Many of the advertisers got google slapped due to their keywords being irrelevant to their ads and websites. So far I figured that your keyword has to appear within Title, Description and URL. This gets you clear for content network. However still the search network doesnt get triggered. Ive heard that your page has to be also "optimized" for the keyword. Does anyone know which factors google adwords looks at on the web page? I assume its things like H1 and links, but havent had much luck myself.
Google landing page optimization has nothing to do with SEO tactics. You dont need H1 tags, or meta tags... Check your error message, does it say poor landing page quality or does it say poor text ad.
Robert - I have noticed you have brought up the same point quite a number of times: "Google landing page optimization has nothing to do with SEO tactics" Why do you say this? As far as I know, google uses the exact same spidering algorithm for both sites within and outside adwords in order to determine how relevant your keywords are to your landing page. I have seen many people report that simple changes like including keywords in the title, headings and content has improved their quality score. I personally run a site that sells wedding photography as a service. I have a quality score of "great" for wedding photographers but only an "OK" for wedding photography. All factors remain the same - same landing page, same advert, same everything. Yet there is a difference in landing page quality score, what else could it be other then that google obviously thinks my page is more relevant to wedding photographers than wedding photography. I would draw the conclusion that making on page optimisation using heading tags and content can make a difference. It is not just about adding privacy links, T & C links, address and contact details, etc.
It has been proven hundreds of times that SEO has no direct effect on adwords. SEO means link backs, anchor text, interlinking, H1 tags, keyword density, meta tags and etc and all of these play no factor to adwords. Just because you rank #1 in natural serps does not mean your QS will be great. However title of page, contact page, privacy policy are requirements by google and obvious necessities of which many people leave out and therefore get slapped and then fix the problem considering it SEO tactics. Lately I have spoken directly with Google reps and they have also confirmed SEO and adwords are 2 different parallels. I think I even posted a screen shot of the email on this form.
Much to learn have you... Here's the deal. Adwords is based on surfers not knowing the difference between advertisements, (adwords) and free organic listings. Ask someone who is not very internet savy, (like robertpriolo...LOL just joking guy), to tell you which listings on serp are ads and which are not. They don't know. They just click the first one, (usually an adwords ad) and go to that site. This is how google makes 95% of their income. Soooo what they want to do is stop non-internet-savy people from figuring out the difference. If people knew they were clicking on ads, they wouldn't click them, just people are "banner blind" now for the most part. Google, being the smart guys they are, want your paid ads to lead to sites that look like real sites now. This is so joe blow the surfer doesn't get wise to the fact that he's clicking an ad because the site he lands on looks just like all the other free listings. Big f'ing deal right? Wrong. This means you MUST do some basic seo work on your site and it does matter. They want the sites to look like real ones, so you must mimic the structure and content of a real site. Did you know that incoming links to ppc landing pages can make a difference in your quality score as well? It can. Getting information from an adwords rep is like learning advanced trigonometry from a grade one student. They know less about the system then you do most of the time. I know it's hard to believe, but they're trained to not answer your questions directly and even mislead you so you will spend more money experimenting and trying to figure out their system. If they just told the truth, they'd make less money because people would just do it right the first time.
robertpriolo - thats the answer I have been looking for. can you PM me your wedding photography website's URL?
unfortunately I cannot give out client information (use for reference) unless authorized to do so by the client.
PPC-Coach, if you know something, spill the beans. Perry Marshal and Armand Morin reckon that on-site factors play a role. what they say matches what robertpriolo's words. I am just looking to increase quality score for direct marketing type of sites, any help is appreciated.
to PPC-Coach with the ppc-coach.com to what extend do you cover PPC? do you cover google slap? do you cover any other PPC programs? I am working on some membership sites at the moment and by the plan of you membership site I would guess that many people dont stick for very long as all you information is available at once.
It's well known now that in order to achieve a great quality score in AdWords, you need to have the same on page factors as you would for SEO for the relevant keywords you're trying to advertise on. As PPC Coach says, Google want PPC landing pages to look exactly like full websites optimised for organic search. Having a privacy policy, terms and conditions and other factors are also important with regard to having a good QS but the on page SEO factors do matter.