John chow just posted a topic on PPC marketing written by some guy named Jonathan Volk.

Evading the Google Adwords Slap - Guide to a Great Quality Score

The problem with the post is that the source of information is all incorrect and is posted by someone with no real background in PPC marketing and the AdWords system. So, before you start going and changing up your AdWords accounts. Listen to my rebuttals on the tips that were given by this guy.

Tip 1) Starting a brand new campaign does nothing to reset your score. Google tracks your history based on account and keywords used. Meaning moving a keyword or recreating a campaign does not reset anything. Google will still carry it over

Tip 2) Its not because you stuck to many BROAD keywords in one adgroup, its because the relationship between your keywords, text ads and landing page don’t line up. Here is a quote from google help “If you don’t want to replace poor quality keywords, you can try optimizing their associated ad text and landing pages.”

Tip 3) Starting your campaign with higher bids is old practice. Google has implemented position normalizing which mean you no longer establish a fast quality score based on volume and CTR. Its now based on what the average is for the position you should be showing up for.

Tip 4) A/B testing is smart practice, but it will not guarantee a higher CTR or Qscore. It just means you found a better ad.

Tip 5) removing your broad and adding them as exact and phrase will not make a difference. Google considers each match type unique. Meaning singles broad and singles exact are meant to react differently, you are just unoptimized for the broad version. Reason being there are hundreds of words being mapped to broad and your text ad may not be relating to the bulk of the queries. Single can mean thousand of things, not just dating.

Tip 6) Of all the tips, he has this one correct. Poor quality score is mostly associated with your landing page. Just skip all the rest of his recommendations and just create a better landing page. You will solve all the remaining problems. Also create a more target text ad.

Tip 7) This is not a proven method, but may help. There is no hard evidence yet, that this will improve your Qscore. But it is possible since google will associate the landing page with the keyword.

Tip 8.) while this will give you a clean slate, especially if you start off with a new google adwords account, you will end up paying more per click for the 1st 3 months, before google kicks in its CPC discount over time. Example if you are used to paying $1 per click for keyword XYZ and you start a new account, you will end up paying $2 per click for the next few months until you reestablish your account. This has been case studied many times.

It is actually upsetting that this post is up, especially on john chow. Many of these techniques are old, outdated and some are pure misconceptions from someone who doesn’t really understand PPC marketing and the AdWords system. Shame on you!!! Please post more credible sources of information or at least validate it before leading the community in the wrong direction.

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