6 March 2008
There have been discussions at WebmasterWorld a relatively new ranking factor that determines Google’s Quality Score on Adwords, with ‘load time’ now taken into account.
After a short measurement period Google will make a judgement call and if your pages are deemed too slow then your Quality Score will decrease, meaning that you'll need to spend more to maintain or improve upon your ad positions.
Google will inform you of what your ‘Landing Page Load Time Grade’ is after a few weeks, but it provides no further guidance on how fast a page needs to be to pass its quality threshold.
Here's what Google says in the Adwords FAQ:
The AdWords system re-evaluates landing pages on a regular basis (approximately once a month). If you make significant improvements to your website's load time, you should see an improved Quality Score and lower minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids. Note that your Quality Score may update incrementally over two to three months after you improve your load time.
It would be unfortunate if the 0.1% of server downtime most of us experience in an average month happened to be the time AdsBot (Google’s Quality Score / landing page-checker) came to visit, as the result would be an increased Google cost the next month for your keywords. Often it may require three months to see a full improvement in your score.
The Quality Score, introduced last year, essentially covers two areas: ad positions, and keyword costs (or at least minimum bid prices). What matters for your Quality Score, more than anything, are clicks. Lots of clicks tell Google that your ad (ad text and keyword targeting) is relevant for searchers. Therefore bidding for higher positions to drive more clicks this month can drive positive benefits for next month, when a higher Quality Score will mean lower keyword costs. There is a balance to be found, and it requires an upfront investment in your Quality Score.
Other factors seem to include keywords in ad text and on landing pages, overall account history and performance, well-written landing pages, and optimising your ads over time.
Keep in mind that because Google automates this process, your landing pages need to be legible for Google. So heavy use of Flash, is not recommended.
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