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SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)ARTICLES
Google's AdWords Flaw
by
John Romano
First off, Google is king. Yahoo buying Inktomi
and Overture puts them back on top for now, but
Google is clearly the Yahoo of the 00's. However,
we do have a few particular beefs with the mighty
and mostly benevolent Google.
Google has a problem with one of their ad products,
AdWords. AdWords is the revolutionary keyword buying
tool that lets small, and now big, businesses buy
keyword terms that show up in ads alongside Google's
organic search results. Studying and utilizing the
Google system has reaped some interesting facts
and a few flaws. Here are a few things we learned.
- A. A technique for getting the most
traffic and clicks (Sorry, not going to reveal
that, as this isn't a hack'em and rob'em article.)
Oh, and: WARNING - NO KEYWORD CLICKS WERE HARMED
OR STOLEN in the writing or researching of this
article.
- B. How to find amazingly robust and
cost effective search terms (Again sorry, that
technique separates a mediocre ad buy from a
great one and everybody who finds good words
should keep them as close to the vest as possible.)
- C. A glitch in Google's system that
can unfairly penalize top performing search
terms. That's the focus of this piece.
Picture this: Johnny T-Shirt Co. spends time doing
keyword research for terms suitable for marketing
their business. JTCo is diligent and finds a few
ripe terms that larger competitors missed, like
let's say "Gold T-shirts". JTCo then sets
up an AdWords campaign on Google with a budget at
$175.00 a day with a cost per click of $0.25. The
ad goes live. Customers see and click on JTCo's
ads at a 1.8% click rate. Pretty good. Business
goes along for a few months, Google makes some nice
money and JTCo grabs customers ahead of the competition.
Now here is the glitch.
Google expects all ads within the AdWords system
to garner 5 clicks per 1,000 impressions. Fair enough.
JTCo's ad for the term "Gold T-Shirts"
is rolling along at a 1.8% click rate (18 clicks
per 1,000) so not a problem. But, if JTCo fails
to get 5 clicks per 1,000 ad views just once, Google's
default programming will trigger the disabling of
the word and give JTCo no clear way of making a
case for reinstating the word. It's akin to a father
being wonderful to his children then being late
for dinner by ten minutes once and the community
ostracizes him as a neglectful father - FOREVER.
We studied a real world company, http://www.threedayweekends.com,
which had paid Google $1,092 over a month long period
for a specific word. The word had received a large
number of clicks and hundreds of thousands of impressions,
yet when the term missed the five click threshold
just once, late on a typical Thursday night, the
term was shut down.
Contacting Google about this problem, sad to say,
has been akin to dealing with the phone company
before competition. Headache, heartache and misunderstandings.
Calls to the Google AdWord call center were met
with either sympathy or apathy. One Googler said
they felt bad and that others had complained about
the same problem but his proverbial hands were tied.
Another just couldn't get her head around the issue
and kept telling us "you need to re-write the
ad, re-write the ad" which was answered with
"it has worked for months without a problem;
the five missed clicks are clearly a fluke"
the response "you need to re-write the, re-write
the ad".
Lastly, a Google Phone Supervisor when asked out
of frustration who her boss was replied "I'm
not telling, find out for yourself if you can, but
I'm not telling you". What? Now we have the
name and ID number of the said employees, but we
won't reveal them even if Google were to contact
us. Why? Because, overall Google is a great company
with good customer service and sharp products. Also,
no reason to get involved with Google HR issues,
the folks all seemed nice - just not helpful. Okay,
the Phone Supervisor was a little craggy but no
big deal.
Instead of waiting until Google solves this issue
on their own, here is a simple solution that can
satisfy all, further lining Google's pockets while
earning small and large businesses qualified clicks.
Google should institute a system where ads that
have performed well over time are given a little
leeway in regards to the 5/1,000 rule. Much like
a credit card, ads that have consistently performed
well over a set period of time would be given a
higher "line of credit" perhaps a minimum
of 25 clicks over 5000 impressions. The click rate
Google wants is the same but the buyer is given
a little room when an anomaly occurs. Missing 5
clicks over a thousand impressions is a fluke, missing
25 over 5,000 could be deemed more of a pattern.
Also, 1,000 impressions on a high volume search
term on Google can literally happen in four or five
minutes. So even if you've had months of success
with "Gold T-Shirts", five minutes can
change everything. The weird part in the http://www.threedayweekends.com
case - the real example we studied – is that
Google is turning down literally $75-125 a day in
business.
Now we all know that the brains behind Google could
solve a math and programming issue like this quite
quickly. In the meantime, smart marketers like http://www.threedayweekends.com
will have to search for other terms and other places
to spend the money Google doesn't want.
About the author: John Romano is a former Analysis
and Optimization expert for i-traffic and SFInteractive.
He now runs a company that manages keyword ad buys.
Please contact him at westplants@yahoo.com
or 310-281-1199.
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