How To Avoid the Google Slap

Google did another "clean up" and the dreaded  slap is back. Lately they have been really cleaning house as both paid search and natural listings have recently felt the sting of Google's mighty hand. Understandably Webmasters get angry when there business is affected by the "Google Slap"- You have to remember what Google wants from advertisers is the same thing that searchers want from Google..... relevance. Relevance is the key to success. If searchers thought another search engine or directory delivered search results more relevant than Google's than Google's days as "number one" would be over. I will quit babbling and get back to our topic and teach you how to avoid the Google Slap. If you are a paid search advertiser aka Google Adwords advertiser - this is how to avoid having your bids soar up to $5 or $10 per click.

Theme Your Ad groups

This is where you use variations of a root keyword(s), a - eg. our root keyword will be Skates- We will name our Ad group - Skates. This is an example of keywords we might use:

hockey skates black skates Bauer Skates

This helps you right a "laser targeted" ad. for that group of keywords, it also helps Google serve your ads properly since your related ads and keywords will be grouped together.

Use your keywords in your ad copy:

Save Huge on Skates Up to 50% off Hockey Skates Buy Now While Supplies Last SomeGuysSkateStore.com/Skates

If the Google searcher typed any of our keywords they have sitting in front of them exactly what Google wants - Relevant Ad Copy. Any instance of the keyword will show bold in the ad also, which will catch the searchers eye.

Use Your Keywords on Your Landing Page

This is the last piece of the puzzle. You really need to focus your landing page around the keywords to be considered relevant by Google and by the Searcher. Your supporting content should be focused around the keywords. As should your images of course.

Let's see how this works, Myrtle types a search query at Google on the search phrase "Hockey Skates". She sees our ad above with every instance of Hockey and Skates appearing in bold in our ad, since the ad is relevant and stands out because of all of the bold words she clicks our ad and lands on our page that showcases our beautiful hockey skates that are up to 50% off. We have a well targeted visitor brought to our site and giving her exactly what she searched for.