Improve Your AdWords Account with the New AdWords Performance Grader

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

AdWords can be overwhelming to marketers and small business owners. It’s often hard for newcomers to understand their performance. Even the PPC connoisseurs needs to take time now and again to step out of the trenches to analyze where they stand on the AdWords battlefront.

This month, we’ve created the AdWords Grader in response to this very need. If you’re looking to improve your PPC performance (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), consider taking advantage this newly released tool from WordStream.

The AdWords Performance Grader grades your AdWords account performance by analyzing several key performance indicators such as Quality Score, Account Activity, Click-Through Rate, and Impression Share. It then compares your results against those of other AdWords advertisers with similar monthly budgets.

I’m not sure about most people, but there is a part of me that misses getting graded in school. It feels great to get a sense of where you stand. And even when it doesn’t feel so hot getting those Cs, at least you are given a new goal to shoot for. The AdWords Grader can be the affirmation or the kick in the pants you need to get in gear.

Better yet, the AdWords Performance Grader does more than simply asses your AdWords performance, it also gives you direct recommendations on how to improve your score and better your campaign.

Advantages of Using the AdWords Performance Grader

We’ve learned that marketers and small business owners are often desperate to know how they stack up against competitors and are always looking for ways to improve their accounts. They need a PPC audit, but those are usually expensive and time-consuming.

That’s why we made the AdWords Grader—it provides the same benefits of a PPC audit, but it’s free, quick, and easy to use. PPC users are loving the grader because it:

• Is easy to use and understand
• Provides the same kind of account analysis you’d expect from a consultant or agency
• Offers actionable insights and competitive intelligence
• It’s free!

Why We Compare You Against Advertisers of a Similar Spending Budget

The AdWords expectations for large business with large budgets will naturally be different than smaller business with smaller AdWords budgets. That’s why the Adwords Performance Grader grades your account against advertisers in similar spending ranges rather than sorting by industry.

Imagine you’re a small insurance company spending approximately $200 a month on AdWords. It certainly wouldn’t be fair to compare your account to huge advertisers such as GEICO, who spends millions per a month on AdWords.

Grading a small spending advertiser against a larger spending advertiser would give an inaccurate performance assessment, even if the two are in the same industry. That is why the AdWords Performance Grader grades your account against the thousands of other AdWords accounts we’ve graded with similar spending ranges. That way we can prove you with an accurate analysis of your performance.

What Key Metrics Are You Graded On?

After interviewing various marketers, customers, and advertisers, we compiled a list of key metrics that most everyone agrees are essential to a successful AdWords campaign.

• Quality Score
• Usage of negative keywords
• Impression share
• Click-through rate
• Long-tail keyword optimization
• Account activity
• Ad text optimization
• Landing page optimization

These are the metrics that Google themselves asks us to pay attention to, so we know these are essential factors to AdWords success. That’s why we have the AdWords Performance Grader evaluate your account on these important metrics.

How Is My Grade Calculated?

Your grade is based on a sliding scale. For example, with Quality Score we calculate your account’s average Quality Score and compare that score with other advertisers in your spend range.

If you’re the best in your class, you’ll get 100%. A 60% score means you’ve scored better than 60% of the other accounts in your spend range for that specific metric.

The overall account score is based on how you did in all of the different categories compared to other accounts of similar spend.

What Happens After my AdWords Account is Graded?

The AdWords Grader doesn’t just asses your account—it also provides you with immediate solutions and actions you can take to improve your score for each metric. Take advantage of the grader’s recommendations, and you’ll be seeing your score improve before you know it.

So try out the AdWords Performance Grader – it’s free expert advice after all. (And don’t worry, we never save your AdWords credentials, but once you get your report, it’s yours to keep for as long as you want.)
We created this tool to help SMBs develop a better understanding of their AdWords accounts, and our hope is to continue to improve the Performance Grader to make it even more helpful and insightful in the future.

About the Author: Megan Marrs is a marketing associate at WordStream, a provider of PPC software and a Keyword Tool for SEO and PPC.