Does Google Adwords Hate Minisites? (Quality Score Issues)

[mph]

Hi everyone!

Perhaps this sounds familiar to you:

I have 2 so-called mini-sites, just like so many people on this forum. (Here's one example: Unlock Your Writer's Block )

I used to run an Adwords campaign that did really, really good - until one day - when my quality score dropped to 1 (one!) and the ads stopped working.

Now, Google is asking me to bid $10 per keyword or increase the score of my site.

So my dilemma is simple, yet the problem seems so overwhelming: how can I get around this problem? How can I pay a decent sum for my keywords and still be able to run my campaigns?

1. Should I break the sales letter into more pages of content and fiddle around with the keywords, alt tags and such? This means I'll have to re-think the selling process altogether and switch to another model.
2. Should I keep its current structure and do something about the keyword density, ALT tags and other small gimmicks? Will that guarantee a substantial increase in site score?
3. Should I use "gateway" pages as landing pages, full of relevant content, with a clean HTML code and then make the visitors click on a link and visit my main page?

What really bafflles me is that I have seen websites just like mine that are constantly being advertised on Adwords. One example would be searching for a product title like "The magic of making up". There are tons of ads that lead to minisites! And I can't imagine they're paying $10 per click. What are they doing differently?

So, does anyone know the solution to this mystery?

Thank you so much in advance!

[affiliated survivor]

Could it be your pop up? I´m not sure but I thought pop ups are not allowed with Adwords.

[TimScott]

Don't send traffic to a sales letter or a buy now page. Ever since the last slap the Big 3 don't except that method anymore. You have to provide your traffic with content first, and then you can send them to an opt in form or buy now button. It's a pain in the ass, but if you wanna do PPC with the Big 3, you gotta do it.

[dburk]

Hi mph,

A poor Quality score is usually cause by one of three categories of issues:

1. Lower than average CTR
2. Poor Keyword/Ad Text/Landing page relevance
3. Landing page quality issues

The AdWords interface will usually indicate which category is creating the poor QS issue. You will find this by drilling down to the keyword and hover your mouse over the balloon next to the keyword status column.

[AffiliateMax]

It's more 'very long sales page' rather than a 'mini-site'. Not sure if that's why your QS is so low though. No pagerank either. The pop-up could be an issue too.

[tryinhere]

I am sure it would not be the pop up in this case as it is in context and does not interfere with the exit of the site,

on the site you do not have (that i can see) about us or a site map as main pages missing. You mention / other mention bringing in people to other land pages with content.

The general answer seems to be yes, you would add articles to the site and you could bring your ad campaign in on those articles.

With your current campaign, pause or delete it if your land page rating is poor, there is no amount of money you can throw at it now that will fix that, sorry.

[Lucid]

The popup is your biggest problem that I see. You cannot have them promoting with Adwords.