Types of Sites Penalized by AdWords

Yesterday a new post was made to the AdWords Blog, websites that may merit a low landing page quality score.

The post talks about two categories of sites - one set that will almost automatically receive a low landing page quality score and may even lead to AdWords account termination, and, another set of sites that will "likely" lead to a low landing page quality score.

Here are the types of sites the AdWords team say will receive a low landing page quality score:

- Data collection sites that offer free gifts, subscription services etc., in order to collect private information

- Arbitrage sites that are designed for the sole purpose of showing ads

- Malware sites that knowingly or unknowingly install software on a visitor's computer.

Interesting list, and obviously it's open to interpretation. Some would argue that services such as Gmail (or a Google account in general) would be classified as "data collection" and Google.com search results pages as "Arbitrage" pages. Google search results pages exist for the sole purpose of serving ads, right?

The post also referenced additional types of sites that "may" lead to a low quality landing page score. Those sites include sites such as:

- eBook sites that show frequent ads or install malware

- 'Get rich quick' sites

- Comparison shopping sites

- Travel aggregators

- Affiliates that don't comply with our affiliate guidelines

The reference to ebook sites seems odd. "Frequent ads" is obviously a relative number and malware sites were covered in the "likely to be penalized" list. I guess there must be a large number of ebook sites that dabble in arbitrage + malware.

The "get rich quick sites" listing is also a bit odd. What's your definition of quick? How about rich? In the past few years people have made significant incomes via AdSense practically overnight. Adsense publishers literally make money while they sleep. Google promotes AdSense over the AdWords network - I'm willing to bet the AdSense landing page does not have poor landing page quality score:-)

Next up is comparison shopping sites. Google has one of those too. Bet it doesn't get a low landing page quality score:-)

Finally the list closes out with travel aggregators and affiliates that don't adhere to Google's affiliate guidelines. I haven't really spent any time in the travel space and off the top of my head would think that some travel sites that pull info (i.e. consolidate) from other sites to help a potential traveler get a good deal or review lots of information from various sources at once would be helpful to the end user. I guess like the ebook sites that show "frequent" ads and/or install malware there must be something in the travel space I'm not aware of. In terms of affiliate sites, I don't think that surprises anyone. Any who's an affiliate and an AdWords users has known about this for quite some time now.

On the bright side the post from the AdWords team will help end some of the speculation about what AdWords is looking for and what they are looking block from their system. On the not so bright side it seems to this marketer that Google is following the "do as we say not as we do" logic and is making exceptions for their products and services that may fall into the site categories they listed in the post.

Feel free to share your thoughts, comments & opinions on Google's landing page quality score post.

Free Search Ads on Google Mobile

I received this earlier today regarding a free trial of AdWords ads on Google mobile search results:


"Hello XXXXXXXX,

We are happy to announce a new feature that will allow you to easily reach additional qualified customers who are searching Google from their mobile phones.

In the next few days, your search ads will be eligible to run on Google Mobile Search pages (like they currently do on Google.com).We are offering this feature - and any resulting clicks - for free through November 18, so you can experiment with the rapidly growing mobile platform while still reaching qualified customers.

Each ad's eligibility will be determined by its landing page and only ads with landing pages that can be adapted for viewing on mobile browsers will be shown. You can monitor each ad's performance via a special performance tracking page within your account called "Performance Data: Search Ads on Google Mobile Search."

Again, you will not be charged for clicks on these ads until November 19, at which time we will begin charging the usual CPC prices. And as always, you may opt-out of this feature at anytime.

We hope you find this new feature helpful and profitable, and we urge you to learn more about it at our AdWords Help Center:

http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=72226

Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords.
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team "

Looks like you're opted in by default if you meet the standards. If mobile isn't for you make sure to login and opt out

I'm sure a lot of advertisers will try it out while it's free but wonder what the retention rate will be when the trial ends.

There will be banner ads on the Google homepage and/or web search results pages

Back in late 2005 Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products & User Experience at Google wrote;

"There will be no banner ads on the Google homepage or web search results pages. There will not be crazy, flashy, graphical doodads flying and popping up all over the Google site. Ever."

Fast forward to 2007...

At the recent Citigroup Technology conference in New York Nick Fox & Sundar Pichai made some comments in relation to image/video ads being integrated into Google's universal search results;

"Fox says integrating video or image ads into sponsored search results is an option that has come up in internal discussions, since search ads are there to give users information that is most relevant to their query. "In many cases that's a text ad," Fox says. "In some cases, it may be an image, a video, or something else. But the risk is not showing something garish or flashy, because users would become blind to the ads and it would hurt the business long-term."

