MSN explains how to recapture lost Adcenter traffic

The recent changes in quality score causing a major loss of MSN Adcenter traffic were due to the new ranking procedures.

Adcenter has provided some clues, which could help advertisers to understand the new algo.

“To ensure that we are delivering maximum benefit to the search user, we are doing the following:

• Assessing the content of the ad and landing page in relation to the user’s likely intent.
• Assessing the keywords that an advertiser selects in relation to the advertiser’s landing page content, to confirm that they are substantially relevant to both the landing page and the user’s search query.
• Trying to ensure that there is substantive content on the landing page to fulfill the user’s query.
• Assessing the duplicative nature of content in overall search results. In cases where there may be content that is duplicated within search results (including landing pages) Microsoft reserves the right to limit advertising of the duplicate content when it lessens the user experience.”

Quality Score updates are live

Google Adwords ad quality team have updated their Quality Score algo, affecting many advertisers as ad quality change affects keywords’ active / inactive status. It is now possible to actually see a keyword’s Quality Score on your Adwords management panel – just enable the Quality Score column. 

Google Adwords Quality Score Updates

Latest Quality Score Updates From Google Adwords: “We’re constantly working on ways to improve our Quality Score evaluation and provide you with more information about the Quality Score for your keywords. Over the next week, we’ll be releasing two changes focusing on transparency and quality”… Read On …

YSM Panama traffic stabalizes after February 5th ranking formula change

YSM paid search traffic back to ‘normal’ levels in the 48 hours- following several days of lower traffic as the system got to grips with the new ad quality ranking formula (CTR x CPC).

YSM ad ranking formula changed

YSM has announced that “Bid amount and ad quality will determine an ad’s rank in search results beginning February 5, 2007 in the U.S.”. This effectively means an end to its former bid-to-position policy where CPC bid alone has affected ads ranking against competition.

MSN Adcenter – Editorial policies getting tougher

MSN Adcenter is getting strict in its editorial policies. Recently it has started a re-review procedure of existing ads (which were either already approved or are still ”pending”) and disapproving them on editorial grounds. Sometimes a whole adgroup is put on hold until an ad is re-written. Usually (but not in all cases) a disapproval comes with a follow up email. The best advice is to watch traffic patterns carefully and make changes to ads on the fly.