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
-
Adding AdWords Remarketing Pixel to "Partner" Domains?
I have read through the AdWords advertising policies, but there isn't an extremely clear answer to my question: does it break AdWords policy to include a remarketing pixel on a partner website? Example - I own and run 123boats.com, my acquaintance who owns abchotels.com has agreed to put my remarketing pixel on his website, and I plan to show remarketing ads to his website visitors advertising my services at 123boats.com. Is anyone aware of any documentation that explicitly allows or disallows this type of "partner" remarketing tracking?
Paid Search Marketing | | marymerritt0 -
Should You Buy Your Name in Adwords?
While I definitely see the pros to buying your name in Adwords, should you still do this if you have a small monthly budget? I get why large companies like Tiffany's would buy their name because they have the excessive funds to do so in addition to buying keywords. Any guidance or strategy on this?
Paid Search Marketing | | SEOhughesm1 -
Adwords account suspended for talking about SEO. Why isn't Moz suspended, too?
First let me say that we don't care that much about Adwords. We were spending about 20 bucks a month and we never optimized it, tinkered with it, or cared that much. Business is booming for us just with organic search and referrals from happy customers. (We're a blog writing service called BlogMutt. Motto: We work like a dog to fill up your blog.) But we just got suspended from Adwords. After multiple inquiries and multiple unhelpful responses, we got a note that said: "Please note that your website contains matter which states your site's SEO increases. Anything which relates to SEO is not allowed as per Google Policies. Please make appropriate changes to your website." Now, we don't say your site's SEO increases with BlogMutt. What we do say is what everyone says, that blogging is a best practice for any modern marketing effort. We certainly are less clear about improving search rankings than, for example, moz.com. Why is it OK for Moz, but not for us? Don't get me wrong. I think Moz should be able to continue advertising. I'm just wondering how we got into the Adwords crosshairs. Any thoughts?
Paid Search Marketing | | scodtt0 -
Adding Coremetrics Tags with Google Adwords
Hello, I would like to know if it's possible to add Coremetrics tracking tags in Google Adwords while the auto tagging functionnality is on. The point of doing this is to be able to track in both Analytics systems the performance of the PPC campaigns while still having Adwords to use Google Analytics conversion data. Thanks, Guillaume
Paid Search Marketing | | guiberube0 -
Importing Analytic goals into Adwords
My company is in the process of updating how we track conversions in Adwords and Analytics. One prgrammer suggested importing Analytic goals into the Adwords account. I am extremely hesitant to do that because I know that Analytics and Adwords don't always play nicely together. Does anyone have any experience (positive or negative) around this. Pros and cons? Should I keep the tracking separate? Also, FYI, our flow does not employ the traditional "thank you page" conversion model. We have java scripts and onload events that fire when goals are triggered. I am not a programmer so I am a little out of the loop on how it all works. All I know is that I want conversions/goals to be attributed to the correct channel. Help me mozzers!
Paid Search Marketing | | Vacatia_SEO0 -
Anyone Think AdWords Campaigns Hurt Organic CTRs, Decreasing Organic Rankings?
Hi All, It seems like just about everyone agrees that AdWords campaigns and SEO campaigns bring additional value when used in conjunction (increasing Impressions, Clicks, Conversions, etc.), but has anyone considered AdWords performance harming organic rankings by decreasing engagement metrics? I've been searching for studies, blog posts, investigations, etc. this morning and haven't been able to find anyone discussing this specific idea. Personally, I think decreased engagement for organic results would be relatively evenly distributed among those results, making engagement drops relative and thus nullifying their impact on rankings. Any other ideas out there? Thanks!
Paid Search Marketing | | mac22330 -
If I add the the '&utm_source=MSN' parameter to my URLs in AdCenter, will this reset my history for the KW/campaign(s)?
I need Google Analytics to correctly parse PPC campaign key words from Bing.
Paid Search Marketing | | AnthonyYoung0 -
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