And Pichai added;

"the images and video ads you see today on content networks are not what will work. They won't carry over well." Any steps Google makes will have to be "incremental and evolutionary."

Personally, I think it's a logical step that needs to be taken with the introduction of Universal Search. There are times when a video or image ad will result in a better user experience when compared to standard text ad. I think Google is taking the correct approach to this - "incremental & evolutionary".

A key element that will need consideration (and I'm sure most would agree) is the current "instant approval" for ads/keywords that run on Google's own search results. I think video/image ads would all have to go through an approval process, similar to site targeted or content network ads do. I could just imagine some of the video/image ads people would try and sneak into Google's results and the outcry that would follow.

I've been in discussions with other search marketers who strongly disagree, for a number of reasons, with the opinion that image and video ads have a place in Google's search results. A few years back I was on that side of the fence as well but with Universal Search staring search marketers in the face it's time to accept that image & video ads will be in the search results in the future. We can either get our video and image assets in line and ready to use or pretend like it won't happen and watch our competitors jump ahead of us in that space.

Thoughts on image and video ads in Google's results? Feel free to comment.

Hiring an AdWords Professional

From time to time I am asked how someone should go about finding (and hiring) a professional to manage their AdWords (and PPC in general) marketing. While there isn't a "one size fits all" approach I recommend there are a few places to look and things to ask a potential AdWords professional if you are considering using them to manage your AdWords account(s). In no particular order:

- Check sites like this for qualified individual and company listings. Mainstream sites like this tend to have a number of potential candidates as well. Google Maps can also help you locate AdWords Professionals.

- If you have identified someone you are interested in using look for the AdWords Qualified Individual or Qualified Company logo/status page. While the requirements to be a "Qualified Individual" are fairly light someone holding that qualification has at minimum demonstrated a basic understanding of the fundamental elements of managing an AdWords account.

- Ask for references. AdWords management is pretty cut and dry - objectives are either met or are they are not. That's the beauty of direct marketing, it's very measurable. While to me references are not a deal breaker (no one would give you references that would say anything bad about them anyway) they are none the less still important.

- Look for an AdWords professional with EXPERIENCE IN YOUR INDUSTRY. This one's important. You don't want to pay for someone to learn what works in your industry - you want someone who already knows what works and can get your campaign into the black at light speed. If you sell products and the AdWords account manager your are talking with has done nothing but lead generation kindly thank them and move on the next candidate. Sales & lead generation are not the same....not even close. Look for a professional that knows your market. It's important. Really important.

- Read the point above this one one more time.

- Ask what technology (if any) they use for bid management. Once you get tied into someone who's using bid management technology to run your account it can be a pain to move out of that relationship into a more manual operation. I'm not a huge fan of bid management but to each their own.

Related - pros and cons of bid management.

- Ask them some specific questions about AdWords. What are the types of keyword matching? What is your assessment of the viability of the content network? What type of results have you seen with Google's PPA platform? How many campaigns can I have? What type of geo targeting options are available? Do you use the AdWords Editor?

You don't need to ask complicated questions, just the basics to see if the person you're talking with is yanking your chain. A few years ago when I was looking for a part time PPC manager to help with some overflow work I asked a potential candidate (who indicated they had 3 years experience) what they thought of using dynamic keyword insertion. They had never heard of it. End of interview:-)

- Of course there's the issue of money. Odds are your AdWords Pro will want some:-) There are a number of methods out there for pricing AdWords management.

Percentage of spend - usually 10 - 20%.
Performance based.
Flat monthly fee (usually tied to number of keywords).
By the hour.

There really isn't a one size fits all method here either. How you pay will be based primarily on your business and the expectation set for the management of your account. For example, I won't work on a performance based contract unless I have full (or close to it) control of the landing pages that will be used for the campaigns. Most people are working on the % of spend or performance based models at the present time.

- Have a trial period. If you're being asked to sign a long term agreement right from the get-go that cold be a bad sign. Look for initial agreements to be 90 days or less depending on the industry. In most cases 90 days is sufficient for both sides to feel each other out and make sure they are comfortable with the performance and associated expectations.

- Google them by name / company name. While Internet reviews can easily be faked you may some information about the company or person your are considering that is helpful is in your decision making process.

