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Very low quality score, but I can't see why...

by rich_howard
13 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I've just started a Google ppc campaign for my fitted kitchen company.

All my keywords are highly targeted, the destination url has relevent, unique content and in the 24 hours my campaign has been running I've had a 5% CTR.

Yet I have a quality score of 1 for every single search term.

The offline editor suggested a first page bid of 3p but when I uploaded the campaign that jumped to £5!

In contrast, I have another site selling kitchen doors direct to the public online. Despite having almost no content on my landing page I have a quality score 10 for almost every search term.

I'm puzzled - can anyone shed some light on what might be happening?

(I'd post links to the pages but I haven't made enough posts)
#google #low #ppc #quality #quality score #score
  • Profile picture of the author Thumoney
    It sounds like your domain is slapped, that means set to QS 1 for every keywords by hand. My guess is somethings wrong with your landing page. Maybe affiliate links, formulars without given privacy info or you had trouble with the domain earlier.

    What is the keyword report saying (if you hover over the keywords small icon in the new interface) about the landing page quality and the other 2 factors?

    If a domain is slapped it is very hard to get anything going again on adwords. Consider getting a new domain asap in that case.

    (you can just enter the text of the domain, not as a link)
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  • Profile picture of the author rich_howard
    I've had a look at how google breaks the problem down. They're advising that there is no problem with 'relevence' or 'landing page performance' but 'landing page' is poor.

    I understand that relevence is about the keywords that triggered the advert being relevent to the content on the landing page. I also understand that landing page performance is about load times but what exactly is meant by the 'landing page' criteria?

    If the domain's been slapped then it must have been prior to us taking ownership. It was a premium domain and it didn't come cheap. If we've paid top dollar for a blacklisted domain I won't be pleased.

    For your reference the site is: thekitchenshop.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    Rich:

    A privacy policy is very important to Google. I suggest adding one immediately. I would also need to know more about the keywords you're bidding on in order to give further advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author zellandia
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
        Originally Posted by zellandia View Post

        and don't forget sitemap is important too..
        He has one linked on the front page, but it is in XML which may be a bit of a problem for the Google bot since it may interpret that as not being human friendly.

        Also, additional advice: you should have an "About Us" page linked from the landing page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thumoney
    rich_howard, poor landing page and QS 1 is a strong indicator of a slap. It may be slapped even if you purshased the domain. That may be the reason it got sold ...

    Make a quick test: start a dummy campaign with a page that you know works on another domain and upload that to this domain. If you submit it and get QS1 instantely, your domain is slapped.

    You cant really improve with the usual ways then (relevancy etc.). The best thing would be to get in contact with Google Support and talk about it and ask why it has QS 1.

    If Google will not help you (but really try it!), well ... then you may have to forget that fomain for Adwords.
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    • Profile picture of the author rich_howard
      Thanks for all the great advice guys.

      I take your point about my not having a 'privacy policy' and I have no 'about us' page (although this kind of information is addressed in the 'services' section) but how would a google bot know this? Are they just looking for links anchored with the text 'about us' and 'privacy policy'?

      Thumoney - I've put a support ticket into our account manager to try and find out what the problem is. I'll try your slap test later today.

      Thanks again everyone!
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      • Profile picture of the author Joshua.E1
        Maybe you did not do your on-page properly.

        The Q.S is highly dependent on the click through rate, if you have a click through rate of 5% for some keywords, it means that your ad is good.

        Second to note is the kind of keywords you use. For the best result, meaning you have a quality score of 10 out of 10, your keyword must appear on the ad and the landing page.

        Third to note are the keywords that you use for the campaign. Make sure that the keywords appear in the landing page as well. In the Description Tag, Keyword Tag, the content etc...

        Forth is the anchor text that direct back to the same landing page. Use it at the bottom of the page and if possible make the anchor not easily read by human eyes. Note that this only applies to the primary keyword that you are targeting.

        Well I know for sure that if you want to use the Adwords account again, Google will remember your bad keywords reputation you have created. Thus you will still have the pay $5/click thing appear. You need to open a new account.

