Do you NEED an Excellent Rating for Responsive Search Ads? | Google Ads 2023

Summary

In this video, Aaron Young from Define Digital Academy discusses the significance of ad rankings in Google Ads. He explains that while Google's four-tier ranking system (poor, average, good, excellent) can be a helpful starting point, especially for new campaigns, it's not always indicative of an ad's performance. Aaron shares insights from two years of split testing, showing that ads with poor rankings can outperform those with excellent rankings. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on click-through rates and conversion rates over time, rather than solely relying on Google's ad strength scores. Aaron also provides tips for improving ad rankings and offers a free Google Ads optimization checklist for viewers.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Google Ads provides a four-tier ranking system for ad copies: poor, average, good, and excellent.
• 📉 Ad rankings do not always correlate with performance; ads rated 'poor' can perform well, and vice versa.
• ⚠️ For new campaigns without conversion data, aim for 'good' or 'excellent' ad rankings to ensure better initial performance.
• 📈 In mature campaigns with established metrics, ad rankings become less relevant; focus more on click-through and conversion rates.
• 📊 The script provides a two-year case study showing that ads with 'poor' rankings can outperform those with 'excellent' rankings.
• 📝 Responsive search ads should be regularly split-tested to optimize performance, regardless of initial Google Ads rankings.
• 🔗 Use dynamic keyword insertion in headlines to improve ad relevance and potentially boost rankings.
• 📑 Avoid pinning headlines as it can lower ad strength scores, but it may be justified based on extensive testing data.
• 📋 Google prioritizes ads likely to get clicked, impacting the auction process; hence, ad rank is crucial for new campaigns without click data.
• 📝 The presenter offers a Google Ads optimization checklist for continuous improvement of ad campaigns.
• 🎥 The video also covers a detailed breakdown of how ad ranks are created and how to improve them through responsive search ads.

Q & A

What is the current four-tier ranking system for ad copies in Google Ads?

The current four-tier ranking system for ad copies in Google Ads is poor, average, good, and excellent.

Can Google's ad rankings be a reliable indicator of ad performance?

No, Google's ad rankings are not always a reliable indicator of ad performance. Ads rated as 'poor' can sometimes yield excellent results, and vice versa.

Why is it important to aim for good or excellent ad rankings in new campaigns?

In new campaigns, it's important to aim for good or excellent ad rankings because Google uses these rankings to determine the likelihood of your ad being clicked on, especially when there's no existing click-through ratio or conversion data.

What is the significance of split testing in mature campaigns?

In mature campaigns, after several rounds of split testing, ad rankings become less relevant. The focus should shift to click-through ratios and conversion rates, as these metrics provide more accurate insights into ad performance.

How does the speaker demonstrate the discrepancy between ad rankings and actual performance?

The speaker demonstrates the discrepancy by showing examples of ads with high click-through ratios and conversion rates that were ranked as 'poor' or 'average' by Google, while an 'excellent' ranked ad performed poorly.

What is the role of responsive search ads in the ad ranking system?

Responsive search ads play a crucial role in the ad ranking system as they allow for testing different ad variations to optimize performance. The speaker emphasizes starting with excellent ad rankings for these ads, especially in new campaigns.

How does dynamic keyword insertion help in achieving a good ad ranking?

Dynamic keyword insertion helps in achieving a good ad ranking by ensuring that the ad copy is relevant to the user's search query, which can improve the click-through rate and, consequently, the ad ranking.

Why does pinning headlines in responsive search ads lower the ad ranking?

Pinning headlines in responsive search ads lowers the ad ranking because it reduces the uniqueness of the ad components, which is one of the factors Google considers in its ad strength calculation.

What is the Google Ads optimization checklist mentioned in the script?

The Google Ads optimization checklist is a resource that guides users on what to optimize in their Google Ads account, including ad copy split tests that should be completed every 30 days.

What advice does the speaker give for handling different ad rankings from Google?

The speaker advises that while it's important to pay attention to ad rankings at the start of a campaign, after several rounds of split testing, one should rely more on click-through ratios and conversion rates rather than the ad strength score.

How does the speaker's experience as a '15,000-hour Google Ads master' contribute to the credibility of the script's content?

