• MindValley Labs, Thursday, September 25, 2008 2:30 PM

What's an AdWords smackdown, otherwise known as the "Google Slap"? It's when the minimum bids for various keywords in your account increase dramatically, often as a result of landing page or ad copy changes. Mike Reining outlines some of the most common offenses that can incite a Google Slap, as well as some solutions for recovering from one.

The top reason for incurring a penalty is that the content of the landing page isn't relevant to the keyword you're bidding on. "This is a huge no-no which will hurt your Quality Score and you will most likely get slapped by Google," Reining says. A landing page full of graphics but lacking in text will also negatively impact your Quality Score (and minimum bid), as will poorly targeted Ad Groups.

If your account has already been slapped, Reiner suggests fixing the above errors first. Then, try deleting the whole campaign; and copying and pasting its old Ad Groups into a new one. "It is much easier to start over than to revive a campaign that got slapped," he says. Make sure you weed out all of the problem keywords in particular. Lastly, if you've been slapped too many times, try starting a whole new AdWords account.

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