Some Google advertisers are convinced that ad strength is a useless metric that should be ignored.
The diagnostic tool, touted by the search engine as an effective way to help marketers create better ads, has faced harsh criticism, with some labeling it a “waste of time.” Additionally, many marketers have noticed a peculiar trend: campaigns labeled with a “poor” Ad Power rating often outperform those with an “excellent” rating.
With the debate heating up, how much attention should PPC marketers pay to ad strength?
“Ad score doesn’t matter”
Mateja Matić, founder of Mastering Marketing and an online marketing expert for over a decade, shared his perspective on the power of advertising. Despite Google’s emphasis, Matić revealed that it does not prioritize ad strength when creating campaigns.
After running countless tests, he said Google’s responsive ads have never outperformed ads he set up manually. With that in mind, don’t trust Google’s automated recommendations. He wrote X:
“If you’re new to Google Ads, one thing to keep in mind is that Google’s recommendations aren’t necessarily the best things for your account. I can tell you from experience that most of the things they recommend for your account don’t work as well as other things you can do to improve your ads.” “I don’t think the ad strength score means anything. I have ads that are working really well and have a really bad ad strength score. It says ‘poor’ and yet they’re getting a 10 to 15% of potential customers.”
“Don’t worry about ad strength”
Frederick Vallaeys, co-founder and CEO of Optmyzr, provided insight into ad strength, noting that exceptional campaign performance does not always correlate with a high ad strength score. According to Vallaeys, ad strength mainly reflects general trends rather than the nuances of individual campaigns and audiences. Therefore, even if a campaign with a low Ad Intensity Score performs exceptionally well, Google will not change the score.
Vallaeys emphasized this point in a blog entryadvising experienced advertisers to prioritize other metrics over ad strength:
“If you’re worried that poor ad strength means your ad will run less often, rest assured that ad strength doesn’t affect your ad rank or quality score. In other words , if your ad is poor, it doesn’t mean Google is deprioritizing your ad in the ad auction.” “A higher ad strength does not mean a better CTR or a better conversion rate or a better Quality Score. If you’re new to advertising or don’t know what will work, consider this a tip. But if you’re a seasoned advertiser, do what you do best. Don’t be blinded by the strength of the ad.”
‘Waste of time’
Anthony Higman, CEO of the online advertising agency acquire, said he experimented with prioritizing ad strength when creating campaigns. Despite his efforts, he found that emphasizing the strength of the ad did not result in an increase in quality leads.
Through extensive testing, Higman concluded that he would prefer campaigns with “low ad power and good leads” to those with higher spend and less relevant leads, which he considered a “waste of everyone’s time” . Despite his skepticism about Ad Strength’s effectiveness in generating quality leads, Higman suspects that it may soon become a metric that influences ad ranking. He told Search Engine Land.
“I think they will soon make ad strength an ad ranking factor. About two months ago, a representative who contacted us said in an email that the “ad strength ” is a factor in ad ranking. I think he slipped. When I lost it and said “excuse me, but ad strength is not a factor in ad ranking,” he did step back.” “Either way, the strength of the ad will likely influence the ad’s ranking in the future, which is disappointing. We’re just praying they come to a solution before everyone jumps ship.”
Google responds
When Search Engine Land raised the PPC community’s concern about the relevance of Ad Strength, Brendon Kraham, VP of Search and Commerce at Google, addressed the issue. He stated that the strength of the ad is “very important” and emphasized its importance as an evaluation criterion that marketers should prioritize. He said:
“I don’t know where [the idea that Ad Strength is not important] comes from Ad strength is at the heart of what we’re trying to do is because creative is going to be incredibly important, and ad strength is going to be the mechanism that we’re going to use to measure that in both peak performance and channels like search “.
Kraham went on to explain that Ad Strength evaluates the breadth and depth of a campaign’s assets before assigning a score. According to Google, this breadth and depth of assets is crucial for reaching users through multiple channels, including SERPs, video viewing, and other creative opportunities. Google prioritizes this aspect, ensuring that campaigns are well-equipped to engage users effectively across platforms and formats.
The role of Performance Max
Kraham noted that PMax offers asset generation capabilities that can enhance ad strength. It highlighted that advertisers who take advantage of PMax’s asset generation capabilities during campaign creation have a 63% higher chance of achieving a Good or Excellent Ad Strength Score. This indicates how effective Performance Max is in optimizing ad assets and improving campaign performance. Added:
“Advertisers need to market to consumers at speed to ensure they are serving the right ads to the right user at the right time, but many advertisers, large and small, struggle to deliver the breadth and depth of assets needed If you take advantage [PMax’s] generative capabilities, it really gives advertisers the ability to put the right ads in front of the right user at the right time. It can really deliver on the promise of what marketing has been trying to do for quite some time.”
Is PMax the future of Google Ads?
Kraham concluded by emphasizing that AI represents the future of digital advertising, with PMax serving as a prime example of this concept. He highlighted how PMax gives businesses, especially small ones with limited resources, the ability to offer a wider range and depth of assets, allowing them to keep pace with evolving consumer preferences.
In his closing remarks, Kraham reiterated the importance of AI-powered solutions like PMax in empowering businesses to thrive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. He said:
“Automation is the future and PMax is the best example of AI in ads because it’s the only campaign type that runs through inventory using AI; both predictive and generative”. “We’ll continue to build in both cases because we need to help marketers reach consumers at the speed they’re operating at — PMax is the best manifestation of how to do that.”
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