        Some experience that I have with Adwords:

        Its best to have at least three Adwords account, one for testing the market (even if you have bad result and bad Q.S its ok), one for refining (after you found out what are the good keywords that have good Q.S with the ads, refine it again to find out where this can led to), the last one is where you have confirmed that the Ads, keywords and landing page are working together achieving Q.S of 7and above: this account is like the best Q.S account, you will find that your CPC can be 10% of what you MaxCPC.

        I have some keywords that I am paying is USD $0.02/click (although that is very rare).

        Hope my answers can help u.
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        • Profile picture of the author rich_howard
          The CTR is actually averaging out for the whole campaign at above 6%.

          All the keywords I'm bidding on appear on the landing page (I know it's better to have a page per keyword but to get the ball rolling I've just included them all on a single generic landing page.

          Can someone explain the difference between what google call 'relevence' and what they call 'landing page'?

          My understanding was that 'relevence' was about having consistancy between the search term, the advert and the landing page. That being the case, what does the 'landing page' element of the quality score actually mean? Google says that 'landing page' is the only aspect that has a problem.

          Joshua - regarding the anchor text that directs back to the landing page - it's worth noting that (according to Stompernet) Google only acknowledges the anchor text for the first link on the page that points at a given URL. This means that if you have a link in your navigation bar to your landing page and a second one tucked away at the bottom of the page then it'll take the reputation from the navigation link, and not the second, anchor text specific one.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
          Originally Posted by Joshua.E1 View Post

          Its best to have at least three Adwords account, one for testing the market (even if you have bad result and bad Q.S its ok), one for refining (after you found out what are the good keywords that have good Q.S with the ads, refine it again to find out where this can led to), the last one is where you have confirmed that the Ads, keywords and landing page are working together achieving Q.S of 7and above: this account is like the best Q.S account, you will find that your CPC can be 10% of what you MaxCPC.
          Warning: this advice is COMPLETELY against the Adwords rules and can lead to having ALL of your Adwords accounts closed and to have your company banned from Adwords in the future. Google only allows ONE Adwords account per entity.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
        Originally Posted by rich_howard View Post

        I take your point about my not having a 'privacy policy' and I have no 'about us' page (although this kind of information is addressed in the 'services' section) but how would a google bot know this? Are they just looking for links anchored with the text 'about us' and 'privacy policy'?
        Yes, more or less. The Google Adwords bot is looking for "transparency" and that includes privacy policy, terms of service, about us, and contact information on your landing page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    > difference between what google call 'relevence' and what they call 'landing page'?

    Relevancy between keywords, ads and landing page. In your case, "kitchen cabinets", "kitchen doors" are your base keywords. It only makes sense to have them in your ad too and your landing page. Relevancy accounts for at least 25% of your Quality Score.

    Landing page are other factors. The main one is loading time. I don't know about other factors for sure. I don't think a site map will make a difference but I could be wrong. An about us page might.

    However, landing page factor is maybe 10% of your Quality Score, loading time likely taking the lion's share of this, so I find it hard to believe that a single element on your page representing a small percentage of the QS would bring you down like that.

    My guess would have been poor keyword to page relevancy but you say it's not. I've run into the same problem as you about a month ago. A call rectified it as Google admitted that the QS calculation "made a mistake". It is after all just a dumb computer.

    As someone mentioned, the domain may not be in Google's good books anymore. A call explaining the situation may resolve this.

    A 5% CTR is a good start so you're doing well. If your QS becomes decent, you'll be doing really well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thumoney
    The #1 thing I would try to find out in your situation is if your domain is slapped. As mentioned above, I would initiate a friendly talk with your Google rep. And also make the test.

    The things said by Joshua.E1 are all very well (except I would not advice the multiple account strategy), but if your domain is flagged, those "little" improvements wont do anything.

    Also you dont have to open a new account, because there is one domain that has been slapped in one of your campaigns. It happened to me and all other campaigns are still doing great, even on the exact same keywords.
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