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Advice on Adwords landing pages please

by Matt.Lake
2 replies
Hi Guys,

I made a post a day ago explaining that my quality score on adwords had dropped from a 7/10 to a 1/10 due to a "low quality" landing page.

Admittedly, the site was a little thin, so I can see why I got the slap.

I've now ditched that particular domain as I think Google had no intention of raising the QS any time soon, even though I completely revamped the site.

I've now moved the whole site to a new domain and it has everything to be considered a quality site in Google's eyes... as far as I'm aware.

The site is an ebook for my own product and I was previously directly linking from the ad to my salespage. After the responses I received on here to my last post, I'm now under the impression that Google doesn't like direct linking to a sales page... even if you are the vendor.

So what would you advise be the best sort of landing page to link to?

I can now either directly link to my sales page again... this time it's a lot more optimized in terms of meta keywords, H1 tags etc.

Or I can link to a "resource" page which has content and lot's of links to my other articles and pages.

Or I can create a brand new landing page... directly for adwords, centred around the particular keywords.

What is the best type of page to link to?

Ideally I'd link to my salespage as it was converting nicely from the cold PPC traffic... but if Google doesn't like this then I don't want to be slapped again.

If I link to the "resource" page then the visitor can go in a million different directions... I've always been taught to keep the sales message focused.

And if I go for an individual, specific landing page... will it have enough meat to it?

Sorry for the rabble guys but I've hopefully got my message across.

I really just want to link to my salespage as that would offer the best conversion but I don't want to risk anything.

Any feedback, insight and experience would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you for your time,

Matt

P.S. Also, does a low quality score necessarily matter? Say out of the gate I only manage to get a QS of 4/10 due to the low landing page quality... can I still raise this over time with a good click through rate, even if the landing page doesn't improve? Or would I be fighting a losing battle?
#advice #adwords #landing #pages
  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Originally Posted by Matt.Lake View Post

    So what would you advise be the best sort of landing page to link to?

    I can now either directly link to my sales page again... this time it's a lot more optimized in terms of meta keywords, H1 tags etc.
    It doesn't matter, seems to me if you send people to your sales copy from
    adwords, you'll get a low QS. Or, set up a campaign sending them to your
    sales page and see what G returns when they crawl it.

    Just don't finish the setup - don't make it live. Know what I mean?

    Or I can link to a "resource" page which has content and lot's of links to my other articles and pages.

    Or I can create a brand new landing page... directly for adwords, centred around the particular keywords.

    What is the best type of page to link to?

    Ideally I'd link to my salespage as it was converting nicely from the cold PPC traffic... but if Google doesn't like this then I don't want to be slapped again.

    If I link to the "resource" page then the visitor can go in a million different directions... I've always been taught to keep the sales message focused.

    And if I go for an individual, specific landing page... will it have enough meat to it?
    Which page to link to? Depends on your ad group's keyword phrase.

    You're doing adwords, and it seems you're not thinking about relevancy.
    The more relevant everything is in your campaign/adgroups, the higher your quality
    score will be.

    Do this, if you want:

    Make adgroups for each content page in your site. Make sure each page is optimized
    for whatever primary keyword phrase. Hopefully your page file extension will contain
    the phrase.

    I really just want to link to my salespage as that would offer the best conversion but I don't want to risk anything.
    Face facts - forget doing that. Or go ahead and do it - again - if you want. You'll have
    the same experience as before.

    P.S. Also, does a low quality score necessarily matter?
    I can hardly believe you asked that.

    It necessarily mattered when it was 1/10 and your CPC was prohibitively costly, so
    much so that it killed your ROI. And you ask this question?

    Also, unless G has changed this, your adwords account quality score history is
    cumulative and takes into account QS's from previous campaigns - unless they have
    changed that for some reason. I'm betting they have not.

    Do all you can to have the highest QS possible when you come out of the gate.


    Ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt.Lake
    Hi Ken,

    Thanks for the reply.

    I know the importance of relevency, it's just in my last post, people were saying to present my site as more of a content site... so I was wondering should the landing page clearly have links to all my various articles throughout the page? I'd obviously make the landing page iteself relevant.

    So I think I'll create individual landing pages centered around each keyword... I was just wondering how this particular page should be presented?

    As for the low quality score... it wasn't meant to be a stupid question. Obviousy a QS of 1/10 meant that my ads weren't showing. I was just wondering that even if I make the best landing page possible for my site... and I still got a QS of only, say, 4/10 that my ad would at least show and I could improve the QS with good ad ctr.

    But I guess if I got a 4/10 then it wouldn't be the best landing page possible... it's just G doesn't seem to like my site. Also, I tested some ads to my competitors websites that have been running for ages and it came up with a QS of 4/10 for their site.

    So I'm just a little unsure.

    Thanks,

    Matt
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