Having a good campaign quality score on LinkedIn is essential for marketers looking to get the most out of their advertising dollars on the platform. The quality score is LinkedIn’s way of rating the overall quality and predicted performance of ads and campaigns. The score is based on three factors: expected clickthrough rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience.
What is LinkedIn’s Campaign Quality Score?
LinkedIn’s campaign quality score is a metric ranging from 1 to 10 that represents the overall predicted quality of a campaign. It’s calculated by LinkedIn’s algorithm based on the following three components:
- Expected Clickthrough Rate (CTR) – The probability that an ad will be clicked when shown.
- Ad Relevance – How closely the ad matches the interests of the target audience.
- Landing Page Experience – The quality and relevance of the page people land on after clicking the ad.
Each component is given a score from 1 to 10 which are then averaged to calculate the overall campaign quality score. Campaigns with higher relevancy, expected CTR, and landing page scores will achieve better quality scores from LinkedIn’s algorithm.
Why the Quality Score Matters
The quality score impacts several aspects of a LinkedIn campaign:
- Ad Rank – The quality score makes up about 30% of the formula used to determine a campaign’s ad rank. Higher quality scores lead to higher ad ranks which can improve ad positioning and lower costs.
- Minimum Bids – LinkedIn establishes minimum bids based partly on quality scores. Higher scores mean lower minimum bids.
- Account Status – Quality scores influence your overall account status. Low scores could risk additional review or limitations by LinkedIn.
In summary, quality scores impact ad rank, costs, and account status. Marketers want to maintain the highest possible score for their campaigns on LinkedIn.
What is a Good Campaign Quality Score?
LinkedIn considers a quality score between 7 and 10 to be good or above average. Here is a breakdown of the quality score tiers:
Quality Score | Rating |
10 | Excellent |
8-9 | Good |
7 | Average |
6 | Needs Improvement |
1-5 | Poor |
Marketers should aim for a score of 8 or higher to ensure their LinkedIn campaigns are running efficiently. A score of 10 is ideal but not always realistic. Scores of 6 or below mean there are likely issues needing to be addressed with the campaign’s targeting, ads, or landing pages.
How to Improve Your LinkedIn Campaign Quality Score
Here are some tips to improve the quality score of your LinkedIn campaigns:
Enhance Ad Relevance
- Use precise targeting – Target titles, skills, company sizes, etc. relevant to your audience.
- Personalize ads with dynamic fields – Insert the member’s name, company, role, etc.
- Test different ad variations – See what messaging resonates best.
- Use high quality ad creatives – Eye-catching images, video, and design.
Increase Expected CTR
- AB test ad variations – Try different headlines, ad copies, images.
- Highlight value proposition clearly – What does the visitor get by clicking and visiting the page?
- Use call-to-actions that encourage clicks – “Register Now”, “Get Offer”, etc.
- A/B test landing page designs – Optimize pages to increase conversions.
Improve Landing Page Experience
- Ensure landing pages are relevant to the ads – Send people where they expect to go.
- Minimize steps to conversion – Get people to the goal quickly.
- Make landing pages mobile-friendly – Many LinkedIn visitors will click on phones.
- Fine-tune forms and CTAs – Remove extra fields, make buttons clear.
Let Quality Score Improve over Time
LinkedIn’s algorithm also takes into account historical performance data. Campaigns can sometimes start off with low scores but improve over days or weeks as data is collected on real-world results.
How to Check Your LinkedIn Campaign Quality Score
There are two ways to view the quality scores for your LinkedIn campaigns:
- In Campaign Manager – Click into the campaign, then view stats for the individual ads within it. The quality score breakdowns for each will be shown.
- In Reporting – Quality score is available as one of the columns when downloading campaign performance reports.
Checking at the ad-level will provide the most details on how each of the 3 components of the score are impacting it. Marketers should review quality score frequently to identify issues as campaigns are running.
Conclusion
A strong LinkedIn campaign quality score should be the goal of any marketer advertising on the platform. Scores of 8 or above are considered good, with 10 being excellent. The score is determined by ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience. There are several optimization tips to improve quality scores including better targeting, testing, and landing page optimization. Monitoring scores frequently and addressing any low scores can help LinkedIn campaigns reach their full potential.