From Great to poor in the last few hours...

[chrisd]

Today I got many of my best keywords in different campaigns go from Great to Poor (with $10 bids!!!!).

Some of these keywords were running for months under Great. I did not make any changes on the landing pages neither (since months).

What is also weird is that this switch (Great to Poor) is happening across campaigns of unrelated products (going to the same site).

Anyone experienced this issue ? a solution ?

Thanks,
C

[Josiah]

You've been SLAPPED buddy

[chrisd]

I know I still can't believe it. Do I have to slap someone back to fix it ?

I'm talking about keyowrds/landing_page/ads combination I haven't touched since at least April. They have been performing well no need to touch anything.

Here are the stats (last month) of 2 of the many keyword that got that increase. These like many others had the Quality Score "Great" yesterday and for weeks before (months ?). Those keywords are performing well for me.

Clicks /Imp(rounded) /CTR /Avg. CPC/ Cost

1,995 35,000 5.80% $1.03 $2,058.36
or
253 3,1002 8.20% $1.16 $292.22

I don't even know how many keywords got slapped its probably half my account!

Any solution ?
I probably have to get on the phone with Adwords...

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Chris

[Sjorritsma]

Same here. Site i've had for 1-2 years on adwords are hit.

In februari we had the same problem. In februari it was a technical issue.

Call them and they will tell you if it is a technical problem.

Let us know what they told you.

[chrisd]

I just have their general support number: 1.866.246.6453 open from 7:00AM to 6:00PM on Fridays.....

I also sent an email about 1 hour ago.

Will post back here what happens.

Did you just pause everything when it happend to you?

Because right now, it is still showing fractionally (like 10%) on my high traffic keywords and charging me the full BID (which normally never happens).

Did you try to accept the $10 bid to see what happens ?
Would it return to normal after a few $10 clicks?

Thanks,
Chris

Update: And yea it's over half my account. I will not be spending much money today with Adwords unless they can fix this quick. I understand better why I see some people focus also on Yahoo and AdCenter. Whatever the outcome, this will be a very good lesson...

[Latesem]

There was a new update on the quality score system so you must be affected. You will pay the minimum bid per click and it won't go down unless it's not a quality score issue.

Sometimes the quality score fails with some sites or you only have to change a small thing. Good luck!

[Sjorritsma]

In februari it lasted for 3 days. It started also on a thursday/friday.

In panic I deleted 3 of my campaigns. And started 3 new ones, with a poor QS of 0,80 - 8.00 dollar min. bid. Then I raised my min. bid to 8 dollar. That costed me 500-600 dollar in 2 hours. They will charge you for the 8 bucks for every click.

Today I just paused the keywords which are poor and wait for my adword rep. to answer.

[rustybrick]

This is an update on the AdWords side. I have more information from Google at http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013773.html

[Sjorritsma]

Thanks for the info

[chrisd]

Originally Posted by Sjorritsma

In februari it lasted for 3 days. It started also on a thursday/friday.

In panic I deleted 3 of my campaigns. And started 3 new ones, with a poor QS of 0,80 - 8.00 dollar min. bid. Then I raised my min. bid to 8 dollar. That costed me 500-600 dollar in 2 hours. They will charge you for the 8 bucks for every click.

Today I just paused the keywords which are poor and wait for my adword rep. to answer.

Thanks Sjorritsma this is money saving data. I will just lay low...

Thanks rustybrick for linking both worlds, it's good to see I'm not alone...I know how they feel.

I like "pexcornel" reaction "such a bull#*$! Adwords these days. " I have to agree and I would even like to add "Adwords is just a **** *** **********" do they realize that their best customers are actually making a living off their system and that they should give people a warning of some sort. When it comes to Adwords I'm really just the average Joe (I started less then a year ago), so this can happen to anyone...

Man, this is probably 80%+ of my account...it hurts...
I don't think this is a quality score issue with 8.20% CTR...

Even some of my newer campaigns (like a week old) got slapped...

