Proper management of your Google Adwords campaign will prevent your campaigns from getting what is commonly referred to in the internet marketing world as the „Google Slap.“ So exactly WHAT IS the Google Slap? That’s when Google decides that you have done something that is either against their policies, quality guidelines, or against the law and they decide to „slap“ you for it.

Sometimes that punishment results in your website being removed from its index and search results. Other times, it may be an „adjustment“ downward for your page ranking. Here is how Google puts it in their own words:

„Google may temporarily or permanently remove sites from its index and search results if it believes it is obligated to do so by law, if the sites do not meet Google’s quality guidelines, or for other reasons, such as if the sites detract from users‘ ability to locate relevant information. We cannot comment on the individual reasons a page may be removed…“ (Google Webmasters/Site Owners Help Manual)

The „Google Slap“ is mostly used when referring to cases where organic listings are penalized. Organic listings are free search results that appear below and to the left of paid ads; however, make no mistake about it; you can get „slapped“ for running bad Adword campaigns as well. An example of having one’s Adword campaign being slapped would be where perhaps your ads were costing $3 a click and suddenly Google raised your minimum bid to $10.

Here are some of the common mistakes people make in their Adword campaigns that result in Google slaps: -Poorly written ads with extremely low click-through rates -Using too many broad-matching keywords, which really have no relevancy to the terms searched on; this will also result in low click-through rates, which will get you „slapped“ with higher ad prices. -Low quality scores, where there is no relevancy between the keywords searched on, the Adword copy, and the landing page. -Using a destination URL that is not congruent with the display URL in your ad -Deceptive advertising; DON’T do this.

There are many other ways to get yourself slapped, but I think you may be getting the picture. Now, what you REALLY want to get from Google is what is referred to as „Google Love.“

Google loves for its searchers to find what they want; in fact, if you can figure out a way to make sure that your products or services are exactly what a searcher is looking for, Google will LOVE you. It’s really that simple. Many people try to over-complicate this.

Google loves for its searchers to be happy and they will reward you will lower-priced ads if you can consistently and effectively make this happen. Many advertisers don’t know it, but the ads at the top are not necessarily the ones who are paying the most. The Google bidding process factors in something called a „quality score,“ which is the great equalizer. Quality scores assure Google that an advertiser cannot simply „buy“ their way to the top position without giving the searchers value in return.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather be loved than slapped – especially when we are talking about my Google Adwords campaign. If you follow Google’s guidelines, do your market and keyword research, and spend some time learning about effective Adword campaign management techniques, I promise that you will feel lots of love…and not only that…you will find yourself with a profitable Adwords campaign.