Patient recruitment ads on Google: how to cut costs and get more clicks

Did you know Google charges you more if it decides your patient recruitment ads are of poor quality? And that it places poor quality ads further down the page where they get fewer clicks?

It does this to give users a good search experience. What constitutes a good search experience? One in which the most relevant results are given greatest prominence. Therefore, when Google measures the quality of your ad, the thing it’s trying to judge is how relevant it is to the needs of the person doing a search.

Once it identifies the relevance of your advertising, Google assigns you a Quality Score. This is what influences how much you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. And where your ad will be located on the page.

So, how is your Quality Score judged? The first thing you need to know is this: it’s calculated every time the keyword you want your ad to appear against is searched.

For example, let’s say your patient recruitment campaign is for a type 2 diabetes study. And you’ve instructed Google to show your ad each time someone searches the keyword ‘type 2 diabetes’. In this scenario, Google will determine your ad’s Quality Score every time someone undertakes that search.

How your Quality Score is determined

To measure your ad’s relevance, Google uses several yardsticks. The most influential is how often people have clicked on it when searching the current keyword. This is called the click-through rate (CTR). The higher your ad’s CTR, the higher your Quality Score.

Google also looks at other data to establish your Quality Score. In particular:

•    The CTR of all the other advertising you’ve run.
•    The quality of the web page your ad sends people to (this is judged manually by Google employees).
•    The relevance of your ad to the keyword you’ve purchased against.
•    The relevance of your ad and the keyword you’ve purchased to whatever the user is actually searching for.
•    The performance of all your ads in the geographic area in which you want your ad to be shown.
•    The historical CTR of the URLs (i.e. web addresses) you’ve displayed in other ads (all Google ads include a URL at the bottom).

How your costs are affected by your Quality Score

While Google doesn’t provide detailed information about this, analysis by third parties suggests the impact is significant. For example, according to ClickEquations, if your ad achieves the highest Quality Score possible, your cost per click will fall by about 30%. Conversely, they believe the lowest Quality Score will increase your cost per click by a whopping 600%.

Final thoughts

When thinking about Quality Score, don’t forget that it’s not the only factor that decides how much you pay every time someone clicks your ad. The amount you bid  - and the amount your competitors bid – is also key.

Likewise, your position on the page isn’t just down to your Quality Score. Rather, it’s a combination of your Quality Score and your bid.

Got a question for me about Quality Score? Leave it in the comments section below.