We find that gaining high quality scores is similar to search engine optimization tactics from 1999. Like early search engine optimization, quality score is largely based on keyword density, but the density in this case is not created on a single page. Instead, it follows a keyword on your landing page through the URL to the ad text and back to the keyword that triggers that page.

So if you want a great quality score, you need a tightly themed Adgroup with a small list of keywords. You then need to write ads that feature these keywords, so they get bolded on the search results pages and generate a high click-through rate. It’s also best if these same keywords are placed in the URL, headline, and title tag of the landing page and are featured in the ad copy of the page. We call this “keyword siloing.”

It also helps if your landing page has some valuable content or links to content. Pure “squeeze pages” with no content (just lead forms and a picture) are being penalized by Google. Google states on their Site Quality Guidelines page: “Try to provide information without requiring

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So how do we go about targeting your campaign and avoiding overly broad, expanded-match keywords? We generate an extensive negative keyword list to run against your broad-match keywords. To build a great negative keyword list, we first work off a generic list of negatives that work across many campaign categories. Words such as free, career, jobs, courses, etc. are often good negative keywords.

To find more negative keywords that are unique to your market, we will run a “search query report” from your AdWords campaign and get a partial list of queries that triggered your ads. We will see if there are any keywords we want to block. We also use special javascript code to pull out the actual search queries in your Google Analytics reports, but the real skill of using negatives is in knowing how to apply them to your account.

The matrix below shows exactly how Google treats negative broad, phrase, and exact-match keywords against a variety of search queries. Study this chart carefully to make sure you are using these match types properly. (Click on the chart to enlarge)

What this chart does

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Below Are the First Items We Check When We Analyze a Prospective Client’s Marketing Campaign.

Quality Score Problems:

• You are using keywords that are too broad, and this is killing your quality score and conversion rates.
• Your Adgroups have too many unrelated keywords, and the ads are not relevant.
• Your landing pages do not have important keywords on them, or they are not specific enough for your Adgroups.
• You have no negative keywords, and you don’t use phrase and exact-match keywords enough.

Campaign Setting Errors:

• You are day parting based on your office hours and are missing out on great sales that come in after hours.
• You have the search network turned on, and you are in a B2B market.
• You are inadvertently rationing your ads with standard distribution instead of accelerated distribution.
• You have the content network turned on, and you have never run a site-performance report to block bad sites that do not convert.
• You never split your content ad prices to even out your conversion costs.
• Your campaign budget is set too low, and your keyword bids are too high. You are not engaging the algorithm to “pull” your ads to optimize your click costs.

Geo-targeting Errors:

• Your geo-targeting is set to show your ads

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The post “11 Experts on Link Development Speak Out” from Sugarrae Consulting is one of the best articles you will read on SEO and link building this year. While many of these experts seem reluctant to share their secrets, if you read between the lines and follow the links embedded in the article, you can find some juicy nuggets.

Looking for .gov back links? Wondering which directory listings still pass link juice? Think social networking or social bookmarking tactics will jump start your site? Need a quick summary of cross-linking strategies? You will find information here you can use today and keep using for at least the next six months… until all the rules change again.

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Matt Cutts explains “snippets” in the video below. The bottom line is that Google pulls the snippet most of the time from the meta description tag. A well-written description tag will therefore vastly improve your click-through rate for organic search. For more information, go to Google’s Webmaster Blog to get a complete explanation about how to control your snippet.

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