Making sure your ads are high quality

Write better ads and you could receive a higher ranking for lower cost.

This is an excerpt from Yahoo!’s Smart Start guide, which is packed with helpful content to assist you in making your campaigns as effective as possible. Whether you’re an expert search marketer or just starting out, the tips from Yahoo!’s “Sharon Goodsense” offer practical search marketing insights. Download Smart Start.

You know the power a well-written, highly relevant ad can have on your customers—it can draw them to your business like mice are drawn to a hunk of cheddar. But it can also help you receive a better rank in search results—in some cases, even if your competitors are bidding higher than you are. High-quality ads can also be rewarded with a higher ranking in search results.

Keeping Campaigns Healthy
If your quality index is sick, it means your ad needs some TLC! A low-quality index indicates that your ad is not doing a good job of attracting customers, which can lead to a vicious cycle if you don’t take steps to fix it.

To check up on an ad’s quality index score, go to the Ad Group Details page and click the “Ads” tab, or view the Ad Performance report in the Reports section.

There are a number of things you can do to improve the quality of your ads:
• Rewrite your ad so that it is clearer and more compelling.
• Test different ads, and use ad optimization to automatically display the better performing ad more often in search results.
• Make sure that your keywords are relevant to your ad text, display and destination URL. If your keywords are not similar enough, you may need to create additional ad groups.
• If you have keywords that aren’t performing well, move them to another ad group or create a new ad group where those keywords are more relevant.
• If you are using the Advanced match type, be sure to use the Excluded Words feature to block keywords that don’t apply to your products or services. This will help keep your ad relevant to searchers.
• For best results, be sure to include your keyword in the title or description of your ad. Use the insert keyword feature to have keywords automatically placed in your ad when it appears in search results.

It’s critical to keep a close eye on your ads’ quality. If your ads need improving, or your quality index is slipping, you should know! By checking your quality index regularly, you can quickly make changes when necessary.

— The Smart Start Team