The speaker's extensive experience with Google Ads lends credibility to the insights and advice provided in the script, as it is based on practical knowledge and a deep understanding of the platform.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 The Complexity of Google Ads Rankings

The paragraph discusses the frustration of receiving poor rankings from Google Ads despite good performance. It explains that Google uses a four-tier ranking system for ad copies in search campaigns: poor, average, good, and excellent. The speaker emphasizes that these rankings are not always indicative of ad performance, as they have seen 'poor' ads perform well and 'excellent' ads perform poorly. The importance of ad rankings varies depending on the maturity of the campaign. For new campaigns without conversion data, it's crucial to aim for good or excellent scores. However, for mature campaigns with established metrics, the ad strength ranking becomes less relevant. The speaker provides an example of ads that have been running for two years, showing that the highest-performing ads, in terms of click-through ratio and conversion rates, have poor and average rankings, while an 'excellent' ranked ad performs poorly. The speaker concludes by advising that while ad rankings are important initially, after several rounds of split testing, the focus should shift to click-through ratios and conversion rates.

05:01

📊 Improving Ad Ranks and Responsive Search Ads

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of improving ad ranks for responsive search ads. It explains the four components that Google considers when scoring ads: the number of headlines, the inclusion of keywords in headlines, the uniqueness of headlines, and the uniqueness of descriptions. The speaker demonstrates how pinning certain headlines can lower the ad rank, but also shows that after two years of split testing, the data-driven approach can justify keeping certain headlines pinned despite the lower rank. The speaker advises that while it's important to aim for an 'excellent' rank when starting a new campaign, once you have substantial data from split tests, the focus should be more on the performance metrics like click-through ratio and conversion rates rather than the ad rank itself. The speaker also encourages viewers to use the provided link to access a Google Ads optimization checklist for further guidance on managing ad campaigns.

Keywords

💡Google Ads

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers pay to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, and video content within the Google ad network to web users. In the video, the speaker discusses the challenges and nuances of creating effective ad copies within Google Ads, emphasizing the importance of understanding the platform's ranking system for ad performance.

💡Ad Copy

Ad copy refers to the text or content of an advertisement, which is designed to persuade potential customers to take some action, like making a purchase or signing up for a service. The video script highlights the speaker's experience with Google's ad copy ranking system and how it can sometimes be misleading in predicting ad performance.

💡Ad Ranking

Ad ranking in Google Ads is a metric that Google uses to evaluate the quality and potential effectiveness of an ad. It is based on a four-tier system: poor, average, good, and excellent. The video discusses how these rankings do not always correlate with actual ad performance, suggesting that advertisers should not solely rely on this metric.

💡Responsive Search Ads

Responsive search ads are a type of ad format in Google Ads that automatically rotate multiple headlines and descriptions to find the most effective combination for a given search query. The script mentions the importance of creating responsive search ads with excellent rankings initially, especially when there's no historical data to rely on.

💡Split Testing

Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is a method of comparing two versions of an ad to see which performs better. The video emphasizes the value of conducting multiple rounds of split testing to refine ad copies and improve performance, eventually making Google's ad rankings less critical as the campaign matures.

💡Click-Through Ratio (CTR)

The click-through ratio is a metric used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign, calculated by dividing the number of clicks an ad receives by the number of times the ad is shown (impressions). The video uses CTR as a key performance indicator, showing how ads with poor rankings can still achieve high CTRs.

💡Conversion Rate

A conversion rate is a measure of how often visitors to a website or viewers of a digital ad complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. The script illustrates how conversion rates can be significantly higher for ads with lower rankings, challenging the direct correlation between Google's ad rankings and actual performance.

💡Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Dynamic keyword insertion is a feature in Google Ads that automatically inserts the user's search query into the ad copy, making it more relevant and personalized. The video provides an example of how to use this feature to improve ad relevance and potentially the ad's ranking.

💡Ad Strength

Ad strength is a measure of how likely an ad is to perform well in Google's auction system. It is influenced by factors like CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. The video script discusses how an ad with a poor ad strength ranking can still achieve excellent results, indicating that this metric should be considered with other performance data.

💡Optimization Checklist

An optimization checklist is a tool used to ensure that all aspects of a campaign are being reviewed and improved. The video mentions an optimization checklist for Google Ads, suggesting that it includes regular tasks like ad copy split tests, which are crucial for ongoing campaign improvement.

