{"id":386,"date":"2009-07-31T10:36:27","date_gmt":"2009-07-31T10:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rocketclicks.com\/blog\/?p=386"},"modified":"2009-07-31T10:36:27","modified_gmt":"2009-07-31T10:36:27","slug":"googles-cracking-the-whip-on-landing-page-quality-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocketclicks.com\/industry-news\/googles-cracking-the-whip-on-landing-page-quality-scores\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Cracks Whip On Review Site Landing Page Quality Scores"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the last two weeks, many affiliate review and comparison shopping sites have seen their traffic and their profits dramatically decrease as Google has downgraded its landing quality scores.\u00a0 Google has listed such sites on an \u201cadvertise with caution\u201d list for some time, but there\u2019s a recent shift in how strictly they\u2019re applying the policy and the effects are widespread, given what we\u2019re seeing and hearing on the frontlines.<\/p>\n<h3>Affiliate marketers and review sites were always targets<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cPlease be aware that there are some types of sites that we&#8217;ve found provide a consistently poor experience for our users.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s Google in their own words regarding landing pages in AdWords.\u00a0 So, what do they explicitly name on this caution list?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> eBook sites<\/li>\n<li>&#8216;Get rich quick&#8217; sites<\/li>\n<li>Comparison shopping sites<\/li>\n<li>Travel aggregators<\/li>\n<li>Affiliates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The caution list isn\u2019t news, and comparison sites and affiliate marketing being on it isn\u2019t news either (although business involved with these models are often surprised to see this in writing on Google\u2019s help center when it\u2019s pointed it out to them).<\/p>\n<h3>Google is now hitting review sites harder<\/h3>\n<p>What is news is just how hard Google is now applying that view to comparison shopping sites that review products or services, especially when an affiliate relationship is involved.\u00a0 They have clearly updated their enforcement policy.<\/p>\n<p>Their intent? Shut you out of AdWords.\u00a0 If Google has its way sites that review several products and push traffic to affiliates are not going to be a sustainable business model for advertising with AdWords going forward.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s very aware that a low landing page quality score isn\u2019t a fine for doing business in a manner it doesn\u2019t favor. It\u2019s not something you can just pay and move on and consider it the cost of doing business. The quality score is meant to be exclusionary and push that business out of their system completely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you have a comparison review site running AdWords campaigns what can you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a nutshell, you have to offer a relevant site that adds value to the greater web in Google\u2019s eyes because Google is built on a relevancy-as-king philosophy.\u00a0 They want what they consider a positive experience for their users, so satisfied users come back again and again, using their search engines and tools for all of their information needs.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re an affiliate running a review site, many of these suggestions may counter measures you\u2019re using to maximize gains and conversion funnel efficiencies and keep your CPA low.\u00a0 I\u2019m aware of that, but if you\u2019re going to overcome Google\u2019s negative judgment and play\u2014you have to play on Google\u2019s playing field according to their rules. In a big picture view, relevancy will be essential if you want traffic from AdWords.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Remove bias<\/strong>. If you\u2019re rating products and you\u2019re giving the only five-star rating to a product you\u2019re an affiliate for, that bias may cost you landing- page quality in Google\u2019s eyes, especially if the relationship isn\u2019t disclosed openly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Add value.<\/strong> If you\u2019re paid to traffic users from AdWords to a site you\u2019re affiliated with, you need to add extra value that the user cannot get from just going directly to the parent company\u2019s landing page. The days of shuttling traffic from point A to point B without adding value in the interim is what Google plans to end. Examples of adding value include coupons, discounts or offering your own technology, expertise, insights, or complementary product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Be transparent. <\/strong>Detail your research process so that users understand why your reviews are relevant. Openly share information about your business. Disclose affiliate arrangements, even if discretely in an About Us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Contribute relevant content.<\/strong> Google wants you to have a site with genuinely useful content in addition to reviews<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Allow free navigation.<\/strong> Google values easy navigation free of constrictions.\u00a0 Navigation to original, valuable content elsewhere on your domain helps your case. Anecdotally, header navigation above the fold seems to be rewarded more than footer navigation.\u00a0 Google also cautions against use of pop-ups, pop-unders, or any other obtrusive element that interferes with navigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Consult your AdWords rep<\/strong>. If you\u2019re affected with a low quality score and want to salvage your domain, talk to your Google rep.\u00a0 Landing page quality scores are binary pass\/fail grades, and once you\u2019re graded low\u2014only talking to a human at Google will instigate a review to fix the situation. No spider or automated search system will ever upgrade your ad site\u2019s landing page quality without human intervention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Posted by Rob Sieracki<br \/>\nDirector of Paid Search<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sources: <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/adwords.google.com\/support\/bin\/answer.py?answer=46675\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/adwords.google.com\/support\/bin\/answer.py?answer=46675<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/adwords.google.com\/support\/bin\/answer.py?answer=66238\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/adwords.google.com\/support\/bin\/answer.py?answer=66238<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the last two weeks, many affiliate review and comparison shopping sites have seen their traffic and their profits dramatically decrease as Google has downgraded its landing quality scores.  Google has listed such sites on an \u201cadvertise with caution\u201d list for some time, but there\u2019s a recent shift in how strictly they\u2019re applying the policy and the effects are widespread, given what we\u2019re seeing and hearing on the frontlines&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"tax_19014":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google Cracks Whip On Review Site Landing Page Quality Scores | Rocket Clicks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rocketclicks.com\/industry-news\/googles-cracking-the-whip-on-landing-page-quality-scores\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Cracks Whip On Review Site Landing Page Quality Scores | Rocket Clicks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the last two weeks, many affiliate review and comparison shopping sites have seen their traffic and their profits dramatically decrease as Google has downgraded its landing quality scores. Google has listed such sites on an \u201cadvertise with caution\u201d list for some time, but there\u2019s a recent shift in how strictly they\u2019re applying the policy and the effects are widespread, given what we\u2019re seeing and hearing on the frontlines...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rocketclicks.com\/industry-news\/googles-cracking-the-whip-on-landing-page-quality-scores\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocket Clicks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RocketClicks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-31T10:36:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rocketclicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/rocket-clicks-logo-rb4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"817\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"187\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rocket 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