Mary BerkDirector of Network QualityNovember 13, 2008PubCon, Las Vegaswww.advertising.microsoft.comwww.adcentercommunity.com

Learning to Love Your Quality Score

2

Loving Your Quality Score?

Love? (Really?!?)

A recent study concluded the following – among “active searchers”:

• If a user is given poor ads, she is 60% less likely to use the engine again

• If a user is given poor ads she is 40% less likely to recommend the search engine

• If a user is given poor ads she is 25% less likely to make the search engine a “preferred engine”

• What’s more, a user will rank the entire search engine 60% lower if he is given poor ads on a single engagement

• There may be a relationship between the quality of ads and the perceived relevance of the top organic listings

• If a user is given good ads he will put the top sponsored in his initial consideration set; if he is given a single poor ad he will not include any top sponsored in his consideration set

#1 ask from advertisers is to grow query share. We have to care about quality.

3

What does a Quality Score do?

What does a Quality Score do (aside from the obvious)?

• Determines an advertiser’s minimum bid for a keyword based on various factors

• Determines an ad’s rank:

Old Way: Rank = Bid x CTR

New Way: Rank = Bid x CTR x QS

• Gives visibility to advertisers about how algorithm changes may have affected them (acts as a disclosure mechanism)

• Gives actionable feedback on various aspects of campaigns to advertisers

• Incents advertisers to optimize their campaigns – better performance lower costs

• Helps advertisers spend money – sounds funny, but it’s true

4

The logistics of a quality score – How it works, roughly…

The “Secret Sauce “

Input #1

Input #2

Input #3

Input #4

Input #5

Landing Page Score

Ad Text Score

User Engagement

Score

Bidding Score

Min Bid

5

What do we consider as inputs into quality? • Account-level factors

– Does the account have a high number of policy violations? – Does the account make frequent appeals that are not overturned? – Is the account on the hole regarded highly by consumers?

• User inputs – Does the user find what she needs on the site? – Are there strong conversion levels? – Does the ad perform well regardless of position? – Does adCenter receive consumer complaints about the advertiser?

• Site behavior and attributes– Is there a responsible privacy policy? – Does the site violate adCenter policies? – Does the site offer pop-ups, leave-behinds, or disable the back button?

• Ad text attributes – Is there a strong call to action? – Is the statement grammatically correct? Spelled correctly?

• Keyword bidding behavior– Are keywords deeply relevant to the advertiser’s site? – Does advertiser bid on inappropriate terms, including trademarks?

Our primary focus is on the end user’s experience

6

How We Think of the Microsoft Advertising Network

6

7

Quality Counts!

Traffic Quantity Isn’t Everything…. Quality Counts

adCenter/Live Search

• Led overall conversion rates (3.8%) among search engines

• Drove 18% of purchase and 15% of dollars based on 9% of the traffic, indicating adCenter/Live Search’s efficiency in driving conversion and dollars spent early during the purchase cycle

• Special strength areas include mass merchants, department stores, specialty apparel, specialty home, and consumer electronics advertisers. 

Custom research by NNR for Microsoft adCenter, January 2008

8

Disallowed Advertiser Types

• Made for Advertising (MFA)– Not permitted

• Spammers & Scammers – Not permitted

For more information on adCenter quality suggestions and policies, please visit:

• Quality Guidelines• http://help.live.com/help.aspx?project=adCenter_live_ss&mkt=en-us&querytype=key

word&query=yekdi128

Path: help.live.com, search on “high-quality ad experience” • Blog Post and Policies

http://www.adcentercommunity.com/blogs/advertiser/archive/2008/07/03/reap-the-benefits-of-high-quality-ads-how-to-deliver-a-high-quality-experience-to-your-customers-on-live-search.aspx

Path: Home>Advertise>Search Advertising>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

9

adCenter Community Gets More Sociable!

http://Twitter.com/adCenterBlog

www.adCenterCommunity.com

10

Getting Started with Microsoft Advertising Microsoft Advertising Products

• adCenter – Search-based ads (http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising )

• adCenter Publisher – Publish adCenter’s ads on your website (see Betas below)

• Content Ads – our contextual ads program. Your ads could be seen on Facebook, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fox Sports, MSN, and more. (http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/content-advertising)

• Mobile Search, Cashback, Display ads, and more

Tools

• adCenter Add-In – Understand your keywords (http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/adcenter_addin)

• adCenter Analytics – Know your traffic (http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/adcenter-analytics)

• adCenter Desktop – Manage your campaigns offline (see Betas below)

Resources

• adCenter Community Blog – www.adcentercommunity.com

• Participate in Betas – http://advertising.microsoft.com/adcenter-beta-pilot-home

11

Thank You. Mary Berkmberk@microsoft.com

http://advertising.microsoft.comhttp://adcentercommunity.comhttp://Twitter.com/adCenterBlog