- If you do end up at the contract stage of an agreement, make sure ownership of the account and it's related pieces are clearly established. When possible seek a non-compete clause. If your relationship at some point ends with your account manager the last thing you want is for them to (legally) share your keywords or other strategies with your competition.

- It just needs to feel right. If you've ever bought something from someone you know what I'm talking about. You should "feel good" about the person or company you are working with.

Everyone is different and I'm sure many people have criteria not on this list that would be important to them when seeking a paid search pro. Take your time, use your judgement and run any potential candidates through your own process to find a person or company you feel comfortable with. If you have things you look for in an AdWords (or other PPC) account mananger feel free to share in the comments.

Good luck!

Getting the Top Spot - Google AdWords

Earlier this week Google announced they are changing the way ads are promoted to the top spot above the search results (not the top spot on the right of the results). Here's a snippet of the announcement:

"Quality Score is the greatest determining factor in top ad placement, which means no one will ever be able to pay their way to the top. We have, however, been working on an improvement to the top ad placement formula that will soon offer advertisers more control over achieving top placement while increasing the quality of our ad results for users.

The key change to the formula will be how we consider price. Today’s formula considers an ad’s Quality Score and actual cost-per-click (CPC). The improved formula will still heavily weight Quality Score, but instead of actual CPC, it will consider an ad’s maximum CPC. "

Basically what that is saying is that instead of using your actual CPC, they will now use whatever you have entered as a max CPC. The old model for the top spot(s) looked like this: Ad Rank = Actual CPC X Quality Score. The new model is Ad Rank = Max CPC bid X Quality Score. It was explained in the AdWords FAQ/help as follows:

"For the top positions above Google search results, we use a slightly different formula. First, only ads that exceed a certain Quality Score threshold may appear in these positions. Second, for ads that do surpass this Quality Score threshold, we use the actual CPC rather than the maximum CPC when determining their ranking in the top spots. This ensures that Quality Score plays an even more important role in determining the ads that show above the search results."

So who wins here (besides G' of course)? I say it's the advertisers with the largest budget - theoretical or actual.

For example let's say I sell cars. I have a small dealership and I compete with a number of larger local car dealers in the paid search space. I've been holding the top spot for years. I have great ads that are well received by users and my site provides a phenomenal user experience. I've had my max bid set at $3.00 CPC and actual has been coming in around $1.80 for the past 12 months. All my competitors, despite their larger advertising budgets, have always appeared below my ads in the search space. They have max bids that are 10X mine - they can afford to pay for some tire kickers - I can't.

Now when I check my ad position after this update who do you think will hold the top spot? My "quality" has always surpassed my competitor but now they are getting credit for a $30 max bid even though their actual bid probably comes in at around the same CPC as mine. Is having a max bid that's 10X my max bid going to push them above me? While it's just speculation at this point I would say it will, and I think this will be proved out in the coming weeks.

As a small advertiser I suppose I could just up my max bid to $50 knowing that at least for now, I'll still pay a much lower CPC...at least until my large bank rolled competitor ups their max bid to $75. At some point the small advertiser will be forced to accept positions 2 - 10...the tops spot will indeed be for sale, despite what's posted here. Why would I say that?

The only real variable here is the Max CPC. Everything else is an even playing field. Ads, landing pages, keyword selection, etc can all be built to the highest standards by a guy in his basement just as easily as they can be by a large team of paid search pros. So what's the real variable? What separates the little guy from the big players?

Money.

The big guys will always be able to significantly out bid the little guy. It's not even so much what they actually pay as what they are willing to pay. The guy in his basement can build a perfect landing page, get all the right keywords and write perfect ads and he'll still have to settle for positions other than #1 if big money moves into the space.

I don't fault Google for this change....they are a public company and have obligations to their shareholders. Putting the top spot up for sale should have a nice impact on their bottom line.

The bright side for the "little guy" in all this is the fact that most who have tested have seen that the top AdWords spot is rarely the best converting position. Combine lower conversion rates (top spot gets tons of curiosity clicks) with an ever increasing CPC and spots 2 - 10 just became a lot more appealing.

Some related reading:

AdWords Help Center - Top Ad Position Formula Change

Google AdWords "Promotion Algorithm" Will Change @ SER

Want Top Ad Position on Google? The Rules are About to Change @ SEL

AdWords Top Placement Formula Changing @ The Lonely Marketer

AdWords Top Placement Formula is Set for a Face lift @ PPC Hero

Things You Shouldn't Care About in PPC

I spend quite a bit of time reading various blogs and forums relating to PPC. One common theme in a lot of these places is the PPC questions asked by folks new to the PPC game. Here are a few common PPC questions that you quite frankly should not care about.

