wallet, and Google’s “Quality Score”. The All-Important Quality Score is the formula Google uses to determine what your Cost Per Click will be and whether your keywords get ’slapped’. The exact formula for Quality Score is guarded about as closely as the formula for Coca-Cola, however through testing, and trial & error we can get a very good idea of the basic formula.
When you are creating an Adwords campaign, you should make every possible effort to take into account - and optimize - as many or all of these factors as possible. Differences in Quality Score are also one of the main reasons that we can copy a ‘profitable’ campaign as identified through Ad Spying programs such as ZamDoo, Google Cash Detective, or AdSpyPro, and it isn’t profitable for us (the other reasons are our bids, and our keyword list).
NOTE: The Quality Score formula is updated frequently, and is calculated separately for CPC and ad position, and the formula varies depending on whether it is being calculated for an ad on Search Network, Content Network, of Site-Targeted. You can read Google’s Adwords Help for Quality Score here.
Google Quality Score Equation:
[ (keyword relevancy) + (ad relevancy) + (destination URL) + (landing page) + (domain) ] X (CTR) X [ (account history) + (campaign history) ]
Keyword relevancy = keyword in ad, keyword in destination URL, and landing page.
Ad relevancy = keyword and landing page
Destination URL / domain name = better score w/ keyword(s) in URL
Landing page = better score with keyword(s) in page title, meta tags, H1 tags, and body text
Domain = better score for age, possible lower score for non-relevant sites under same domain
CTR = variable, better score as CTR goes up, possible lower score if CTR remains low
Account history = higher score for older account, ‘good’ campaigns, lower score for newer accounts
Campaign history = higher score for ‘good’ campaigns
Quality Score is cumulative - the tighter the ‘coupling’ between the components, specifically Ad, Keyword, Destination URL, and Landing Page, the better Quality Score.
The ‘best possible’ Quality Score can only be achieved through tight coupling (which BTW is the real ‘juice’ behind SpeedPPC).
Google rates your keywords Quality Score simply “Great”, “OK”, or “Poor”. While this doesn’t tell you a great deal, it will give you a good indication of why your CPC is what it is. You can see your keyword Quality Score by customizing your column display on your adgroup screen. 
If you are using your own domains, ALWAYS create domain names with your most relevant keyword(s) in them. Assuming your straight primary keyword is taken, use other TLD’s (Top Level Domains), hyphens, underscores, and/or quaifiers.
For example, your primary keyword is “mortgage rate” and mortgagerate.com is taken. Try:
mortgagerate.info or .tv or .au or .ss etc.
mortgage_rate.com
best-mortgage-rate.com
a1_mortgage_rate.com
mortgage-rate-world.com
etc….
3 responses so far ↓
1 mike // Aug 20, 2007 at 5:50 pm
The amount will give you even finer detail about your Score & how it changes over time, show how helpful any changes to your site have beenHi Mel,
Great article - very useful.
I just wanted to add that if you want to know how your site is improving as you tweak and make changes, keep an eye on the ‘minimum CPC’ amount next to that word.
For instance if you have ‘great $0.07′ and you can get that to ‘great $0.05′, then you’re really doing well.
Keep things really tight & you’ll start to see 3c, 2c and even 1cent keywords!
It’s hard not to make money when you’re only paying a couple of cents per visitor!
Cheers,
Mike
2 How to Become an AdWords Expert! | Improve Your Internet Marketing // Jan 31, 2008 at 9:58 pm
[...] You can read a detailed description of the Quality Score formula here. [...]
3 mark // May 21, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Have you tested two different domains with the same content to verify if the keyword domain gets a better QS from google?
What about using keyword subdomains or trademarked keywords for your subdomains?
I’ve tested different domain names with no improvement in QS from google unless you are referring to the indirect effect of better CTR.
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