Google to Change Keyword Status Algo

Breaking Keywords News

[Tiber]

I just got this notice at the top of my AdWords account. Thought I'd post it so others can see it.

Coming soon: Simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids.
In the coming weeks, your keywords will no longer be evaluated as normal, in trial, on hold, or disabled. Instead, your keywords will either be active or inactive, depending on their quality and maximum CPC. Each keyword will be assigned a minimum bid based on its quality. As long as its maximum CPC meets this quality-based minimum bid, your keyword will remain active and trigger ads. Learn more.

[edited by: eWhisper at 12:00 am (utc) on July 15, 2005]
[edit reason] Please don't copy entire pages. See TOS. [/edit]

[Murdoch]

I am not entirely sure, but my sense is that they are not actually "looking" at the landing pages currently except in situations where a manual review is called for some reason

Suzy, I believe you are correct here. AFAIK, landing page relevance is only used in natural results and not sponsored listings (yet)

I have seen Google testing longer creative text

And I was just becoming a master of 4-5-6 letter synonyms...

[didit]

The key here is that "other variables" will be factored into Quality Score. Those variables can be anything Google want's them to be. Quality score is there to help Google predict effective CPM yield. The elimination of the distinctions in CTR and therefore status codes will empower Google to assign higher Quality scores to certain brands, branded domains, or advertisers simply because they have a history of "relevance." This change favors stronger brands and better creative even more than Google has in the past. If you don't have stellar creative then get cracking.

[elsewhen]

the official adwords blog has just posted a new entry about this... their points have mostly been discussed here, but they describe the upcomming changes clearly and help allay some fears.

[elsewhen]

i have been thinking about what google means by "other relevancy factors"... from the blog...

The Quality Score is simply a new name for the predicted CTR, which is determined based on the CTR of your keyword, the relevance of your ad text, the historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors

until now i have thought that "other relavancy factors" probably had to do with keyword relevance of the landing page, but i have another idea: visitors who click "back" from the landing page. this might be used by google as an indicator that the landing page is not relevant, and this could be used against the advertiser in the "quality score". this is pure speculation, but if it is true, it would make effective landing page design even more important.

[running scared]

Got to admit that the latest Adwords blog post has done little to reduce my "fears".

Will we see mortgage ads start to appear on real estate phrases?

[dave741]

Sorry but I think the spot at the Blog is "a little" confused:

They say:

...we want to assure you that the 'auction' will remain the same. We'll continue to rank your ads based on your maximum CPC and the Quality Score.

...the Quality Score is simply a new name for the predicted CTR.

I read it this way - "the auction will remain the same", BUT they will use predicted CTR!

So far was the position of my ads (and also my CPC) related to the historical (or real if you want) CTR!

Anybody of us, who works with adwords can name plenty of factors that can influence the CTR. Sometimes just one letter makes a big diffrence. I am afraid, that no algo can handle this kind of prediction properly and that the predicted CTR will be very inacurate.

I am sorry to remind, but all of us know how the predictions of the Trafic Estimator looks. But I don't care - the bad prediction of the Trafic Estimator doesn't cost me money.

But if the prediction of CTR will be bad, it will cost me money!

I am also afraid of the scenario where the predicted CTR will behave like vicious circle.
I mean this - if they predict, that your CTR will be high, then your Quality Score and your REAL CTR will be high, too! If they predict, that your CTR will be low then your Quality Score and your REAL CTR will be low, too! Ups. Is there any way out of this?

[toddb]

I just talked to a rep at Google. This was not my rep and this rep was very helpful. BUT he/she was not sure if Google would tell us when this goes into effect.

We have a limited window to take advatage of the "disabled" status change so please tell us there will be an email when it goes live.

[Paul_N]

So am I right in saying:

That if your ad is the only ad on the page, you will no longer only pay $0.05, you will have to pay what ever Google thinks is appropriate to pay, based on the 'quality score'?

Seems to me Google has found a way to set a minimum bid regardless. I'll be surprised to hear from anyone who actually starts receiving $0.01 clicks.

And the post above about predicted CTR/historical CTR is very valid. Everyones aware that Google uses a predicted CTR to rank ads initially, but surely they will still refer to a historial CTR once the ad has incurred a healthy number of clicks or impressions?

[suzyvirtual]

"predicted CTR" is already being used. One of the (largest)factors taken into account is the historical CTR on your account of that keyword. But, other factors such as the overall CTR of the keyword and the overall CTR of your acccount are part of the formula as well.

It is actually interesting that adwords gave us so much warning on this change. Usually, there is rumor and speculation and then an immediate change OR just an immediate change with no warning. I think the open communication is quite nice, although I am sure it means they are dealing with fielding a whole bunch of people freaking out...

[dave741]

It is actually interesting that adwords gave us so much warning on this change.

I really appreciate it. Let's hope that this attitude will be permanent.