To continue on the previous brief article on Google changes

As of Yesterday Google finally implemented a new algorithm update for adwords. Like most changes made by Google it will have an effect on how well each site is listing in the search engines.

After a long conversion yesterday and noticing that some of our ads had actually dropped down the listings compared to the week before I began researching into this new algorithm. The algorithm depends on a number of things the three main ones being the ad text, the landing page and cost per click which is al based around each individual key phrase. This is slightly different to how it was ranked in the past when it was depended on things such as Click Through Rate and other factors.

Not only did the algorithm change but also did the layout and features available in the adwords client centre. Some of the possibly most important and useful things are the new ‘customise columns’ link which allows users to hide and show different features such as Cost Per 100 impression and the most important feature the ‘Show Quality Score’. This not only shows how well each keyword is performing but also where it may be possible to optimise key phrases and landing pages.

Other features which have been added such as view all adgroups and ads brings the online client centre closer to the Adwords Editor program and hopefully the adwords editor will show an error if there are changes made to the online centre which are more current then the offline to avoid overwriting changes.

So how does this affect average Joe’s website. The relevancy of the landing page is one of the key attributed to the positioning of PPC ads. Although most websites landing page will be relevant, otherwise they wouldn’t be bidding on each individual key phrase but this also means that it is more then likely that having a site optimised will benefit the PPC listings as well as the natural listings.

Once again this reinforces Google’s webmaster guidelines which points out the importance of having a site search engine friendly. At this stage I can not see an relevancy to back linking and trustworthiness of the site and would assume this should have very little to do with listings as users pay per click and should not be penalised based around the sites history instead emphasis the three key factors – keyword score, ad text relevancy to the keyword and the landing page relevancy.

In many ways this will expand search engine marketing companies work area as it is almost a prerequisite to ensure that every site is search engine friendly i.e. valid, relevant and well structured code and content. Assuming that the ranking of each vital aspect such as landing page is out of 5 it is unlikely to see spamming land pages as it will not drastically effect the ranking of the PPC ad as it only needs to be ‘relevant’. This may also be another push to compete with the likes of Live adcenter who informed me at Search Strategies that the ad text is one of the most important factors when ranking PPC ads. Overall these new changes will benefit the end user and allow the optimising of campaigns better to possible lower costs per click and increase ROI.