Facebook Algorithm Update Promises More Relevant Ads In Newsfeed

In an effort to deliver more relevant ads to users, Facebook has updated its algorithm yet again. What this means for marketers:

The latest changes have come as a result of feedback from brands and users regarding ads in the News Feed. Facebook aims to make ads more relevant to users by placing a higher emphasis on user feedback; for example, hiding or reporting ads.

Hong Ge, Facebook’s Engineering Manager for News Feed ads gave this example in his blog post:

” If someone always hides ads for electronics, we will reduce the number of those types of ads that we show to them.”

What does this mean for marketers?

Short term, this means that you may see some fluctuation in the distribution of your Facebook ads over the next few weeks while Facebook tests the changes.

It’s difficult to say now whether this change will have an impact on the reach or price of ads in the future. However, there are some steps marketers can take to ensure their ads are better received by their audience to avoid negative feedback.

1. Narrow your targeting

One of the best ways to make sure your ads aren’t being shown to uninterested users is to target effectively. Really dial into your target market and choose targeting that reflects their demographics, geography, and interests. Facebook has pretty amazing targeting capabilities, so take advantage of them! This will help your ads show up in the News Feeds of those who are most interested in your offerings and will also decrease the chance of paying for irrelevant clicks.

2. Create captivating ads

News Feed ads have a lot more real estate space, meaning that images and text are all the more crucial. On top of that, users still haven’t quite warmed up to the fact that advertisements have infiltrated their News Feeds, so soften the blow by showing them good ads. Take a look at one of our previous articles for more tips on creating effective Facebook ads.

Have any questions about Facebook advertising or this update in particular? Contact us below if you’d like an obligation-free consultation.

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth

Improve Your Quality Score For PPC With 3 Quick Tips

Google AdWord’s Pay Per Click (PPC) Quality Score is a rating system that determines the relevancy of your ads using factors like landing pages, keywords and search query. For those who use AdWords, a good Quality Score can mean better positions and lower cost per click. It’s Google’s way of rewarding quality ads and making it easier to enter the bid auction and get better placements at a lower cost. So how can you improve your PPC Quality Score?

AdWords Quality Score

First, it’s a good idea to check your current PPC Quality Scores to identify which ads need improvement. There are two ways you can view your Quality Score at the keyword level:

Checking the status of an individual keyword:

  1. Navigate to a campaign and click on the keywords tab
  2. Hover over or click the speech bubble in the status column next to any keyword

Adding a Quality Score Column to your reporting options:

  1. Navigate to a campaign and click on the Keywords tab
  2. Click on Columns in the toolbar
  3. Click Customize columns
  4. Select Qual. Score under the Attributes metric
  5. Save

Quality Scores in the 7-10 range are ideal. AdWords even gives you an idea of where your ads excel or fall short for three categories: Expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. If your PPC Quality Scores are less than satisfactory, don’t worry! Here are tips to help you make improvements for each category and increase your Quality Scores for PPC:

  • Improve Click-Through Rates – If any of your keywords on the Google network are getting less than 1% CTR, you may want to consider pausing or modifying them. Here are a few things you can do to help improve click-through rate:

Try changing your match types to target a more select group. By using exact match or phrase match, you are able to filter out traffic that may not be relevant to your ad.

Modifiers can give you more control than broad match, but don’t restrict your traffic as much as phrase match. Use modifiers as another option for targeting more relevant traffic.

Make your ad copy more appealing by changing the wording and including a strong call to action.

Use dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) to highlight certain keywords in your ad.

  • Tighten up Your Themes – Make sure your ad groups are tightly themed by keeping similar keywords in the same ad group to better ensure your keywords match your ads. Create a new ad group for every keyword that doesn’t jive with the rest in the group, and also – if you’re bidding on misspelled keywords, you’ll want to place those in their own ad group as well. Keeping your ad groups organized by theme will not only help improve your quality score but makes it easier to navigate your account and judge performance.
  • Sync Your Landing Pages – If your landing page doesn’t correlate with your ad, or the bounce rate is fairly high, that could affect your PPC Quality Score negatively. Make sure your ads relate closely to the pages they land on by using the same verbiage and keywords in your ads that users will also see on the landing page.
    If you have any questions on Quality Scores for PPC or AdWords in general, feel free to contact us!

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth