JumpFly Blog: AdWords, Yahoo & Microsoft Advertising

I have certainly read many PPC advertising articles and blog posts regarding the importance of landing page text and it’s relationship to Sponsored Search keywords. While there is no arguing that the landing page should be highly relevant for the keywords used in order to facilitate the action of a conversion, there has also been some debate regarding the landing pages text and its relationship to Google’s Quality Score, and ultimately the price you pay per click. Let’s set the record straight.

Our friends from Google stopped by the JumpFly offices yesterday and we had a long discussion on the AdWords Quality Score process. So, this information is straight from the source. I’m only addressing the Quality Score and Landing Page relationship today, and will leave the other important aspects of Quality Score for other articles. Trust me, there is a lot to know when it comes to learning about Google AdWords Quality Score.

First, it is important to understand that there are actually two separate Google AdWords Quality Scores: QS1 & QS2

The first Quality Score, QS1, is the score to see if the keyword is even qualified to show. In the Q1 score, the quality of the landing page is factored into this algorithm. The biggest factors being relevant and original content, how you intend to use a visitor’s personal information, and navigability. Mostly, Google is trying to eliminate the type of poor quality websites that have shown a history of consistently providing a poor user experience from advertising on AdWords.

Once the Q1 score is factored and the keyword is able to enter the auction, the process moves along to the Q2 score.

The 2nd Quality Score (QS2) determines AdRank and CPC. I could go into great detail on all of the aspects of this very important Quality Score, however for this topic it is important to note that landing page quality is absolutely NOT a factor in QS2.

This was sure news to us, and I’m sure many of you might also find this to be unbelievable, however it is true. We spent a great deal of time talking about this and even watched a nice PowerPoint presentation to back it all up.

Of course, this new information directly contradicts some of Google’s online help documents. For example, on the Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines page it says:

Furthermore, following our site guidelines will help improve your landing page quality score. As a component of your keywords’ overall Quality Scores, a high landing page quality score can affect your AdWords account in three ways:

Decrease your keywords’ cost-per-clicks (CPCs)
Increase your keyword-targeted ads’ position on the content network
Improve the chances that your placement-targeted ads will win a position on your targeted placement

So, what does this all really mean?

Well, it doesn’t change the fact that a well optimized webpage that is focused on a particular keyword will definitely help convert that visitor. It doesn’t change the fact that a landing page that falls short of Google’s initial Landing Page Quality guidelines might not even trigger the keyword.

It does mean that no matter how many times you stuff your keyword into a webpage, or change the keyword density, it will not help lower your cost per click for that keyword at Google AdWords. That, I’m afraid, is determined by other factors involved in QS2.

The bottom line here is that a well designed and focused landing page is a very useful and much needed aspect of any Sponsored Search campaign. Nothing will change that fact. All this simply means is that your groovy new landing page is not going to influence the price you pay per click for that keyword.

Google turned ten years old on Monday.

Happy Birthday Google. Ten years after 2 Stanford Graduate students launched Google from a friend’s garage, Google now employs 20,000 people worldwide, operates out of the 1.5 million square foot “Googleplex,” overseas hundreds of thousands of computers

in massive data centers, receives over 1 million applications for employment per year and enjoys a market value of $150 billion. Wow, how are they going to top that over the next 10 years? Well, they certainly intend to try, as they are continually expanding into new markets, but they are greeted by increasing opposition as various groups grow concerned over Google’s growing power.

Earlier this week, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) voiced their opposition to the pending Google-Yahoo! partnership.

The ANA expressed concern over the proposed agreement and the PPC search-marketing share it would provide Google. This powerful organization represents over 400 companies and 9,000 brands, including Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil and General Motors. This mounting pressure against Google’s expansion comes in addition to an existing probe by the Department of Justice, initiated to determine if Google’s success and near PPC advertising monopoly, are actually harming advertisers. Privacy groups have also expressed concern over Google’s collection of information for more than 650 million people who use their services. Despite increasing concern over Google’s enormous and growing online empire, the team at Google is not going to let that slow them down.

This week, Google partnered with NBC Universal to expand their television advertising exposure.

Offering television exposure to AdWords customers is really neat, but represents yet another example of Google’s increasing expansion into other marketplaces. Just last week, Google launched their new Chrome Web Browser. Add that to their search, GMail, YouTube, Maps, Online Apps, etc… This list goes on and on.

Additionally, Google is also looking to pursue cell phones and other mobile devices, make digital copies of all the world’s books, establish electronic file cabinets for people’s health records and likely much, much more.

So, what’s next? Maybe taking over the world?

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The ever-evolving PPC Advertising Industry continues to add new twists. Beginning last Wednesday, Google officially included landing page load time as a variable that helps determine Quality Score. Per Google, “Keywords with landing pages that load slowly may get lower Quality Scores (and thus higher minimum bids). Conversely, keywords with landing pages that load very quickly may get higher Quality Scores and lower minimum bids.” Google believes that users have the best experience when they don’t have to wait a long time for landing pages to load, and visitors are more likely to abandon landing pages that load slowly. So please take this variable into consideration when designing landing pages.

Next topic - Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang and the entire Yahoo! board of directors are currently fighting to keep their jobs. Carl Icahn continues to press Yahoo! shareholders to vote them out of position, and Proxy Cards have been sent out to investors. Yahoo! shares have plummeted since the Microsoft deal has been allegedly taken off the table.

Meanwhile, Jerry Yang believes that Yahoo! is well positioned to embrace the future of Internet advertising with their pending new advertising management platform called AMP! from Yahoo! (View video) . Per Yahoo!, “the AMP! platform will ultimately help marketers buy across search, display, local, mobile, and video inventory - all from a single, integrated interface.” Yahoo! is currently the leader in display advertising, and is banking on the convergence of search and display advertising going forward. So, does this mean that Yahoo! is poised for greatness?

While Yahoo! may actually be in position to better capitalize on their 500 million+ monthly users, various former top Yahoo! managers appear to disagree. Just days after Yahoo!’s announcement that talks with Microsoft ended, three executive vice presidents, two senior vice presidents and numerous other well-regarded employees announced their intention to leave. Very interesting. That is certainly not a vote of confidence from Yahoo! management. I guess we’ll learn more in coming months. AMP! from Yahoo! is scheduled to begin roll out in phases, beginning this fall.

Regardless of how this plays out, there is an ongoing need for professional PPC advertising assistance, whether it be with search advertising, display advertising or whatever future technology may emerge. Internet advertising can be incredibly powerful, but is increasingly complex. New features and capabilities arise every week; It is more or less impossible for an individual (with anything else to do) to stay on top of this on his or her own, which is why professional PPC management is frequently the appropriate choice.