*Initial* Quality Score

pjk · 07-22-2009, 02:10 AM

I've been advertising for quite some time now on other SE's and whatnot, but just now starting to work my way into Google.

I have a keyword I am targetting (which is trademarked), but I am having a problem. My initial quality score is always so low that the ad rarely shows due to quality score. The load time and landing page show up as 'no problem', but the relevance always shows up as 'poor', giving me a QS of 2 or 3. I've read quite a bit on optimizing the LP to make it fit the keyword, but for some reason it isn't working. When I use the W3 Semantic tool, it pulls up my keyword nicely, but when I use Google Website Keyword finder, Google doesn't find the keyword, even though it is in the <title>, <meta>, alt, and all the heading tags (h1, h2, and h3), as well as in descriptions and hyperlinks. The LP is validated as well, and has the basic Privacy/Disclaimer/Terms/Home structure. The landing page seems to be very relevant, as well as the ad (keyword appears in every line and the display URL).

What is the problem? I must be missing something obvious, but I can't seem to find it. I was reading that the initial quality score is determined based off how well others as have done, but that doesn't make sense because my ad is rarely shown due to low quality score, and that would mean no new ads could be added since they all perform with a poor initial quality score and can't get any impressions.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate any ideas to resolve this problem.

GuerrillaIM · 07-22-2009, 03:12 AM

Factors That effect quality score:

Keyword appearing in ad box
Keyword appearing in title of landing page
Keyword appearing naturally through copy of page as well as synonyms
Keyword and synonyms appearing on pages linked to from landing page.

Lucid · 07-22-2009, 09:42 AM

Stop concentrating on improving your landing page. It's likely your keyword to ad relevancy that is wrong. It's harder on trademarked terms since you can't put it in your ad. Try inserting it dynamically using {keyword:}. Another trick is inserting the keyword into your display URL such as www.mysite.com/trademark. I'm not sure how those tricks affect the QS, my guess is DKI doesn't help but I've never tested it. But can do wonders with CTR which will improve QS.

Thumoney · 07-22-2009, 07:48 PM

It may really be a problem with the trademark keyword. Have you tried another keyword just for testing purposes?

07-22-2009, 02:10 AM	#1
pjk Warrior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Initial Quality Score I've been advertising for quite some time now on other SE's and whatnot, but just now starting to work my way into Google. I have a keyword I am targetting (which is trademarked), but I am having a problem. My initial quality score is always so low that the ad rarely shows due to quality score. The load time and landing page show up as 'no problem', but the relevance always shows up as 'poor', giving me a QS of 2 or 3. I've read quite a bit on optimizing the LP to make it fit the keyword, but for some reason it isn't working. When I use the W3 Semantic tool, it pulls up my keyword nicely, but when I use Google Website Keyword finder, Google doesn't find the keyword, even though it is in the <title>, <meta>, alt, and all the heading tags (h1, h2, and h3), as well as in descriptions and hyperlinks. The LP is validated as well, and has the basic Privacy/Disclaimer/Terms/Home structure. The landing page seems to be very relevant, as well as the ad (keyword appears in every line and the display URL). What is the problem? I must be missing something obvious, but I can't seem to find it. I was reading that the initial quality score is determined based off how well others as have done, but that doesn't make sense because my ad is rarely shown due to low quality score, and that would mean no new ads could be added since they all perform with a poor initial quality score and can't get any impressions. Thanks in advance. I appreciate any ideas to resolve this problem.

07-22-2009, 03:12 AM	#2
GuerrillaIM One Man Army War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 904 Thanks: 25 Thanked 122 Times in 69 Posts	*Re: Initial* Quality Score** Factors That effect quality score: Keyword appearing in ad box Keyword appearing in title of landing page Keyword appearing naturally through copy of page as well as synonyms Keyword and synonyms appearing on pages linked to from landing page.

07-22-2009, 09:42 AM	#3
Lucid HyperActive Warrior Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 415 Thanks: 8 Thanked 37 Times in 34 Posts	*Re: Initial* Quality Score** Stop concentrating on improving your landing page. It's likely your keyword to ad relevancy that is wrong. It's harder on trademarked terms since you can't put it in your ad. Try inserting it dynamically using {keyword:}. Another trick is inserting the keyword into your display URL such as www.mysite.com/trademark. I'm not sure how those tricks affect the QS, my guess is DKI doesn't help but I've never tested it. But can do wonders with CTR which will improve QS.
	Create high click rate, high conversion rate PPC campaigns Google Adwords Management: Catch More Flies in Your Web

07-22-2009, 07:48 PM	#4
Thumoney Active Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 67 Thanks: 3 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	*Re: Initial* Quality Score** It may really be a problem with the trademark keyword. Have you tried another keyword just for testing purposes?
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