Google’s Quality Score Gets More Fun
Most of you have probably seen the Google blog post a couple days ago enforcing the use of high quality websites. They disclose that the following sites will be penalized with a low quality rating :
- Data collection sites that offer free gifts, subscription services etc., in order to collect private information
- Arbitrage sites that are designed for the sole purpose of showing ads
- Malware sites that knowingly or unknowingly install software on a visitor’s computer
I don’t know, to me that stuff is pretty common sense. Google’s a bitch and always has been, they just want to run a clean advertising program. They tell us that if users “complain” about the ad they click on, Google will ban the URL only after slapping you in the face. I see arbitrage as taking the biggest hit to quality score, we’ll have to see if it takes any effect on the advertisers.
This all just kind of reiterates what people have been saying for a while, you’re going to have to make your “bridge pages” seem like actual sites with relevant content, outgoing links, blah blah. This kind of gave me an idea for my next post, which will probably be : How I Do Quality Score. It’s not rocket science (pretty much follow the rules as best you can), but maybe you’ll learn a tip that you’ll implement.
Oh, Google also says “we will no longer post advance notice of upcoming updates.” So it looks like the Google Slap is evolving into the…Google Sucker-Punch?
I think I might do that Adwords Professional certification thing, I’ve heard a lot of good things. Any of you guys take it? Drop a comment (make sure to put your URL in) and get a link in the sidebar (top commentators).
In my opinion, one of the most important Quality Score factors is that Google is looking at your entire site, including content, inbound links, outbound links, content, etc. These days, if you want a great quality score you need to pick a niche and plan to be in it for the long term. While the ultimate goal is obviously to offload the user to the merchant, in order get low CPC with Google is to create a large, information site — as you said, with outbound links and all.
You can’t just throw up a site anymore and hope to rank well. In addition to the obvious (Terms/Privacy Policy/Contact/etc) having fresh, updated content will do wonders for your quality score.
For example if you’re pushing Dating offers, don’t just write up a quick generic site with a couple sentences and link to the merchant; create an entire site with a blog, unique content, outbound links, etc. Make sure the content is updated regularly and start building some links back toward your domain. Think long term.
My two cents.
Much agreed. I’ll be touching on every one of those points in the quality score article I’ll be writing tomorrow probably.
“the following sites will be penalized with a low quality rating”
Sounds good – since I dont’ run any sites like them, they can only be killing off some of the competition :D
I started the pro cert thing when it came out, but stopped….and stopped focusing on PPC for a while due to time constraints. Working my way back through the lessons, there are some gems in there that I did not know until I heard them in the prep videos. If nothing else, it is free Google PPC education.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title s Quality Score Gets More Fun | UberAffiliate – We Hate 9-5 Jobs As Much As You Do. Thanks for informative article
Thank you for sharing!
Can you really blame Google?