Redirecting AdWords Display URLs
-
I feel it's a best practice (from a user experience POV) to create a 301redirect when using a fictitious display URL in your PPC ads. And according to the AdWords help page (http://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=175906&rd=2) Google doesn't have an issue using a redirect. "Redirects used for tracking purposes are fine as long as the final landing page has the same domain as the display URL."
I'm curious if there is ad score penalty if one does not ionclude a redirect - i.e. the user types in your display URL and gets a 404. Has anyone seen an evidence of this?
-
Thanks for the reply. As managing web production is one of my responsibilities reducing the number of 404s for a 600K site has priority (for me - hence the question). Our company has 40 plus active campaigns and countless ad groups - and therefore thousands of display URLs. My motivation in asking this question is to reduce 404s - if I can convince our paid search staff that there is value (other than less work for me) to following a best practice, then I might expect a degree of buy-in on their part.
As Pashima alludes to below, from a conversion standpoint making your landing page relevant to your ad and search terms would seem the goal for a company like Google that professes to be all about the UX. not to mention your own internal ROI tracking.
-
That's no longer accurate as of recent changes to the QS algo. Goole announced that LP quality and UX will play a larger role in the calculation of your QS. (http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/ads-quality-improvements-rolling-out.html)
I'd bet that the quality of your LPs will become even more significant as our web space and Adwords matures.
-
My ads that have fictitious display URLs that are specific to the keyword I'm targeting tend to have higher CTRs, so they get clicked more, which is good for keyword quality scores, so really you're rewarded for it, not penalized!
People don't visit those display URLs very often. However, some of the fictitious display URLs pop up in Webmaster Tools from time to time... it looks like Google finds them on sites that scrape Adwords ads.
-
In the grand scheme of things, with all of the different things that as search marketers we have to worry about, this is WAY down on the priority scale. Specifically when looking at AdWords, the idea of landing page plays a small role in quality score.
Check out this from Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian who breaks down quality score. I would say it's a slight over simplification, but he's saying quality score breaks down as the following:
60% is CTR
30% is 'Relevance'
10% is Landing Page
-
THX for your feedback Pashima - we actually have seen a few cases of it (I would believe from users that remember a display URL for later use). But as a percentage of all visits it's infinitesimal.
I actually misstated the adscore question, as of course Google has no idea if the URL was manually entered. I should have asked "Does Google check to see if the display URL actually goes to a landing page and if not, is there an adscore penalty". -
There is no penalty. If someone manually types in your redirect URL, they've broken the connection from the Adwords ad completely. On the other hand, Google does track 404 errors on your site, and any 404 error will affect your SEO and overall site rankings.
While I agree it makes for nice UX, I think creating a 301 redirect from the fictitious display URL to the actual landing page is overkill. I have never seen any 404 errors in my logs of a person manually typing in a display URL. People are inherently lazy. They will mouse and click.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Adwords Bidding
I'm just reaching out to get some help with regards to Adwords bidding. I find we are great at comprehensively setting up a campaign but struggle to know exactly what to do regarding setting the bid at the right amount for a keyword. Our current strategy is to maximise Impression share for keywords and therefore we generally look to endeavour to adjust bids to maximize this metric. Is there are good process to use for Adwords bidding or something someone can direct me to in order to uncover the things to consider when adjusting this bidding amount?
Paid Search Marketing | | Gavo0 -
CPC of Adwords Remarketing for Search (RLSA)
When a previous visitor to your site clicks on an RLSA ad, is the cost per click the same as if you were bidding on that same Keyword for a new visitor?
Paid Search Marketing | | richdan0 -
Impressions - AdWords vs Analytics
Given AdWords is a paid service, you'd hope the figures are accurate. For an example (exact match) keyword last month, AdWords says there were 14,253 impressions on Google search (i.e. not search partners or display network). However, going over to Analytics, for the same month it suggests 4,500 impressions for the same keyword. Google AdWords says the following about impressions: "An impression is counted each time your ad is served on Google's ad networks, such as on Google.com or other publisher websites and apps." "...How often your ad is shown. An impression is counted each time your ad is shown on a search result page or other site on the Google Network." Google Analytics explains impressions as: "The number of times any URL from your site appeared in search results viewed by a user, not including paid AdWords search impressions." Can anyone help clarify what is an accurate way of attaining monthly search figures, i.e. what is my overall potential Google customer base? I've also tried the Keyword Planner - which averages monthly searches - and it gives me 18,100 impressions for the same keyword (almost the two above figures added). Thanks! Rob
Paid Search Marketing | | englebert0 -
AdWords quality score of landing pages and subdomains popularity
Hello, I have an AdWords account whose landing pages point to (i.e.) http://www.domain.com/landing01.php I've been using this account for ages, it has a good score and history, so I want to keep it. The first question is: may I use landing pages on different subdomains within the same AdWords account (and in the same root domain)? I.E. (http://cheese.domain.com/landing01.php and http://wine.domain.com/landing02.php) 2nd question: the www subdomain has good subdomain metrics (authority /trust and, generally, links) while the "cheese" subdomain has not (no backlinks at all). Do I get any benefit in Adwords (like quality score or other) if I publish my landing pages under a subdomain with better subdomain metrics (or number of links)? Or should I just go with http://cheese.domain.com even it has no authority at all? Thank you, DoMiSoL Rossini
Paid Search Marketing | | DoMiSoL0 -
Why do some Adwords agencies insist on setting up Adwords in their own account?
I'm an online marketing consultant and I work with a variety of agencies who handle Adwords. I keep running into an issue where agencies want to set up Adwords in a proprietary account for my clients rather than in the client's account and manage it through MCC. I have just run into again and this time the agency claims they are protecting their Adwords "secret sauce" but that the client will still have full access to keywords, negative keywords, Ad copy, etc. It just doesn't pass the sniff test with me. Can anyone tell me if there are some legitimate reasons for an agency to do this other than to simply try to hold data hostage so that clients can't leave them without loss? I am inclined to tell my client they should run away screaming, but thought I would bounce it off you smart people first. Thanks!
Paid Search Marketing | | farlandlee1 -
Which of my products should I advertise for first using Adwords?
Serious Adwords noob here. I have been reading a great deal in preparation for my first Adwords campaign. Strangely enough, I have not been able to find information that might help me determine which of my 180+ products I should begin with and use in my first campaign. I imagine that there is some sort of general criterion like the highest selling item, lowest, one meeting certain criterion in the popularity of it's keywords/difficulty, one with least competition or, most likely, something that I haven't even thought of. Does anyone have any suggestions or a link to something I might be able to read to solve this? Thanks for your help!
Paid Search Marketing | | machineuser0 -
Adwords Keyword Quality Score changes when keyword is paused
Today I was pausing a bunch of low quality score keywords for a client, the thing is, once I paused the keywords, the quality score would immediately change. For example, a number of keywords that had a QS of 3 while they were running, immediately changed to 1 once paused. Out of curiosity I un-paused one of them and it remained at 1. Has anyone else experienced this and/or have an explanation? Cheers
Paid Search Marketing | | David_ODonnell0 -
Tweaking Adwords
Hi, I want to understand how one can tweak adwords and make first line long. I am showing the example as attachment. Please check and guide. Is this ethical ? Regards, Preet adwords.jpg
Paid Search Marketing | | PreetSibia0