A Little Adwords Technique That Gets Me High Quality Score!

[Fuad Tolieb]

Hi there,

I will get right into it. I found out about a simple but very effective
ppc technique that you might want to know.

First let me tell you that your CTR is more important as your ad relevancy
but that does not mean that you should not try to optimize your ad relevancy. My technique is based on bidding on a certain keyword that is not included in your display url and destination url. I use this technique with direct linking to a clickbank product. Since I used this, my QS has gone up from 4, 5 or 6 to 7 and even 10. I tried it on 4 ads for a week long and my QS is still the same.

So what is technique? well its the question mark in the previous sentence....

I can hear A lot of HUH's right now or maybe some of you already know this. Its the "?" that solves my QS. When you type a url in the display url you mostly would type in a url format like this: www.WeightWatchers.com or WeightWatchers.com but when you end your url with a question mark and you type your keyword after it, the url will stay pretty much the same because after the question mark a web browser does not recognize anything. For example, instead of using www.WeightWatchers.com you will type in www.WeightWatchers.com?WeightLoss in your display url. You do the same thing after your link in the destination url. For example, http://clickbank.hop.hwduu394.com?WeightLoss

This way google thinks your add is relevant enough because it has your keyword in the display url and destination url. Also you will get more attention by the people you target. You would also like to add your keyword in the title and discription.

Its best to make a adgroup with a list of the keywords that all have the same keyword inside each keyword. Example, weight loss now, weight loss product, weight loss program etc.

When you do exactly what I said above you will get a high QS.

I hope you will do something with this information

Thanks

Fouad

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by jrise

because after the question mark a web browser does not recognize anything.

That's not correct. A "?" signifies that URL variables follow. A browser recognizes and passes those URL variables to the page that loads. In some cases extraneous or unexpected characters following the "?" are ignored by the script on the page, in other cases it can cause the script to throw an error or redirect the visitors.

So make sure you test your URL's, because the browser DOES NOT ignore characters trailing the "?".

[Sean Kelly]

I think this is a fantastic idea Fouad, well done on finding this, confirming that it works and then sharing it with us.

It sounds more like a 'glitch' in the Google url checking algorithm but if it works (which you have confirmed) and you don't get penalised then hoorah!

Excellent post, informative and useful, thanks again.

Sean

[Fuad Tolieb]

Steven,

Thanks for your correction but I tried it with many many keywords and I never got an error. I was told that the web browser would recognize the keywords after the question mark but if you say so then ok I will believe that but it does not effect my technique!

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

That's not correct. A "?" signifies that URL variables follow. A browser recognizes and passes those URL variables to the page that loads. In some cases extraneous or unexpected characters following the "?" are ignored by the script on the page, in other cases it can cause the script to throw an error or redirect the visitors.

So make sure you test your URL's, because the browser DOES NOT ignore characters trailing the "?".

A URL using ? doesn't have to point to a script and can point to a static html page.

For example:
www.domain.com/page.html?123

This is more a server issue than browser issue, and the server will still direct the browser to:
www.domain.com/page.html

This can be used for tracking, as the server logs will record hits to each URL as a different page. For example, I may add this variable to track clicks to a page from my warrior sig:
www.domain.com/page.html?warriorsig

...Then check server logs for this "page" (even though it's really the same page).

The drawback is that this will dillute any link juice between the URLs, even though they point to0 the same page.

Because of this, Fouad's suggestion deserves some consideration and testing, especially since link juice isn't a factor with AdWords.




Although Wikipedia uses directories instead of pages, here's an example...Both take one to the same page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry?1234
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by Kurt

A URL using ? doesn't have to point to a script and can point to a static html page.

Exactly, that's why I stated in my post that you should test any URL you want to treat this way.

Originally Posted by Kurt

Because of this, Fouad's suggestion deserves some consideration and testing

Sure, anything that could possibly help is worth checking out.

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

That's not correct. A "?" signifies that URL variables follow. A browser recognizes and passes those URL variables to the page that loads. In some cases extraneous or unexpected characters following the "?" are ignored by the script on the page, in other cases it can cause the script to throw an error or redirect the visitors.

So make sure you test your URL's, because the browser DOES NOT ignore characters trailing the "?".

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

Exactly, that's why I stated in my post that you should test any URL you want to treat this way.

Sure, anything that could possibly help is worth checking out.

The point I was clarifying was your use of "script", which implies that a page must contain some sort of "script", which isn't the case.

