Pay per click advertising, PPC search engine articles

AdWords Quality Score (QS) is a complex variable that is assigned to each of your keywords and ultimately influences both your ad position and your minimum bids. Exactly how your QS is calculated remains a closely guarded Google secret, but there are still many methods available that will help you improve your QS, and thus your ROI. Here's an easy one to implement that can have a direct impact on lowering your AdWords costs:

Include a link to a privacy policy on your landing pages.

The AdWords Learning Center indicates that the QS formula takes landing page quality into account when calculating minimum bids.

Furthermore, the Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines clearly state that privacy is a factor:

"In order to build trust with users, your site should be explicit in three primary areas: the nature of your business; how your site interacts with a visitor's computer; and how you intend to use a visitor's personal information, if you request it… If you do request personal information, provide a privacy policy that discloses how the information will be used."

SEO Roundtable has suggested that lacking a privacy policy might contribute to a low Quality Score.

Quality Score improvements were also reported by Red Fly Marketing following an AdWords campaign overhaul that included the creation of a privacy policy.

It should be noted that a privacy policy is a legal document, and failing to abide by the terms you set out in it can leave you open to legal action. For this reason, you'll probably want to publish only a very general policy, unless you can have it reviewed by a legal professional.

Here's a handy tool that will generate a privacy policy for you.

The Quality Score formula is based on numerous factors, but adding a privacy policy link to your landing pages is a tweak that you can make with minimal effort, and can be an effective part of a larger strategy to lower your minimum bids. Personally, I'm a big fan of easy solutions that save cold hard cash. What about you?

There are two ways that you can convince a prospect to follow through and act on your landing pages:

1. You can tell the prospect that your product is the best.
2. You can tell a great story and let the prospect come to their own conclusion about the value you are offering.

Which method do you think works the best?

Self-formed opinions are much stronger than those that need to be coaxed.

Telling a story is a craft that all PPC marketers need to hone in order to create effective landing pages. A convincing story is one that positions you as an expert, and builds empathy and trust. Two accomplish this, your landing pages need to include:

1. A compelling reason to believe that you have the answer to the problem
2. A free offer to justify trust

Give propects the evidence they need to come to their own positive opinion about your offering–it's much easier than trying to convince them of your greatness!