Google Cares About the User Experience

The more I run on Google Adwords, the more I realize how much they have changed in just the few years time.

In 2004, I was able to run the keyword games and others to my arcade site that was PLASTERED with ads for just $0.04 cents per click. I was making some nice bank for my age. Then Quality score was introduced and I saw $10 minimum bids show up in my account over night. (Poor user experience)

In 2007, I was able to throw up bridge pages (also known as landing pages) that were essentially just a huge image that was clickable (linking to the aff offer) and throw a bit of content under it. (Poor user experience)

In 2008, I was able to run wordpress blogs as the backend and have a nicly designed landing page as the front. (OK user experience)

In 2009, I have had to change my strategies significantly and they continue to change.

It just seems harder and harder to run a good affiliate marketing campaign in Google these days. And many guys are running away from it for that very reason.

So what CAN you run these days?

The truth is, you need to actually provide some sort of value now a days.

You can’t just throw up a page plastered with advertisements and expect Google’s ad team to give you any sort of advertising impressions.

Surprisingly, review sites are still the main thing I see in Google Adwords these days. They still have their place and can actually provide a good user experience. (Hence the reason why they are still allowed to some extent)

Although there was a big stink about people having their review sites slapped with poor quality score, I think it’s because the user experience of that site generally was poor – because everything on the page was fake… And Google knew it. Again, Poor user experience.

So running your campaign on Google should provide users with value. Even if that means users will actually be able to comment on your reviews, give more reviews themselves, etc. Whatever it takes to provide more than a fake testimonial and fake reviews.

You can still sell like normal but offer some value in the form of real life user interactivity.

Also remember review sites are not the only way to sell. There are tons of ways to sell a product, but the ideas are endless. In this business, the creative people are the ones who win.

It seems that the more google evolves, the more they care about the user experience and that, my friends, is how you can run a campaign in Google.

So how will you provide a good user experience?