Significant Change to Google AdWords Quality Score

*** Update *** Here is a link to the official announcement.

I’m in Silicon Valley right now and I just got back from the Googleplex (where I had a fabulous lunch).

Sources inside have confirmed, and an announcement will come out tomorrow, that they have made a significant change to the Quality Score algorithm. Going forward, Google will utilize automated methods to evalaute the landing pages within the destination URLs to determine relevancy and quality which will impact the Quality Score, and subsequently, the minimum bids.

This is a major leap forward to removing alot of the “Click pimping” or “Click arbitrage” that you see happening so often. I’m totally behind them, and I’m looking for improved results on the paid search side. This will obviously also impact the Quality Score of keywords which are deep linked within sites, giving those keywords additional discounting within the AdWords discounter. On the flip side, this will also mean that if your landing pages are not in tune with your keyword research, your minimum bids are going to go up.

Look for increased demand for services from companies like Offermatica, Clicktracks & Urchin (Google Analytics Service).