Highlights

Google Ads dashboard may rate your ads as 'poor' even if they perform well.

Google uses a four-tier ranking system for ad copies: poor, average, good, and excellent.

Ad rankings are not always indicative of ad performance.

Ads rated 'poor' by Google can still yield excellent results.

Conversely, 'excellent' rated ads may not always perform well.

For new campaigns, it's important to aim for 'good' or 'excellent' ad scores due to lack of conversion data.

In mature campaigns, ad rank scores become less relevant after several rounds of split testing.

Example provided shows 'poor' and 'average' ranked ads outperforming 'excellent' ones in click-through and conversion rates.

The best-performing ad, despite a 'poor' rank, achieved a 40% click-through rate and a 15% conversion rate.

Ad rank is crucial at the start of a campaign when there's no historical performance data.

Google's algorithm prioritizes ads it predicts will get clicked on.

After establishing click-through and conversion metrics, ads with 'poor' ranks can still perform well.

The speaker offers a Google Ads optimization checklist for improving ad performance.

To achieve an 'excellent' ad rank, ensure all four components of the ad score are met.

Using dynamic keyword insertion can improve ad relevance and rank.

Pinning headlines can lower ad rank scores but may be justified by strong performance data.

After several split tests, focus on click-through ratios and conversion rates rather than Google's ad rank.

The speaker is Aaron Young from Define Digital Academy, a Google Ads expert with over 15,000 hours of experience.

