Hot Tip! AdWords Quality Score Algo Update

[RonnieG]

Google has posted some details of a quality score algo update that will supposedly take effect over the next week or so. Possibly starting as soon as Monday 2/19. Re:

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2007/02/...e-updates.html

Pay close attention to how you should activate the Quality Score column for your keyword detail stats. A review of QS for my keywords shows all but two as "Great", and I was able to identify why those two were only "OK", and fix it on the applicable landing page.

If you have any keywords that are not "Great", it probably means:
a) The keywords are not present in the ad text, or
b) The landing page does not have the words of the keyword phrase in it's content, preferably in a H1 or H2 style tag, or
c) The landing page does not have at least some of the words in the keyword phrase in its Title and/or Description.
d) Some of all of the above.

Besides "Great", I have also seen "OK" and "Poor" ratings on keywords in some client campaigns that I manage, each time due to landing page quality issues. Most of those I could fix because I also manage their landing pages, but in cases where they have other web site support arrangements, they will have to get the issues fixed themselves or face drastically reduced AdWords traffic, and/or higher CPC charges, once the new algo is fully rolled out. If a keyword's QS is really bad, Google may even disable it and assign a minimum bid or $5, or $10., depending on just how bad it is.

If you are running your own AdWords campaigns, plan on having lots of fun making adjustments to your bids that will surely be necessary with this new algo over the coming several weeks! You should get any QS ranking issues identified and fixed ASAP, preferably before the algo changes are fully implemented.

PS: A recent glitch related to early release of the new QS stats column and erroneous keyword status reporting was reported by lots of advertisers, and supposedly fixed by Google in the last day or two. I saw it myself, and also saw it go away, so at least in my campaigns, it seems to be fixed.

[Dj]

Thanks for posting this Ron. I thought I was going crazy. I have some of the $10 ones. Here's one, they want $10 for "fox wood homes" for this site:

http://www dot foxwoodtrinityhomes dot com/

I will put it in a tag and see what happens, I guess, or I could change the title too.

[Lydia]

Google is pretty stupid more often than not.

For 'augusta real estate' I get a quality rating of 'OK'.
For 'real estate augusta' I get a quality rating of 'poor'.

For the 1st keyword, that string appears as the title of my landing page, the title of my ad, and appears within the first paragraph of my land page. I dunno what it takes to get a quality rating of 'great', I guess.

[Dj]

where do you see the quality rating?

[Lydia]

where do you see the quality rating?

It's an optional column category for your keywords. Right above your keyword list, you should see a 'customize columns' link.

[Dj]

Thank you, I found it. You are right about them being stupid. I have a few "great" ratings and I can't figure out why. The greats actually are less targeted than some of the ok's or poor's.

[RonnieG]

Google is pretty stupid more often than not.

For 'augusta real estate' I get a quality rating of 'OK'.
For 'real estate augusta' I get a quality rating of 'poor'.

For the 1st keyword, that string appears as the title of my landing page, the title of my ad, and appears within the first paragraph of my land page. I dunno what it takes to get a quality rating of 'great', I guess.

Try putting something like this in your landing page content:
"Find real estate in Augusta Georgia quickly with our home search." (with link to your search page). "in" is just a noise word to Google, so whether it is there or not should not matter.

Part of the "optimization" of AdWords landing pages for best QS is to include as many of your keyword phrase words as possible, with the landing page text reordered in various ways to replicate the different word sequences in your keyword phrases. Coincidentally, this is not any different from reordering your key words for improving SEO for best organic results on long tail searches. Imagine that! This is one reason that AdWords landing pages with no real content, and just sign-up forms, and landing pages that are not very community specific, will probably not do well with this new algo update.

[RonnieG]

Thanks for posting this Ron. I thought I was going crazy. I have some of the $10 ones. Here's one, they want $10 for "fox wood homes" for this site:

http://www dot foxwoodtrinityhomes dot com/

I will put it in a tag and see what happens, I guess, or I could change the title too.

Nowhere in the page text or Title or Description do I see I see any "Fox Wood homes", "Homes in Fox Wood", "Fox Wood real estate", or anything else that I would normally as keyword phrases. Thus Google's QS determination is on target.

Folks, this is just Google's latest signal that landing pages contents absolutely MUST match your ads and their keywords, or you will pay dearly for good positions. Advertisers who understand this, and build their ads, keywords and landing pages accordingly will have a distinct advantage because they will be paying less for their positions than a poorly constructed ad and landing page. Google has been moving in this direction since this time last year, and has said so in many forums, so it should be no surprise to anyone.

[Dj]

I haven't seen it anywhere but I don't read up on all this stuff as much as you do. It's so hard to keep up with everything and work at the same time. I understand it though now. I will start fixing my "ads" tomorrow. Thanks for your help!

[RonnieG]

... It's so hard to keep up with everything and work at the same time.

You've got that right! That's why I focus on PPC and not SEO. And also why I gave up trying to build and maintain my own custom site long ago, and went to a P2A template site. It's hard enough to keep up with business, much less everything technical. That's why Morgan and the REW team get paid the big bucks! And why we need to continue to try to help each other.