[google] As part of our commitment to make AdWords more effective, we have
outlined some site-building philosophies to better serve our users,
advertisers and publishers. We have found that when our advertiser’s
sites reflect these guidelines, two important things happen:
-
The money you spend on AdWords ads
will be more likely to turn into paying customers. -
Users develop a trust in the positive experience provided
after clicking on AdWords ads (and this turns in to additional
targeted leads for you).
The guidelines below are not hard-and-fast rules, nor are they
exhaustive. However, they do reflect the site quality principles that
we will incorporate into factors such as ad approval status and
Quality
Score. So, following these guidelines, when appropriate, will
improve the performance of your AdWords advertising.
Provide relevant and substantial content.
If users do not quickly see what they wanted to find when they
clicked on your ad, they will leave your site frustrated and may
never return to your site or click on ads in the future. Here are
some pointers for making sure that does not happen:
-
Link to the page on your site that
provides the most useful and accurate information about the product
or service in your ad. -
Make sure that your landing page
is relevant to your keywords and your ad text. -
Distinguish sponsored links from
the rest of your site content. -
Try to provide information without
requiring users to register. Or, provide a preview of what users
will get by registering. -
In general, build pages that
provide substantial and useful information to the end user. If your
ad does link to a page consisting of mostly ads or general search
results (such as a directory or catalogue page), provide additional
information beyond what the user may have seen in your ad or on the
page prior to clicking your ad. -
You should have unique content (should not be similar or
nearly identical in appearance to another site). For more
information, see our affiliate
guidelines.
Starting with your ad, each interaction that you have with your
potential customers and customers should be geared towards building a
trusting relationship. To avoid leading users astray:
-
Users should be able to easily
find what your ad promises. -
Openly share information about
your business. Clearly define what your business is or does. -
Honour the deals and offers that
you promote in your ad. -
Deliver products, goods and services as promised.
Example:
If your business does not actually provide a
service but refers clients to another business, say so in both your
ad and on your site.
Example:
If you advertise an offer for a free product or
service, users should not have to pass through excessive obstacles or
make a purchase in order to receive the offer.
Treat a user’s personal information responsibly.
Most internet users are concerned with understanding and
controlling how websites use their personal information. In order to
build an honest relationship with them, providing clear answers to
these questions on your site is a must:
-
Why are you collecting personal
information? (This is particularly important to address if you
collect information soon after a user enters your site.) -
How will you use or potentially
use, personal information? -
What options do users have to easily limit the use of their
personal information?
Example:
If a user could receive promotional emails from
multiple businesses, give the user the option to decline emails from
all businesses, some businesses or none at all.
Develop an easily navigable site.
The key to turning your visitors into customers (and making your
ads earn their worth) is making it easy for users to find what they
are looking for. Since it is not always enough just to pique their
interest, you need to guide users through the transaction. Here is
how:
-
Provide an easy path for users to
purchase or receive the product or offer in your ad. -
Avoid excessive use of pop-ups,
pop-unders and other obtrusive elements throughout your site. -
Avoid altering users’ browser
behaviour or settings (such as back button functionality, browser
window size) without first getting their permission. -
Turn to Google’s
Webmaster Guidelines for detailed recommendations (which will
help your site perform better in Google’s search results as well). -
If your site automatically installs software, consider
adopting Google’s
Software Principles.