No way I can make a profit with the minimum bid, they are all at the same amount $10.

Thanks guys for your advice and good words, will keep you updated...

[mykel79]

I got hit hard, too. It's definitely not the CTR, since some ads have 30-40%.
Anyone know what new factors in the landing pages they're looking at?

[chrisd]

Here is an example of what happened and how it does not make sense.

2 Keywords in the same Ad Group:

"blabla discounts" minimum bid $.1 NO CHANGE
"blabla discount" minimum bid: $10 GOOGLE SLAP last night!!!!

[pexcornel]

Hi. Chrisd.
I am pexcornel.
I am a programmer and all my life is based on no-nonsese logic.
What is happening makes no sense at all.
Anyone trying to excuse what is happening with some sort of "logic" is laughable.
I will take NO action towards Google, if they don't want me, its ok, I will find other ways to market (I am an affiliate).
I have the best add you can get. Like:
__________________
Product name - $Price.
Product detail
Buy at 30% discount at $Price.
_____________________

On the landing page there is the product, the picture, and the buy button that goes to the buy page of the merchant.
There is also a contact form and 2 adsense boxes on top and on bottom.
Then there are other 3 products from the same category to choose from.

Everything is designed simple and with taste, I don't dupe anybody, the prices are always right (I have a script).

My account had 700 groups with some 5000 keywords on a 1300$/month budget.
Only the best converting keywords are disabled. From 0.26-0.30 to 10$

What else should I do? Give them money for free?
I mean this is it. They build this system for this.
We did what they wanted.
You don't want me? Bye bye then... I don't feel guilty at all. I did what I had to do. It's not my fault.
Best regards, maybe my post helps somebody but I doubt it.
Pex

[kreeactive]

same happened here today. frankly, i believe they've made big errors once more when updating the quality score algorithm and they'll probably correct that soon. there is NO logic in the latest changes. i have some EXTREMELY relevant keywords/ads/landing pages that went up to 5$. others that are less relevant stayed at 0.02$....i am contacting my rep about it and i would love to hear from anyone here who already has some statements from google adwords about this.

pexcornel, i agree with you. but let's just wait and see, last time this happened it was corrected 2 days later

[pexcornel]

Maybe they find this to be more quality:

____________
Product.
Looking for Product?
Find exactly what you want today.
____________

You go there and you get:
0 items found for Product

My head is all logic. It can't compile this ****
So... Quality score and Landing page crap.

I did all those 700 ads BY HAND.

[pexcornel]

As I said kreeactive, I will take NO action towards Google because I don't feel I duped anybody, I did not do anything illegal or against TOS and I don't have any reason to feel guilty or change anything.
And quite frankly I won't change anything on my site because of Google. I market my site in many ways and my users are pleased why should I change anything? And if so... WHAT? As long as they don't suggest me a better way to present the products there is no way I would know that.
And besides it's plain rude )
Where are the good manners Google?
Best regards.
Pex

[chrisd]

Hi pexcornel & kreeactive...

I'm a programmer too and also have affiliate landing pages with no adsense or any ads on my landing pages. Just the product, 1 or 2 images and direct link to buy the product.

Also same here I also pretty much customize my ads to the product and often to the exact keyword.

The slapping is continuing as we speak "blabla discounts" just got slapped.

[chrisd]

I'm on the phone with a google rep....she is checking into my account I'm on hold...

Will update as I get more data...

[kreeactive]

same here, chris. we have a separate ultra relevant landing page for each keyword, that's why i think this must be just a bug. seems google is experimenting once more, but of course they'd never admit that. have you heard from your rep yet??

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by chrisd

I'm a programmer too and also have affiliate landing pages with no adsense or any ads on my landing pages. Just the product, 1 or 2 images and direct link to buy the product.

rustybrick's blog post at SERoundtable mentions that the change is related to the landing page, and I've heard in the past that Google sometimes treats certain affiliate links (like Clickbank) negatively. So maybe it's related to the AdWords bot's perceived quality of the affiliate program you're using?