Many reading your post could discount Fouad's tip altogether, thinking they can only use this technique with some type of script, which isn't the case.

[Fuad Tolieb]

Kurt thank you very much! We should not discourage people, I gained from this little technique and so should other people. But its always good that you and Steven explain the technical stuff because I learned from it.

Thanks

[Jerry Mcvictor]

cool of you to share this. going to try it!

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by jrise

Kurt thank you very much! We should not discourage people, I gained from this little technique and so should other people. But its always good that you and Steven explain the technical stuff because I learned from it.

Thanks

Definitely no discouragement, but my primary point is that TESTING is critical! You don't want to send PAID clicks to a page that fails, that costs you real money.

[Fuad Tolieb]

Of course you need to test it but I never found a website that failed.

It even works for the url of this domain: http://www.warriorforum.com?makemoneyonline

Again, we get your point.

[Fuad Tolieb]

Originally Posted by Sean Kelly

I think this is a fantastic idea Fouad, well done on finding this, confirming that it works and then sharing it with us.

It sounds more like a 'glitch' in the Google url checking algorithm but if it works (which you have confirmed) and you don't get penalised then hoorah!

Excellent post, informative and useful, thanks again.

Sean

Thank you for your appreciation! I got some more techniques and strategies I use. I will be posting them shortly

[Lucid]

I've know for a long time that, to use your example, www.WeightWatchers.com/WeightLoss (note using a slash here, not a question mark) in the Display URL is acceptable. It doesn't have to be a valid page, although it's a good idea to make it a valid page in case someone types it in. In fact, it's one of the secrets I've been keeping to myself. It will highlight the keyword as if part of the ad so CTRs can increase.

Using a ? looks kind of weird. I guess because it's not something you normally see in a display URL. I do think it's different enough that your CTR might be affected positively. But I'm not convinced that your QS increased because you also include the ? in the destination URL. Have you done a test with it only in the display URL or have you always included in both the display and destination?

Interesting find and something I'll likely test myself one day.

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by Lucid

I've know for a long time that, to use your example, www.WeightWatchers.com/WeightLoss (note using a slash here, not a question mark) in the Display URL is acceptable. It doesn't have to be a valid page, although it's a good idea to make it a valid page in case someone types it in. In fact, it's one of the secrets I've been keeping to myself. It will highlight the keyword as if part of the ad so CTRs can increase.

Using a ? looks kind of weird. I guess because it's not something you normally see in a display URL. I do think it's different enough that your CTR might be affected positively. But I'm not convinced that your QS increased because you also include the ? in the destination URL. Have you done a test with it only in the display URL or have you always included in both the display and destination?

Interesting find and something I'll likely test myself one day.

I think you misunderstand the purpose of using a ? in the url. The ? itself doesn't help.

What the ? does is allow you to use relevant keywords AFTER the ?. It's the use of highly targeted keywords in the URL that may potentially increase the quality score.

[Fuad Tolieb]

Exactly Kurt.

Lucid, im not here to try to convince you of something.
This thread is very simple, I used a technique, it helped for me
my QS went up and thats that.

It takes no requirement for someone to be sceptic about it, but it does
take guts to believe in it and try it out for yourself. Your results will speak for itself.

[Lucid]

Kurt, I think I understood. The ? followed by your keyword in the display URL would have the same effect as a slash which is normally used to show a sub-page of your domain. Your keyword would be highlighted and could increase your CTR and QS as a result.

I'm also being devil's advocate. I analyze things based on my understanding of how things work, in this case Adwords.

What I'm asking is if you tried the technique only in the display URL (or destination URL only) instead of both display and destination. My thinking is that your QS would not be improved if it was in the destination URL only but I've been wrong before. This can all be tested of course but my problem is that my quality scores are already Great (8 to 10). I guess I could purposely create poor QS ads.

[timpears]

You state that you use this in direct linking to a Clickbank product. I was under the impression that Google does not allow you to use affiliate links in Adwords. Did I misunderstand something.

I know nearly nothing about Adwords, other than you can lose a hell of a lot of money if you don't know what you are doing. Therefore, I have not tried it. The thought of spending money to drive traffic to my squeeze page to get a minimal percentage of click through to the sales page in order to get 1% to 2% of those click through to actually buy just didn't compute to me. I know that people make thousands of dollars doing this, but it just doesn't seem to add up for me.

[Sarge]

Interesting idea, thanks for sharing it!
I'm always looking for new ideas...

And my guess would be it is the same as the /


-Sarge

[amitcor]

amzing info, thank you.