Question: What's an average CTR or is (insert % here) a good CTR.

Why it doesn't matter: I always advise people to focus on attaining the highest possible CTR they can, while of course keeping ROI in mind. A higher CTR will lead to a reduced CPC which if everything else is being done correctly should have a positive impact on ROI. Knowing what an "average CTR" is - even if it was possible to get that info (it's not) would do you and your campaign no good. In terms of a "good ctr", that's another metric that won't do you any good. To me a good CTR is one that gets my ad in the position I want for the price I want. Sometimes that's a CTR of less than 1%, other times it's 20 - 40% or more.

Even if someone could tell you the average CTR, or what a good CTR was it would do you no good.

Question: How can I get my ad in the top spot everytime?

Why it doesn't matter: Unless you're asking that question because you know, based on the data, that the top spot provides the best ROI for your campaign you're most likely wasting your time & money. Outside of brand terms, I've found the top spot in the majority of work I've done to be far from the best performing position in terms of ROI.

Question: Keyword tool XYZ told me I could get X number of clicks/impressions for keyword ABC. I set up a campaign to target that phrase but my numbers are no where near what the estimation said they would be. Is there a more accurate keyword forecast tool? How can I better estimate the amount of traffic I'll get/spend?

Why it doesn't matter: Keyword estimation tools, at this point, can't take into account all the variables associated with a campaign. People make the mistake of thinking that if keyword tool XYZ says a terms gets 100,000 impressions a day you can estimate a % of clicks you should get. Nothing is further from the truth. Aside from the where the data comes from question, there are a number of other variables (like all the other stuff on the serps for 1) that influence the actual traffic delivery. When asked for keyword estimates I have three possible answers I provide ~ high, medium or low. Anything more specific than that is just make believe. Run a small trial campaign and use the data gathered from it to arrive at an estimate.

Question: How many keywords should I bid on?

Why it doesn't matter: The number of keywords is in no way directly related to the success of a PPC campaign. You want to bid on the right keyword(s) for your situation. In some cases that may be 1. In other cases it may be 1,000,000. There's no "bid on this number of keywords and you will be successful" magic number.

Question: What do you think of ebook/book from AdWords Guru XYZ?

Why it doesn't matter: Unless you're asking a friend or associate you have no way of knowing if the person giving you the answer has any idea what they are talking about. This kind of advice is almost as worthless as keyword estimation tools;-)

Question: Where can I see what my competitor is bidding?

Why it doesn't matter: You can't, and even if you could it wouldn't do you any good.

Question: Can I find out what keywords my competition is bidding on?

Why it doesn't matter: Do some searching and you may be able to find some tools, if you're good enough you can probably build one of your own. I'll say this - the competition may not be as sophisticated as you think. Don't think just because they are bidding on something means it's working. Spend your time focusing on what you're bidding on and making it work. There's more to a successful campaign than just the keywords.

Those are just a few of the questions I see again and again that I don't think having the answers for would do anyone any good. Feel free to disagree:-)

Use "lousy content" for your ppc landing pages

And pay a lot more than you need to.

I read SEL pretty much every day. Lots of great stuff out there. I was reading an article on duplicate content today and was a bit surprised to see the following;

"The bottom line is that the engines are actively seeking out lousy content and removing it from their main results. If this sounds like your site, don't be surprised to wake up one day and find you've lost some or all of your rankings. It's time to bite the bullet and use them as PPC landing pages instead. There's definitely some irony in the fact that those types of pages are welcome in Google if you're willing to pay for each clickthrough you receive, but those are obvious moneymaker pages, and Google has a right to demand their cut."

Go read the whole article so you can see that in it's original context.

A few years back that was pretty much spot on...you could get decent traffic at a reasonable price (regardless of the landing page) so skip the organic route and just buy your way in. Things have chanced over the last few years (heck, even over the last few months) and "lousy content" doesn't fair much better in the paid results (talking AdWords here) than it does in the organic results. Sure, you can bid $10 per click and get clicks all day but odds are that won't be profitable for anyone...except of course Google.

The article is a nice explanation of duplicate content but misses the mark in terms of what will and won't work in paid search. Lousy content will cost you - one way or the other. If you want to compete in the paid search space take the time & learn how build and optimize your landing pages. It may take a little more effort to set up but will pay for itself in the long run.

It's time to bite the bullet and fix your lousy pages...organic, ppc or otherwise.