Have I been "slapped" by Google?

[einfohound]

Being new to PPC, I appear to be having a problem with Google and several PPC campaigns that I have started testing this week. Can you offer suggestions/help? Without going into specifics (niches & site names), I will try to outline it below.

I set up a new Campaign (content network only) for a health-related niche. I set up four Adgroups under this campaign. Each with under 100 keywords (related to each other). Each had only one ad. Each pointed to a separate subdomain that I had set up (keyword related). The subdomain was basically a frame-redirect with some text on the page that Google could scan for relevance (I got this from Frank Kern's InfoMillionaire product if you have seen it). One of the four Adgroups that I set up was not as closely related to my main niche as the other three.

On day 1, I got many impressions. The odd niche really got a huge amount of impressions. Not knowing what is a good CTR for content adds, I don't know if what I was getting was ok or not - seemed low to me. Day 2 - impressions dropped off significantly. Now on Day 3, I am getting no impressions. BTW - The QS for the keywords used in this campaign are mostly 6-7 (That is another question for another day maybe - why they aren't higher?)

Campaign 2 was started the same day of original campaign. It is a different niche. It is set up to run on both search & content. It has two Adgroups. There are about 30 keywords in each Adgroup - they are highly related and relevant. They are set up linking to a subdomain (like above) that is the same type of frame redirect. I was not getting many impressions, but did not have time to look at why yesterday. Today I see that the quality score of all the keywords is set to 1 and the CPC is set to $10.00.

Campaign 3 was started the day after the first two campaigns (yesterday). It is another separate niche. It is set up for search only. It was set up originally with two Adgroups. They each linked to a subdirectory of the same subdomain (ex. subdomain.sitename.com/group1). Each had under 10 keywords that were VERY targeted and related. As soon as I set these up, the QS for all keywords was set to 1 and the CPC was set to $10. In looking at them, I noticed that I had misspelled the names of my destination URL on both (thus producing an invalid URL). I thought this was why Google had given them a bad QS. I fixed this, but it did not change the QS.

I am new to all this, so I am unsure how to fix this problem. I don't want to really screw up and make Google mad (if I haven't already), and get my account really messed up. It seems likely to me that the cause (for everything?) is the frame redirect pages - that Google does not like them.

What do you suggest?

Can I revive these campaigns if I link to pages with actual content?

Is my account hosed for good?

Should I pause these campaigns until I can fix them?

All of these subdomains are new this week. I am unsure if it could be related to any of this, but I also have another subdomain (WP blog) that I set up about three weeks ago to market another product. I am using article marketing, bookmarking, etc. to building links & credibility. I have submitted to many other sites and should have several hundred backlinks by now. Maybe I have overdone it!! I don't know. Google has indexed the site long ago, but shows no backlinks to it (if I do a search for "link:sub.domain.com" or if I use several tools I have that show backlinks). If I do a search on "sub.domain.com", Google shows several hundred occurances. Yahoo does show some link, but only 50+. It should be much higher.

I know I am asking a lot in one question here, but I wonder if they may all be related and Google thinks my whole main domain is "spammy". It really is not. It is made up of several WP blogs and has lots of good content. It would be bad (for me) if Google thinks my whole domain is bad.

[Easy Cash]

Just because you quality score is at $10 does not mean you will not get clicks.

Focus on improving the quality score but just leave the campaigns running.

You will still get clicks at the cost you nominate. The longer you leave it thrunning the better it will get.

I think I have some CPC at $30 but still get clicks at 14 cents.

[MarQueteer]

Frame redirects are deadly (worked in the past, but that's history), don't try fooling Google and build a real landing page relevant on the topic. Blogs as landing pages are very bad as well, same thing, worked in the past, but recently Google started dropping the quality score for them alot.

Btw, does health related mean Acai stuff? If yes, delete the campaign immediately and do some research, Google is systematically going after Acai campaigns because they got so many complaints about the way these products are marketed. That's not a joke, Acai can kill your Adwords account!

[einfohound]

Thanks for asking about Acai. I did not know that. It is not related to that though. It is a "fitness" niche.

This is the first I have heard about the "blogs as landing pages" thing. Does anyone else have any input on this? I have seen several people recommend "review" sites using blogs. I though it helped to have a "fleshed out" website too (which a blog provides), instead of just a one-page site (landing page).

[dburk]

Hi einfohound,

First let me say that you wrote an excellent post describing your problem and what you needed help with. Kudos!

Yes, you have been "Google Slapped"., which means you minimum bids have been raised very high due to poor quality scores.

The first thing you need to address is your account structure. Go ahead and pause the campaigns you have running because you going to need to create new ones. You can no longer get away with having a bunch of keywords all in the same ad group without hurting your Quality Score.

I suspect one of your major issues could be keyword relevance. It doesn't matter whether you think the keywords are relevant, it only matters if the Quality Score algorithm sees them as relevant. If you read the AdWords guidelines carefully, you will notice where they actually use the words "extremely relevant".

I recommend that you use the AdWords Keyword Tool, select "Website Content" and plug in your landing page URL. It will return a list of keywords that Google sees as relevant to your landing page. Uncheck the "Group keywords by common terms" option and you will have a list of keywords that the Google AdWords algorithm sees as relevant, sorted in the order of relevance.

Only the keywords near the top of this list should be considered highly relevant. Another nice thing about this list is that it includes keywords that have enough search volume to consider targeting. Choose the most appropriate words from the very top of this list as your starting keyword list.

