InsureMe Affiliate Blog: Minor AdWords Quality Score Updates Brings a Major Smackdown on Some

[Is it me or is this week the week of bad news blog posts? What the heck!]

If you logged into your Google AdWords account this morning you may have been surprised to see a number of your keywords have been given much lower quality scores and much higher minimum bids. The reason is a “minor update” (as Search Engine Roundtable's Barry puts it) to the AdWords quality score.

We’ve already heard from a couple of our affiliates that they have been hit by the latest update – and from the looks of the posts over at WebmasterWorld it seems that they are not alone.

The comment in the Webmaster World forum that got me the most was from pexcornel who said:

I am a programmer and all my life is based on no-nonsese logic.
What is happening makes no sense at all.
Anyone trying to excuse what is happening with some sort of "logic" is laughable.
I will take NO action towards Google, if they don't want me, its ok, I will find other ways to market (I am an affiliate).
I have the best add you can get. Like:
__________________
Product name - $Price.
Product detail
Buy at 30% discount at $Price.
_____________________
On the landing page there is the product, the picture, and the buy button that goes to the buy page of the merchant.
There is also a contact form and 2 adsense boxes on top and on bottom.
Then there are other 3 products from the same category to choose from.
Everything is designed simple and with taste, I don't dupe anybody, the prices are always right (I have a script).
My account had 700 groups with some 5000 keywords on a 1300$/month budget.
Only the best converting keywords are disabled. From 0.26-0.30 to 10$
What else should I do? Give them money for free?
I mean this is it. They build this system for this.
We did what they wanted.
You don't want me? Bye bye then... I don't feel guilty at all. I did what I had to do. It's not my fault.
Best regards, maybe my post helps somebody but I doubt it.
Pex

If Pex is being totally forthright it seems that Google’s quality guidelines need to get a little more specific about what is good and bad, because it seems that Pex is doing what Google has told it’s advertisers to do (good ads, solid landing pages, etc.).

Others in the forum seem to think this is an attempt by Google to track down affiliate sites specifically and penalize them – although some non-affiliates seem to be getting hit as well.

It’ll be interesting to see how all of this shakes out. I’m hoping this isn’t an affiliate link hunt on the part of Google. If so, there are ways around this (URL redirecting, JavaScript and cloaking), but it seems like a waste of time for everyone.

Anyway, I’d be curious to know who out there has been hit by this quality score update. If so, leave a comment (you can leave an anonymous one if you want). If not, leave a comment as well.