Google Changes Ad Rules, Doesn’t Impact Good SEO
Ah yes, Google is tweaking the rules for their ads starting on April 1st (no joke!). Now the display URL will have to match the destination URL of the advertisement.
The implication for tracking URLs is not good. Tracking URLs are important when you’re doing display advertising so that you get credit for the clicks that you get. However, consumers don’t like to see ugly tracking URLs, especially if they aren’t have absolutely nothing to do with the display ads.
We’ve all been there when we see a display link, “www.blah.com/12343/5455/4/ahe/ddhi/adi.html” and think, “This has what to do with a trip to Tahiti?” Yup, that link doesn’t actually have anything to do with Tahiti, it’s just an ugly tracking link. Google now wants you to realize that’s an ad you’re clicking on, not an actual site.
Consequently, if your display URL is “www.google.com/adwords,” your destination URL is “www.trackingurl.com/google123″ and the landing page is “www.trackingurl.com” it is unacceptable.
Yeah, that’s right, the world’s getting a little more difficult for people doing display advertising. It turns out that good content is still the way to go. This way the links that display on the SERPs are the links to your site, so you’ll get the credit. The credit won’t go to some crap page that you have set up simply for this ad, but it’ll go to your site.
Taking a longer-term view on this, you’ll get more money from people going to your site than people who click on your ads. Doing display advertising is good, but it’s only a small supplement to a good website. Don’t get lazy, make your website good and you won’t have to worry about the changes the Google makes concerning ads.
Tags: google ad changes, SEM, SEO
