New Google Quality Score Display Bugs For Paid Search

Over the past couple months, two quality score issues have been noted. The issues or bugs have to do with how Google displays quality scores. Search Engine Land reported issues with AdWords account information not reflecting what’s being displayed in the AdWords editor--specifically the quality score not being accurate. Google has responded to their investigations, saying that "quality score display bugs are not affecting the actual performance of these accounts."

How quality score affects ad display

• A low quality score will prevent an ad from displaying in a premium position
• Site links will not be displayed for the website
• Product extensions and dynamic keywords will not be available

Quality score of 3

• Typically an ad with a quality score of 3 would receive a warning in red for Keyword relevance
• The warning would indicate that the quality score affects the display position of the particular ad

In a report by Search Engine Land, some accounts and ads that contain a quality score of 3 are achieving premium positions in search ad display, which traditionally should not happen due to the penalties mentioned above. In some cases, ads with a low keyword quality score have regularly achieved premium positions.

The question here is whether Google is changing the quality score rules (again). Or are they perhaps conducting a momentary and non-permanent experiment?