See Dog-Say Dog and Quality Scores
If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know my penchant for audio-video linkage, AKA “See dog-Say Dog” effect. Little did I know that this very concept is the same for Google AdWords Quality Scores.
Quality Score is downplayed by Google. “Give users what they need, and a great Quality Score should follow,” says Google in its AdWords guide. However, Quality Scores are critically important and can impact your rank and how much you pay for a given search term.
The key to a solid Quality Score is relevancy–and that is the “see dog, say dog” moment. Making a strong connection between the queries and what you deliver is critically important for algorithms and people. Ads and the sites that help users gather relevant information or help them navigate with ease (on a landing page) will receive high Quality Scores. In other words, your ad and the connecting landing page must match and provide a clear navigation from click to conversion. It’s the linkage between what you’ve promised in your ad and what you deliver on the landing page.
Quality Scores are not the holy grail of AdWords, but they do tell you how healthy your search campaign is and how optimized your campaign is. The key to a strong Quality Score according to Google is, “Be relevant, be compelling and drive traffic to landing pages that deliver on what you promise in your ad, and you can feel confident your score should reflect that quality.”
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
