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Your Keywords Are No Longer “Inactive for Search”Posted by Amber on September 18, 2008 in Google AdWords |
Since the implementation of the Google Quality Score back in July of 2005, Google has received a lot of feedback regarding Quality Score. From this feedback over the past years Google has decided to make a noteworthy change to their Quality Score system.
The big change is that keywords are no longer ‘inactive for search‘ and require a minimum bid to become active again. Now what Google is doing is giving each keyword a Quality Score which is calculated at the time of each and every search query. Google deems this to be a more accurate way of calculating quality score on keywords. So instead of seeing ‘inactive for search’ you may now see, “Bid is below first page bid estimate of $0.15″. This basically tells me that in order for my keyword to show on the first page I would need to increase my bid to their recommended amount. If I don’t want to increase my bids, I don’t have to and my keywords will still show!
A More Accurate Quality Score
According to Google they are, “replacing the static per-keyword Quality Scores with a system that will evaluate an ad’s quality each time it matches a search query. This way, AdWords will use the most accurate, specific, and up-to-date performance information when determining whether an ad should be displayed. Your ads will be more likely to show when they’re relevant and less likely to show when they’re not.”
No Longer Inactive for Search
As far as keywords no longer being marked ‘inactive for search’, all keywords will have the chance to show ads which is great! Google warns that keywords previously marked inactive for search are not likely to accrue a great deal of traffic mainly because the combination of their bid and Quality Score probably isn’t high enough to gain competitive placement.
Personally I don’t fully understand why our keywords were physically ‘inactive for search’ anyway. At least turn them on and if they don’t get search queries then fine - advertisers will at least know they’re getting a chance. I’m sure as Google mentioned this comes from constant complaints from advertisers requesting they make a change. I wonder if Yahoo will follow suit?
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- If You Don’t Check Your Yahoo! Minimum Bids Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later
- Keywords Inactive Due to Quality Score in Google AdWords? Here are 3 Actions to Take!
- Just In Case You Missed It…
September 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“Your”, not “You’re” (You Are)
September 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I feel like I should be jumping up and down right now. I have a few long tail campaigns that weren’t “economically viable” at their previous minimum bids. Is my celebration premature? Does anyone else think this will make a difference?
September 19th, 2008 at 3:49 am
“You’re Keywords Are No Longer “Inactive for Search”” - is this correct?
“Your Keywords Are No Longer “Inactive for Search””.
Shit happends.
Great blog and I do follow you.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:09 am
You guys are all over it! Fixed!
@ Jared, although your long tail keywords may not receive a ton of traffic, at least they’re showing and have a chance to get clicks and conversions. I think it will make a difference!
September 19th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Amber, totally agree with you, I never understood what the point of inactive for search was, people would tell me it was Google’s way to improve the quality of ads but I’m too cynical.
I have some long tail keywords that were inactive for search at least now they’ll have some exposure.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
For one of my campaigns, for which only one competing ad displays. All my keywords get $0.30-$1.50 “first page estimates” now.
Does this mean I can bid $0.01 on each keyword and have my ad show in second place?
October 8th, 2008 at 6:01 am
I would definitely try to bid that low and see what happens. Remember that you may only have one competing ad in your particular search, however there may be other areas of the city or country that have additional ads from people targeting locally. Give it a try and let us know what happens!
October 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Is this feature geared toward Proximity, Local, or National Ad Campaigns? And if so, how do I implement it?
October 15th, 2008 at 9:36 am
@ Brian,
Quality Score affects nearly every aspect of your account. But more specifically, this update affects any keyword that is geared towards Google’s Search Network. So if you’re running local or national campaigns, as long as it’s a Search Network keyword - the “First Page Bid estimate” will apply to you.