Interesting, funny and upsetting at the same time. By the way all, thanks for the feedback on this thread, it's been very helpful. I posted another question in a different thread and would appreciate your feedback on that one too. Who knows, maybe if I learn enough I'll be able to offer some helpful advice too. Gary
Looks like the ole' Google conspiracy is at it again, gouging Adsense users for pennies more a click and dollars more a month. You have to beware of the bastages. If you don't watch out, they will deplete your account so dry that you won't be able to afford that Starbuck's latte at the end of the month... I would recommend something for you friend, but this board doesn't allow me to post URLs. Just Google "Perry Marshall" and read the information about Adsense strategies he makes available for free. That will go a long way in helping you to rise out of the Google Adsense darkness... Steve
Just an FYI, I've tested this pretty extensively and had some associates do the same. The quick summary is in our last test we tested 5,000 clicks with AS on the landing page and 5,000 without. There was no significant or noticeable difference in our QS (although this was prior to being able to see the QS) or our average CPC. It honestly seemed to make no difference. For what's it worth, I've been told by numerous AdWords reps that having ads on the landing page does not automatically have a negative impact on the QS.
I agree that there isn't an automatic "QS penalty" - but I do believe a landing page running 3 blocks of ads can be scored differently than a page with one block - especially when there isn't a high percentage of content on the page. I've also been told that it doesn't "automatically" have a negative impact - but I assume that also means it can be a factor.
We used more than 3 blocks of ads (adsense + 2 others for a total of 5) in our test. That said though, the content still outweighed the ads 3 to 1. The page had a lot of content. I agree though - when landing pages are manually reviewed I can see G looking at ads to content ratio when determing the lpqs...and if you have more ads than content....
Do any of you think the original reason for my post here was a result of the rumored "Glitch" in the quality score? I started running the exact same campaign today with no problems so far. Thats not to say it won't happen tomorrow though. I think it might have also to do with the CTR as jewel suggested. Thanks for the great info everyone. Gary But then again.... As I started thinking about it, when you get a keyword that has page after page of "more sponsored links" in Adwords, I can't imagine the CTR on the ads on page 6 are very high at all, yet the ads are still active. How does that work?