I started using Adwords again recently (I used to spend a few thousand a month) and am very discouraged at this point. I created a general ad and used keyword elite to make a list of like 2000 keywords. I let it run for a while, but as the ad wasn't very targeted to the keywords, etc. the quality score went down. I figured out this doesn't work anymore. So I have been creating lots of ad groups pointing to relevant pages with only a few relevant keywords per ad group (only 4). This seems to be the best way to get the cheapest traffic and the highest QS. Well I have been doing this, but every ad I create, no matter how targeted is showing as having a QS of 2-3. I don't understand the logic behind using account history to judge QS. If someone realizes they need to improve their ad/landing page for a keyword, changing it would be in order. It seems trying to make it better doesn't help since it wasn't good in the past. Why change the ad/text/landing page/etc. if it makes no difference? I just don't know how to get my account back in the "good" column and have my ads running again. There are no ads for most of my keywords, so Google is just losing money by not showing my ads at all. What is the deal with this system? It didn't use to be like this...
Maybe it's the other way around. they are forcing advertisers to bid high by keeping the QS low and in some cases making the minimum bid close to $20 (happened to me once). So even in bad economy Google is not losing any money.
I see that too-but anyone with sense will not bid that high. At $20 per click, I'd have to spend $1,000 to make $10-25. It all just seems stupid. I really understand most of the system, but applying previous QS's to new, completely different ads/landing pages just doesn't make sense to me.
I guess we all have to look for new medium to generate traffic and sales. I have never liked or agreed with the idea of PPC.
Yes Matt things have definitely changed since the last time you tried adwords and i agree sometimes there is no logic. What i found in my experience is that once a campaign is hit with a low quality score, no changes that are made seem to matter. what i do is buy a new domain name and start over with a new campaign, i cant guarrantee this will work in your case, but for me it usually does. chuck
The problem I have is with the keywords. Changing a domain isn't going to help because the specific keywords I need to use have a low QS associated with them.