Over the past year, we have discussed the various headaches associated with the incorporation of the new Google Quality Score segment of the Paid Search ranking algorithm, up to the latest discussion covered early this month by Barry during SES. A couple of recent thread have continued this discussion.
In November, there was a short discussion at WebmasterWorld Forums about how long it takes for Google to recalculate the landing page score once a page is updated. There was no real definite answer given by anyone from Google, but the WMW members involved in the discussion gave ranges from "weeks to months." One good point was that
They'll never give out a timeframe because it they do and miss it, everyone will complain.The answer is more likely that advertisers paying large sums for very competitive keywords may get a slight edge in line versus smaller advertisers, but of course this is pure speculation.
Another recent thread at Digital Point Forums had a member asking if the Quality Score was based on the website or the whole Google account. The resounding answer was that it was based on the keyword, and not the account, although one member states:
a little birdie (who heard it from a little google birdie) told me that quality score for search is determined at the keyword level and account level. The account level quality score is made up of overall keyword scores and spend.There was also a link in the thread to a presentation given by Brad Geddes as to how the Quality Score works.
Last week Moderator Frank Watson (aka AussieWebmaster) started a thread at Search Engine Watch Forums which gave a link to the recently updated page in Google's AdWords Blog which gave a typical veiled guideline of what Google is looking for, and looks very similar to the Google Webmaster Guidelines page describing what factors help organic rankings.
So it's that simple: follow the rules of SEO when creating a PPC landing page, and all will be well.
Additional discussion at WMW, Digital Point, and SEW Forums.