How does this technique comply with Google's guidelines?
Is there a chance in the future we can get banned/penalized/slapped by google for doing this?

[Lucid]

> I was under the impression that Google does not allow you to use affiliate links in Adwords.

It does allow.

> How does this technique comply with Google's guidelines?

Nothing prevents you from doing this. You can after all have directives and variables passed to a page, that's what the question mark is normally used for. Using jrise's technique in the destination URL simply exploits that fact. He's also applying it to the display URL. I highly doubt Google will ever penalize you for this. There's no way they can tell if you are passing variables or using this trick.

The point is, does Google look past the ? and use words it finds there for QS purposes? At the moment, I doubt it. The display URL on the other hand might get some benefit. The only thing they may do in the future is not allow ? in the display URL as it is irrelevant. Until they change the algorithm to check for this, no reason you can't use it.

[homebse]

Thanks for the tip and thanks to others for your explanations. It has been an educational post for me. I'll test this out.

[Fraggler]

If your landing pages are designed purely for adwords then it is worth making them .php instead of html for any future design to implement the scripting. It won't affect your page design. Pass your variables as above and if you decide to use those variables later on you don't need to modify your ad urls, just your landing page.

I know you are talking about the display url but use it with your destination url too you can do fancy stuff pretty easily. index.php?kw={keyword:default} will let you inject the keyword into your landing page for even more relevancy. You can also dynamically modify your SubIDs if you want for tracking. You can load different content based on the keyword from the one landing page. All sorts of good stuff.

It doesn't take much to include it and it does no harm if you don't use it.

Also, if you want your Display URL to resolve no matter the directory, you can use a simple .htaccess to forward [301 Redirect] all subdirectories to the destination url. I use this to shorten long wordpress style urls to a subdomain and subdirectory to get even more keywords into the ad.

[dzoaffiliate]

this technique works 100% - I have been using this for over 3 years now. The characaters after the ? are called query params and the browser passes these in the http headers in a GET or POST type scenario. The key point is NOT to put an equal sign after the keyword.

If your doing Google AdWords the
Destinantion Url can be: http://mywebsite.com?{Keyword:defaultText}

for MS AdCenter
can set up destination Url as: http://mywebsite.com?{Keyword}

DZ

[Fuad Tolieb]

Originally Posted by amitcor

amzing info, thank you.

How does this technique comply with Google's guidelines?
Is there a chance in the future we can get banned/penalized/slapped by google for doing this?

With google you would never know, but its very unlikely to be slapped because of this technique.

The best thing, is to try it out for yourself and see how your ads and keywords work.

[Fuad Tolieb]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> I was under the impression that Google does not allow you to use affiliate links in Adwords.

It does allow.

> How does this technique comply with Google's guidelines?

Nothing prevents you from doing this. You can after all have directives and variables passed to a page, that's what the question mark is normally used for. Using jrise's technique in the destination URL simply exploits that fact. He's also applying it to the display URL. I highly doubt Google will ever penalize you for this. There's no way they can tell if you are passing variables or using this trick.

The point is, does Google look past the ? and use words it finds there for QS purposes? At the moment, I doubt it. The display URL on the other hand might get some benefit. The only thing they may do in the future is not allow ? in the display URL as it is irrelevant. Until they change the algorithm to check for this, no reason you can't use it.

Thanks Lucid, the thing is I first tried it to get a better CTR because people with see their typed in keyword in bold in my display url. I was suprised when my QS got higher but then again isnt it so that your CTR has a strong influence on your QS? Please think about it and let me know.

Thanks

[Fuad Tolieb]

Fraggler, thank you for the extra information, so you're basically saying that we can do a lot morw with this technique?

[Lucid]

If your CTR goes up significantly, your QS should go up, unless everybody else's CTR goes up as well. Your QS is a relative number against other advertisers using the same keyword and by far the largest weight on QS is your click rate. That's why I'm interested in your CTR before (your control) and after even though your method is flawed. You made two changes although the destination URL is invisible to the user.

As you say, your keyword got highlighted in the display URL and why your CTR when up. You may get the same result by displaying it in the normal way with a slash. The fact you used a question mark instead of a slash as most people would do may have little or nothing to do with it. Although there could be some sort of psychological thing about the question mark that would make people click on it more than a slash. It's different and unexpected. That is very possible. Using another symbol may have the same effect.

So, what was your CTR, position and QS for the **very same** ad (title and description lines) before the change and what is it now? What was the progression of these stats over time if you have it?