AdCenter's Quality Score

I've been catching up on my PPC related reading today after an incredibly busy week.

One post that caught my eye was made by Al Scillitani of Search Engine News. Among other things, the post discusses AdCenter's 'Quality Score" and some of the factors that are used in determining what it is. Here's the snippet that grabbed my attention:

"They look at Cost Per Click, Click Thru Rate, and Landing Page Relevancy which is very similar to Google.

The difference between MSN and Google is this, the Landing Page Relevancy in MSN goes one step further. If the actual keyword you are bidding on is not found on the landing page, your ad may actually be declined."

It's that last line that I'm wondering about. I did a quick review of my account and a decent potion of my approved ads are using keywords that are not found on the landing page. The lack of the keyword on the landing page doesn’t seem to have had a negative impact on the ad's CTR or subsequent conversion rate either.

To take this a step further I would pose the following scenario as an example as to why, at a global level with no room for exceptions, this policy would not be beneficial to MSN or its advertisers.

Let's say for example McDonalds wanted to advertise via AdCenter. They want maximum exposure so they bid (among other things) on what they feel to be a term that will help reach their target audience - "fast food". Now they don't want that term in their ad nor does it appear on their landing page - they're busy trying to shake the image of being a "fast food" restaurant but realize a significant portion of their target audience still views them as a fast food restaurant. They need to get into that market as part of an overall strategy to shake that image.

Should the ad be denied?

Food for thought. Have good weekend.