We don’t do a whole lot of complaining in this blog. We like to stay on the positive side. But Google is really getting on our nerves with its keyword “Quality Score”. A representative from Google described Quality Score thusly:

“Quality Score is a dynamic variable assigned to each of your keywords. It’s calculated from various factors, including the relevance of your ad and keyword, your keyword’s clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, and your landing page quality.

Quality Score is used to determine your ads’ position on Google and the Google Network. It’s also used to determine your keywords’ minimum bids. In general, the higher your Quality Score, the better your ad position and the lower your minimum bids.”

Okay, no problem. Only…from what we are experiencing first-hand in many instances, Quality Score works very poorly.

We have ad groups running in which a keyword perfectly matches the text used in the ad and on the landing page, and that have a reasonable click-through rate (or no click-through rate because it’s brand new)…and Google is still giving us a low quality score!

Basically, Google can assign a low Quality Score to any keyword and mandate that the advertiser pay an outrageous price for clicks, even if there is not a single other advertiser for the keyword. As far as we can tell, the logic for determining Quality Score has some serious problems. Google is forcing advertisers to overpay when it should not be necessary.

Is this good for Google? It might make them a few more bucks in the short-term, but long-term they are going to hurt advertisers and force them to go elsewhere. It’s simple economics. If advertisers are forced into paying so much for clicks that it makes it impossible to generate a positive return on investment, then they will stop advertising there. Is Google so big and powerful that it can afford to have its customers start leaving? I don’t think so.

Hey Google, how about letting the market determine what advertisers are successful and stop meddling in every little detail of everything that happens? Control freaks…

If you are experiencing your own Google frustration and need some help managing your AdWords account, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.