Search
Quality Score 10: what it takes, and what it saves.
Every paid search result is an auction, and it does not go to the highest bidder. Here is the score that decides it, and how to build an account that earns a 10.
Web
Conversion rate optimization: fix the landing page before you raise the budget.
Position One1 minute read
When ads underperform, the instinct is to change the ads or raise the budget. Often the problem is the page the ads send people to. Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is the work of turning more of the visitors you already pay for into leads and customers.
What makes a landing page convert
A converting landing page matches the ad that sent the visitor, states the offer in the headline, loads fast on a phone, and asks for one clear action. It shows proof, such as reviews, photos of real work and recognizable clients, near the ask. It removes distractions: no full menu, no competing offers.
Forms should ask only for what you need to follow up. Every extra field costs submissions. A tap-to-call button matters for local services, where many customers would rather talk.
Why the highest bid does not win the top slot
Search engines rank ads on bid multiplied by how relevant and useful the ad and landing page are. Raise relevance and the same budget buys a better position at a lower cost per click.
Bid × Quality Score = Ad Rank
Advertiser A$6.00 bid · Quality Score 4/10
Ad Rank 24
Position 2Pays more per click
Advertiser B (built the P1 way)$4.00 bid · Quality Score 9/10
Ad Rank 36
Position 1Pays less per click
Illustrative teaching example. Figures are simplified and are not client results; platform formulas include additional factors.
“The cheapest lead is the one you were already paying for.”
How to test properly
Change one meaningful thing at a time, such as the headline, the offer or the form, and run the test until you have enough conversions to trust the result. Small cosmetic tests rarely move the numbers; tests of the offer and the message usually do.
Measure the right conversion
Track the actions that lead to revenue: form submissions, calls longer than a minute, booked appointments and purchases. Then feed those back to the ad platforms so their bidding optimizes toward real customers.
Our landing pages and CRO service builds and tests these pages alongside the campaigns.
Sources
Position One
Position One runs paid search, AI search and political persuasion programs from Scottsdale, Arizona for clients nationwide.
Related reading
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Getting cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode: a 90-day plan.
A growing share of searches now end in an answer written by a model that cites a handful of sources. Being one of them is a different job from ranking. Here is the plan, in three 30-day blocks.
Political
The persuasion hub: four minutes with every voter.
A mailer gets seconds. A voter on a persuasion hub stays for minutes, and the two work best together. Here is what a hub is, what sits around it, and the sequence from first drop to ballot.
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