Now you have your highly relevant keywords (according to AdWords) to build your first campaign with. I recommend you create a separate campaign just for search (uncheck the Content Network option).

You need to create a separate ad group for each keyword. In each ad group only put exact match and phrase match versions of the keyword (avoid broad match). Now write two ads that includes the keyword in the headline of the ads for each of these ad groups.

If you have done what I suggested above you will have created an account structure that goes a long way to solving your Quality Score issues. Since you have a slightly dinged account history you will need to rehabilitate it with a super high quality campaign.

I recommend that you start the first day with you maximum bids set at $5.00. Yes, you will lose some money, but this is just for one day and you can limit how much you spend by setting your daily budget limit. The next day you can cut your maximum bids in half and again in half the next day. This tactic will go a long way toward rehabilitating your account.

At this point you should have much improved quality scores. If you are still having issues with some keywords then pause them until we can figure out why. You will probably need to ad negative keyword to those ad groups.

Even if this doesn't clear up all you issues it will go a long way toward it and your remaining issues will be easier to detect and resolve. Use the Keyword Analysis Page to detect and correct any remaining issues.

You can come back to this thread and post specifics for your remaining issues.

I hope this helps you get started in the right direction.

[MarQueteer]

Originally Posted by einfohound

I though it helped to have a "fleshed out" website too (which a blog provides), instead of just a one-page site (landing page).

Well, blog style landing pages are often abused for fake customer testimonials, pseudo tests and reviews, etc. they tend to be spammy, no real blogs. It looks like google doesn't like this "keyword rich ad text disguised as content to improve relevancy" stuff that much any more...overused. No personal offense, I don't know your blog, maybe it's really good and provides alot of extra value, but unfortunately too many people abused an advantage, so it became a disadvantage

I know two guys personally who were told by google that their low QS is a result of "blog content only".

[einfohound]

dburk,

Thanks for the info (and encouragement)! When I have time today, I will start a new campaign (I think I will develop a REAL landing page first). I will start it with my main keyword (phrase & exact match only). I don't know that I will go the $5 bid route. I was still getting ads placed (for under my bid) while Google had set my CPC at $10.00 - I just wasn't getting that many.

I will post later (or tomorrow) with results.

I do have a question about landing pages (in theory), though. It seems to me that any EXTRA step that you require the user to do, you are going to reduce traffic through your funnel. It would seem that some people that go to your landing page will not proceed past there (therefore reducing your chances for a sale). This is the attractiveness of "direct linking" or a "frame redirect". But if Google frowns on this (and gives you a low QS) there is not much you can do.

I have NEVER seen anyone address the issue of "losing" people off your landing page. All you hear about is CTR (from PPC) and the conversion rate (from the sales page). If you lose 50% of the people on your landing page though, you cut your sales by 50% (I don't know what a good "pass-thru" percent would be since I have never seen this addressed).

Another question that I had that has not been answered (this relates to not using a blog for your landing page) - Do you have to develop a "fleshed out" website along with your landing page? I thought Google frowned on one page sites too.

[einfohound]

Well...I think it is bad news (for me).

I started a brand new campaign with a good landing page. I only used one major keyword (phrase matched). The second I activated the campaign, Google gave me the same QS (1) and CPC ($10).

The only other thing I did different from my first campaigns was the website URL.

For the first campaigns, I used a subdomain with the URL in this format:

keyword.mydomain.com/keyword

For this campaign, I used a page off my main website like this:

mydomain.com/r/keyword (this was in both the display and destination URL)

I assume that this means that my Adwords account is flagged as bad, and any campaigns that I try to use it for are going to be trash. Is this correct? Is there any way to resurrect it or should I just abandon it?

When something like this happens, does Google also "flag" my domain? If I set up another Adwords account and point campaigns to these same URLs, am I going to have the same problem? I sure hope my website is not in trouble. I have put a lot of time into it. I like the domain name and had plans for it.

[imagic]

einfohound - I'm curious as to whether you figured out what was going on with your account and what you finally did. Care to share?

[einfohound]

I have not used the account since then. I have been working on another web site I am developing. I have not had time to do anything with PPC for the past couple weeks. I will probably try to "revive" the account at some time. When I get back to PPC in the next couple weeks, though, I will probably just start with a new account to avoid the struggle for now.

[UMRK]

Originally Posted by einfohound

The subdomain was basically a frame-redirect with some text on the page that Google could scan for relevance (I got this from Frank Kern's InfoMillionaire product if you have seen it).

Are talking about the "Ninja Cloaker"? That software does not work and is a total violation of Google's TOS. If that's what you were using then that is the reason for getting slapped. Trey even admitted (off-handedly) that it doesn't work after a couple days when a real person reviews your campaign.

A person would be better off direct linking to their affiliate page for the first day or 2 to do a quick conversion test. At least that way, after they review your campaign you just get low impressions, as they only allow one ad with the same URL to show at any one time. By that time you should have enough information to know if the product is worth the time to setup your own landing page.

I'm New at PPC too, so I could be wrong about this. I just Know what's worked for me so far.

[milla]

You haven't been slapped. Usually you lose your adsense account when you get slapped. (I think so anyways)

[einfohound]

UMRK,

I will have to read Google's TOS more closely to check that out. I recently did some research on a new niche (checking PPC ads and landing pages). There were MANY of the ads that used "frame" pages for their landing pages! Some of these were even the #1 ad for that search term and the ads had been running for a while. I don't understand how this can be if they do break Google's TOS.