Tuesday, July 25, 2006
New landing page algorithm accused of causing Cost Per Click chaos
I’ve been talking on the phone with a lot of Google Adwords advertisers over the last few weeks who’ve all had problems with their leads drying up and minimum CPC’s increasing dramatically.
It’s all down to the latest Google Adwords landing page algorithm, which uses an automated formula to assess how your landing page content relates to your original ad. A poor or irrelevant landing page can affect the Quality Score of your ads, resulting in higher minimum cost per clicks and ads even being disabled.
6 ways to avoid 'The Algorithm' and reduce your CPC
I’ve done some research on what Google Adwords advertisers can do to avoid falling foul of the dreaded new landing page algorithm. Fortunately its mainly common sense (and what we already do for our clients anyway)....
- If all your Ads link to your home page, then time’s up. You MUST deep link each AdGroup to relevant content pages in your site or ideally create individual landing pages.
- Get all your web pages optimised for search engines, with relevant keyword rich page titles, headings with H1 and H2 tags etc.
- Rewrite your landing page copy – make it longer and more relevant (without spamming keywords). Try and talk round the subject of your Ad
- Review your call to action. If the clicks are going to cost you more, make sure you’re converting them into leads
- Include relevantly worded hyperlinks in text (not ‘click here’ links) to other relevant pages in your site, and to external web sites
- Provide clear links to separate contact us and privacy policy pages
I’d be interested to hear about any other cases of problems with the new landing page algorithm, or measures being used to overcome it.