Domain Authority & Quality Score — American Extractions

Overview

American Extractions runs Google Ads pointing to a dedicated subdomain (separate from the main domain to avoid THC/CBD regulatory issues). As of October 2025, the campaigns show less than 10% impression share, with losses attributed primarily to rank rather than budget. The root cause is the subdomain's near-zero Domain Authority (DA), which suppresses Quality Score and ad rank.

This article documents the diagnosis, the planned remediation, and the broader principle at play.

The Problem

Google's ad auction evaluates three core Quality Score factors:

1. Landing page relevance — keyword alignment between ad copy and landing page content
2. Expected click-through rate — historical and predicted CTR signals
3. Domain authority — Google's assessment of the destination domain's trustworthiness and quality

Because American Extractions' ads point to a subdomain with no established DA, Google deprioritizes the ads in the auction regardless of bid. The result is a vicious cycle: low rank → low impressions → low CTR data → continued low rank.

Sending ads to the main domain (americanextractions.com) is not viable because the main site contains THC/CBD content, which creates regulatory risk with Google Ads policies.

Remediation Plan

1. DA Boost via Contractor

• Engage the Brazil-based link-building contractor Mark uses for DA campaigns
• Target: raise the subdomain's DA to ~40
• Estimated cost: ~$200–$250
• Note: success with a subdomain (vs. a root domain) is not guaranteed but worth attempting

2. Conversion Tracking Fixes

Current tracking gaps identified during the October 27 call:

Gilbert (ads manager) is responsible for implementing these changes. See ^[1] for contact details.

3. Budget Consideration

• Current daily budget: $15/day
• Google-recommended budget: $25/day (~$750/month)
• Client is internally discussing the increase; no decision as of this writing

Increasing budget alone will not resolve the impression share problem if rank losses persist — DA remediation is the higher-leverage fix.

Broader Principle

A subdomain with no Domain Authority will underperform in Google Ads regardless of bid or budget, because Quality Score is partially determined by the destination domain's perceived trustworthiness.

This pattern applies to any client where ads must point to a subdomain or microsites isolated from the main domain (common in regulated industries: cannabis, supplements, financial services). The options are:

• Build DA on the subdomain (link-building campaign, takes months)
• Point ads to the main domain and manage regulatory risk separately
• Accept the performance ceiling and compensate with higher bids and tighter targeting

For American Extractions, option 1 is the chosen path given the regulatory constraints.

Related

• ^[1]
• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]