I have a campaign (my own, not one for client) with about a thousand words in an ad group, with a single text ad using dynamic keyword insertion. The problem I am having is that the QS for this campaign is fluctuating 5 to 10 times A DAY.
Most of the minimum CPCs are dancing around endlessly between .04, .05 (Great QS) and .10 (OK QS). I no sooner update my bids to reflect the latest, when suddenly most of the account goes dark because the QS is different than it was an hour before. I can't keep up. I'm not making changes to the landing pages themselves, so there shouldn't be an issue there. I've had to keep a low daily budget because everything is in such a constant state of flux.
Since this is a personal, non-commercial (except for AdSense) site, and I'm only using AdWords for branding purposes at this point, I really don't want to pay .10 per click if I don't have to, I'd rather pay .04 or .05. If the QS calculations aren't there to support that, then fine, I can either delete all but about 300 keywords, or (more likely) just shut down the account as a failure.
I've reported this twice to AdWords Support, and both times was told everything with my account was working the way it should be. Well, no, I don't think so. I currently don't have any other (client) accounts behaving this way - which is a good thing, because if they did (or if they start) I won't have enough hours in the day to maintain them properly. I keep a pretty close eye on things on a daily basis, but I shouldn't have to micromanage one account or two dozen accounts on an HOURLY basis in order to keep up with a rogue QS algo.
To make matters worse, the AdWords Editor is NOT syncing properly with this account either. When I call up this account in AE, and download the latest changes to the campaign, I see 6 keywords marked as inactive, and all the rest have minimum bids of .04 or .05. But when I log in to the actual AdWords site, I'm told that I have 553 keywords inactive. This has been the case for over 24 hours now. I was told by support that the AdWords Editor accesses a different server - but if it's not synced up with my actual account after 24 hours, then there is a SERIOUS problem, either with my account or with the editor - and if it's with the editor, then people should be aware of it.
I can't get a true representation of the state of my account at any given point - at least, not one that I can trust - and I'm just about a hair shy of just calling the whole thing a failure and shutting it down.
It won't matter that much; the site is already #1 in the SERPS in Google, Yahoo and MSN. But it's the principle of the thing - it doesn't make any sense that my keywords should have GREAT QS at 9am, 12pm, 7pm and 10pm during the day, and only an OK QS at 10am, 3pm, 9pm and midnight. And now I'm really worried about this AdWords Editor thing. I'm thinking I have to go through all my clients accounts and ad groups to make sure they all sync up properly in the AE, because that's the tool I use most often. Not the best use of my time. And I'm REALLY disillusioned with Support - I've had a pretty good track record with them for years, but I can't even get an email that sounds like it was generated by an actual human being and not a bot.
I'm not looking for any particular answers here, because nobody here can give them - just venting. And also, I guess, advising that if you're using the AdWords Editor, you check it against what shows up online to make sure you're getting an accurate representation when you download your account.
In the meantime, I'm sorry for the frustration.
AWA
Do sites have a different quality score depending on who else is advertising?
Thanks
Anyway, I gave up and shut it down.
What is the average word length of your inactive keywords?
There's no length pattern to it, as far as I can see.
As I see it unless you get some personalized service from Google (which most don’t) the support isn’t much count. Form letters is all you receive which point to a bloated array of guidelines that say virtually nothing but the most obvious.
The only positive I’ve experienced is no $5.00 or $10.00 bids but they’re still working you for the money. Adwords now trys to eliminate most branding and a variety of ads seem to punish others. Basically IMO many accounts seem to go unaffected if they haven’t accumulated a history.
