Microsoft AdCenter Intros Quality Score That Mimics Google’s

Microsoft has announced it will be rolling out a Quality Score feature within adCenter aimed at giving advertisers feedback on how their keywords are performing — very similarly to Google’s Quality Score.

Interestingly, Microsoft says scores won’t directly — stressing the word directly — influence how ads are ranked, but it’s more of a reflection of how well the ads are performing in the marketplace. Google uses the quality score to determine cost-per-click and ranking.

The Microsoft Quality Score will show one number, 1 through 10, at the keyword level for each match type. Advertisers will also be able to see three sub-scores for keyword relevance, landing page relevance, and landing page user experience. Keyword relevance, a measure of how relevant advertiser’s keyword is, compared to others buying the same keyword, will have three possible scores: good, no problem, poor. Landing page relevance and landing page user experience will show how relevant the landing page is to the query, and whether the landing page meets relevance and quality guidelines, respectively. These will be ranked as either no problem or poor.

Besides looking at the above-mentioned metrics, Google uses historical click-through rate for the keyword as well as the account as a whole. It also looks at the relevance of the keyword to the ads and geographic performance, as well as other, non-specified “relevance factors.”

When it launches on adCenter, scores will be visible and exportable from the web user interface. They will also be accessible through adCenter reporting and reporting APIs.