On Tuesday, the Quality Score for my entire Adwords account was reduced to 'Poor', with $10.00 minimum clicks.
I have campaigns for keywords, content network only, placement targeted, max CPC, max CPM, Conversion Optimizer, etc... Pretty much every imaginable way to advertise on Google Adwords, I have something in place to take advantage of (or experiment with) it. This account has been open for about 5 years, and many of the current campaigns have been running for a long time.
Every single campaign, no matter the setup, landing page, sub-domain, etc... they were all reduced to a 'Poor' Quality Score.
In the last several months nothing had changed on my web site. The only things that had changed in the adwords account were a few new campaigns.
So after freaking out...
I used the new "Chat live now with an Adwords Specialist" functionality. The first agent that I spoke with told me that he could find no reason for the reduction in Quality Score. He would do a little more research and get back to me "in a couple of hours".
The next morning, I log onto the chat again, this time connecting with another rep. She said that, basically, the first guy was still researching my account and would be responding to my query shortly.
Same day, after noon, I log onto the chat again. This time connecting with yet another rep. She said that it takes up to 24 hours to research Quality Score issues and that I should be patient. But, also that she would contact the first two reps and alert them to my inquiry.
Firstly, I feel a little mis-led. The first two people indicated this would be a quick process. Third person basically told me to chill out.
Secondly, I feel powerless. I know I'm a small fish to Google - but also that I've done nothing wrong. My site is rich with content and user experience. My ads are not mis-leading. My pages load super-quick. In a matter of an instant they can cut off the power and leave you twisting in the wind. Which sucks...
So now I wait... no ads running. No reason for it...
And that's no fun...
But that reminds me... I need to log on to Yahoo and set up some more campaigns...