Transcripts

if you have written any AD copy in

Google ads recently I'm sure you would

have had your day ruined by a cheeky

Google ads dashboard telling you quite

frankly that your ads are poor oh come

on that cuts deep Google it cuts deep

now the reason for why this happens is

because at the moment Google has a

four-tier ranking when it comes to

grading your ad copies and in your

Google search campaigns that's poor

average good and excellent so the really

important question is is it how

important are these Google ad rankings

that it'll give you ad copies and the

answer to this is it's not quite simple

it is yes and no because the facts are

that I have seen ads that Google has

rated as poor give me excellent results

and also on the other hand I've seen ads

that Google has rated as excellent give

me poor results so it's not a clear

indication that just because you get an

excellent ranking from Google that your

ad is going to be performing to

excellent levels just like because if

you get a poor ranking it doesn't mean

that you're going to be seeing poor

results now the reason for why it's not

as straightforward as that is because I

would say and I would also give the

warning that if this is a new campaign

so this is your first ad and you don't

have any conversion data or you don't

have any click-through ratio data then I

would definitely be saying that you need

to write your ads in a way that you're

getting good or excellent scores but if

this is a more mature campaign and

you've gone through three or four rounds

of split testing those scores aren't

really relevant at all and let me show

you an example right now so what I'm

showing you here is a range of different

ads they've been running in a search

campaign from the 2021 so March 2021 up

until March the 18th so this is looking

at two years of different split tests

and what I want to show you through here

is that if we go down and rank this by

our click-through ratio you can see that

the current ads that we've got running

now have the highest click-through ratio

but look they have ranked poor and

average and then if we also to rank this

down by the cost per conversion and the

conversion rates you can see once again

these top three which have the highest

conversion rates and the best cost per

conversions once again they have that

poor and average score now let's go down

to where we have an excellent ranked ad

and you can actually see that the

click-through rate SEO is really really

low it's 7.18 with a cost per conversion

of 89 and that conversion rate of 3.47

compared to what we're seeing right now

with those click-through ratios of up to

30 and 16 and a half percent with

conversion rates just under 15 so that's

a big increase on what we're seeing down

here when we had that excellent ad

stream so those were results that I just

showed you give really strong proof that

you don't just blindly follow the ad

ranking that Google gives you so as we

saw the current best performing ad has

an ad strength ranking of poor but it's

giving a click-through ratio of over 40

percent at a conversion rate of just

under 15 amazing results but what I do

want to stress with that example is that

that was after two years of split

testing and you can even see it right at

the start of that split testing journey

in March 2021 when we first started to

introduce responsive search ads we made

sure that those responsive search ads

had that excellent ranking now the

reason for why that's so important is

because because that ad rank is

important when you don't have any

existing click-through ratio and

conversion metrics and the reason for

this is because you know that a core

element with the Google search algorithm

is that Google only gets paid when

people click on your ads so Google is

putting some data together when it's

putting your ads into an auction and

it's really ranking is will this ad

actually get clicked on if this is a new

campaign you don't have any

click-through ratios you don't have any

historical conversion metrics the only

thing that Google really has is that ad

ranking

so that's why it's really important that

when you're starting a new campaign that

you do get those good and if you can

excellent scores but after you've built

out that click-through ratio now because

that ad even though Google ranks it as

poor Google is giving it a boost because

it has an incredibly High click-through

ratio and an incredibly High conversion

rates that are outperforming competitors

in the market so by breaking that all

down this is what I want you to take

away from that is that at the start

please do pay attention to those ad rank

scores but as I said after you've

completed three or four rounds of split

tests you can not worry about those ad

rank scores as much and you can really

be dictated by the click-through ratios

and the conversion rates now you heard

me talk about split testing process and

what I want to do to help you with that

is that I want to give you access to my

Google ads optimization checklist and

this lets you know exactly what you need

to be optimizing in your Google ads

account and it even tells you for

something like your Google ads ad copy

split tests you need to complete that

every 30 day guys so if you want to get

free access to my Google ads

optimization checklist all you need to

do is to follow that link in the

description below but right now let's go

back into a screen share because I now

want to break down and to give you some

greater context of how these ad ranks

are created now when you're creating

your responsive search ad or you're

editing your responsive search ad right

here you will see this score at the top

and you can see that it's made of four

different components now as we've showed

you before this is the current ad that

we're running that has the poor ranking

but is getting the amazing results but

as I said that's after two years of

split testing so we've got really clear

indicators of what works for this

campaign so what you want to be doing is

in order to get a score of excellent you

need to have a tick on each one of these

four and what it's looking at is to add

more headlines so what you'd want to be

doing is making sure that you're getting

your full allotment of 15 headlines as

you can see through here I've only got

12 but once again we've got that data so

we know the 12 that are working for us

you want to be including your keywords

and your headlines now a great way of

doing this is by using this Dynamic

keyword insertion if you don't know how

to use that it's basically you go

through into a headline and you type in

a squiggly bracket and then that'll show

up the keyword insertion type in your

keyword through there and click apply

and what that allows you to do is you

can see through here every time this

preview goes through you can see that

this first headline will change so

Fitness software app Gene management

software clubfit software so it changes

dependent on the keyword that triggered

the ad so that's a great way of easily

making sure that you're going to be

hitting off this tick then you need to

also make your headlines more unique now

this is where this one has gone down

because I've actually got two different

headlines pinned in so if I was to

remove these pins if you don't know what

the pin is it's saying that to Google

that I only want this headline to appear

in position two you can see straight

away that our ad rank has gone up from

poor to good and you can see that this

make your headlines more unique has now

been removed but because we've got lots

of data showing that that this is the

current split test that we're doing

that's why we're going to keep these in

here and then finally you can make your

descriptions more unique so once again

the reason why it's not there is because

we've got this one pinned in here so if

we were to remove all of these pins it

would probably take us up to excellent

and let's prove this as the last one

gone oh you can see we're up at good so

you do need to remember that pinning in

your headlines does actually bring your

score down but as we said looking at the

data that we've got the reason why we've

put that in is because we've got two

years of different ad copy tests so at

the start I would definitely recommend

that you're getting your ads in a way

that you can do excellent and then after

time when you do your split tests you

can not be as highly reliant on this ad

strength and really be guided by the

click-through ratios and the conversion

rates so let us now clean up for you

what to do when you get that poor

ranking or that good ranking or that

excellent ranking from Google for your

responsive search ads remembering that

especially when you're looking at a new

campaign do try and get a good if

possible and excellent ranking but after

you've gone through your rounds of split

testing especially three or four rounds

of split testing to really be guided by

your click-through ratio and your

conversion rates and not to focus so

much on the score that Google is giving

you and also remember that if you want

extra help with optimizing your Google

ads search campaigns to follow that link

in the description below so that you can

get free access to my Google ads

optimization checklist and if you'd like

to see more about how I complete my ad

copy split tests for Google search

campaigns I want you to go through and

watch this video right here once again

thank you for joining me my name is

Aaron Young from Define Digital Academy

and I'm your 15 000 hour Google ads

master and I look forward to seeing you

in this video to learn more about split

testing right now see ya