As a heavy search engine user and long time search marketer, the quality score introduced by Google has been a large frustration. It frustrates legitimate advertising and the "way things have always been done". Now knowing that Google is my "frienemy" (per the Urban Dictionary), I want to "trust but verify" as they say. I trust Google inherently because you can't argue with their success. But they definitely have the ability to drive you INSANE on the way.
Recently, I have come across the Google quality score as a stumbling block in relation to several different campaigns that I am involved with. This spurred me to do some reading on the topic and I found some great insight that finally makes some sense. Gord Hotchkiss, CEO of Enquiro, posted on SearchEngineLand regarding eye tracking tests and the Golden Triangle or what Gord terms as "The Area of Greatest Promise" which is the top left corner of any search display page.
Essentially, Gord contends that Google's entire search/text ad business model is in jeopardy if over time, this area of real estate is not always filled with THE ABSOLUTE BEST answer. Its simple and he is right. That makes sense and explains why Google would be extremely aggressive about advertisers in that slot. If the ad copy and the landing page don't have strong relevancy, over time Google is in trouble and then so is every search engine marketer out there, myself included.
Its frustrating to live in a quality score world. However, its existence tells me that search engine marketing is maturing and that this issue will begin to separate the phony search engine marketing types who don't invest strategic thought into their work. Often, the score appears very arbitrary but those that embrace the concept rather than fight it will win in the end.
