Google recently announced changes to its AdWords program intended to both simplify keyword management as well as give advertisers more control. Their AdWords keyword status system will be simplified to either active or inactive from its current normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled. Additionally, accounts will no longer be slowed because of low click-through rates (CTR), instead introducing a new system called "Quality-Based Minimum Bids."
Here’s a quick recap of the upcoming changes:
° AdWords keyword status will now be active or inactive, as opposed to the current system of normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled.
° Accounts will no longer be slowed.
° Google will introduce a Quality Score and Quality-Based Minimum Bids.
o Quality Score will be determined by the keyword’s CTR, ad copy relevance, historical keyword performance, and "other relevancy factors" that Google is not specifying.
o A high Quality Score will result in lower required minimum bids and low Quality Score will have higher minimum bids.
° Advertisers now have more control in running keywords by simply adjusting the keyword or Ad Group’s maximum cost-per-click (CPC) depending on the minimum bid determined by the Quality Score.
The position of your ad on the sponsored listings and frequency of display will continue to be based on its Ad Rank. Ad Rank is determined by a combination of the ad’s max CPC bid and its “relevance,” measured by its CTR. High performing ads based on those two metrics currently move up in position and can actually rank higher despite lower bid prices if the CTR is substantially higher. Ads that do not perform well are penalized by an on hold or disabled status. These accounts are “slowed,” where the ad displays sparingly and eventually disabled until the advertiser either deletes the ad from the campaign or optimizes to generate higher click rates.
Ad Rank will continue to be determined by the ad’s max CPC and its CTR, now known as its “Quality Score.” Instead of putting those “underperforming” ads on hold, advertisers will now have the ability to keep running the ads by raising the amount they are willing to pay-per-click or by optimizing the ad copy to generate higher click through rates. Although a little bit more maintenance is required, this seems to be a better system than having to constantly delete disabled keywords.
Most SEM’s will agree that Google’s new change gets rid of one of the most annoying features of AdWords, where campaigns are slowed and disabled because low CTR’s, where one keyword could slow down an entire campaign. It also should be easier to manage just two potential keyword statuss’, instead of four. Additionally, advertisers now have what they want, the control to run certain keywords that previously may have been able to run because of an on hold or disabled status.
With the additional control advertisers will have to monitor their accounts more closely as ineffective keywords may now run if its required minimum CPC determined by the Quality Score is met by the set max CPC.
These changes will be implemented within the next few weeks. Here’s what Google suggests you do in the mean time:
1.) Leave keywords you are satisfied with alone.
2.) Delete any on hold keywords you don’t want to activate once minimum bids are in place.
3.) Utilize the Find and Edit Keywords tool to quickly search for, and delete keywords in your account.
4.) After implementation of Google’s new AdWords features are complete (you will get an email from Google), monitor keywords in your account closely to see how they perform under the new guidelines.
5.) Any disabled keywords at time of implementation will be deleted several weeks later, use this time to review and activate any keywords you may want to continue running.
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