Google has taken a lot of flak over some of its policies for AdWords, such as putting ads that didn’t meet certain criteria into a progressive penalty box, in some cases disabling the ad campaign altogether. Needless to say, advertisers grumbled over this treatment, especially when bidding on “long tail” terms that missed targets simply because clickthrough rates weren’t adequate.
Google says it has listened to advertiser concerns, and is making changes to its AdWords program. Among the changes: Allowing advertisers to display ads that previously have been disabled due to the policies of the program. Ads will now be classified as having just two states: active or inactive. And good news for many: Advertisers willing to bid enough can override the former relevancy requirements that caused ads to get disabled in the first place.
Tomorrow’s SearchDay article (available to SEW blog readers now), Google Simplifies & Loosens Requirements for AdWords, has the scoop.