You don't hear the word "penalty" come up much when you are talking about Google's AdWords program. I hear it all the time with Google's web search algorithm, but rarely when it comes to Google's AdWords quality score algorithm.
In a AdWords Help thread a Google representative actually used the term penalty, to describe why a person has a low quality score.
The advertiser asked why his Quality Score is so low, in which AdWordsPro Sarah replied, "the bad news is your page is probably being penalized for the redirect." She goes on to explain how the redirects are "misleading," and recommends that instead of using a redirect, he/she should create his/her "own unique content" that adds value to the affiliate product that is being promoted.
It is funny, because the last time we used the word "penalty" with AdWords was when it came with the affiliate business.
Forum discussion at AdWords Help.
Update: Sarah from Google did update the thread to explain redirects can be used professionally. But still interesting that redirects can cause a penalty when used wrong.
