37 replies to this topic

[webmama]

I love the fact you can launch a campaign on Adwords immediately and get instant traffic but some companies abuse this to the max. Check out the search for 'contractors' on Google. You see no less than 5 results for servicemagic.com.

Google search for 'contractors'

What do you do when you see this kind of abuse. I sent a message to my sales rep at Google but are there other steps I can take?

WebMama (aka Barbara Coll)

[qwerty]

I'm not certain that Google would see this as abuse. When you first publish a new ad, it gets mixed into the results in different positions, without taking its CTR into account. As time passes, however, CTR becomes very relevant, and ads with a low clickthrough rate are disabled.

So what this company appears to be doing (assuming the ads are relatively new) is experimenting with different ad copy to find out what works and what doesn't. The ads that don't perform well will eventually go away.

It is true that, at least early on in the campaign, this company's ads are taking up a lot of space in the SERP, but I don't think that will last very long. I haven't run an AdWords campaign in a while, so I don't know if Google has any policy regarding this practice. It's definitely a question worth exploring.

[HorseCove]

Hi Barbara,

That is curious. When I've run multiple ads in the past Google usually rotated the ads.

Makes me wonder if

1.) Something is odd with Google Adwords (as we've all learned in recent months Google is capable of pretty strange behavior)

or

2.) The servicemagic folks opened multiple Adwords accounts. If they were using multiple accounts for the same company they might be getting around the rotation.

Other than that - this is strange. I'm going to go check other words and see if I find similar odd behavior.

Anyone else seen examples of this?

Christine

[qwerty]

Am I misunderstanding the way AdWords works? I would think that if I set up an account with numerous ads set to show up for the same keyword, there would be nothing from stopping them all from coming up on a single query for that keyword (until some of them were disabled due to a low CTR).

Does one normally get stopped from assigning the same kw to different ad groups?

[compar]

Am I misunderstanding the way AdWords works? I would think that if I set up an account with numerous ads set to show up for the same keyword, there would be nothing from stopping them all from coming up on a single query for that keyword (until some of them were disabled due to a low CTR).

Does one normally get stopped from assigning the same kw to different ad groups?

I believe the only way a company could have mutiple ads show up on a single SERP page is if they ran each ad in a separate campaign. It is my understanding that if you are experimenting with different ad copy within a single campaign Google will rotate the ads but never show more than one at a time or per SERP.

If by ad groups you mean campaigns I doubt that there is any restriction against using common keywords.

[HorseCove]

Hi Again,

Oh compar - I like the kitty picture. Very cute.

Querty, I went back to Google's FAQ on Adwords and found this:

Within each Ad Group, you create one or more ads and select a set of keywords to trigger those ads. Each Ad Group runs on one set of keywords. If you create multiple ads in an Ad Group, the ads will rotate evenly for those keywords.

This is what I've normally done - but doing it this way means you only have one ad up at a time.

I think what compar is suggesting is to run the ads you want to compare in a separate campaign.

I guess experimentation is the only way to find out. I'll try that in one of my accounts to confirm if that works.

If anyone has already done this - please chime in.

Christine

[qwerty]

It looks like this could definitely be done using multiple campaigns, without having to set up multiple accounts. But it looks like there's a loophole in the FAQ entry you're quoting: "each Ad Group runs on one set of keywords." What if I have two Ad Groups, each with its own set of keywords, but they happen to share a keyword or two? If Ad Group 1 contains kw1, kw2, and kw3, and Ad Group 2 contains kw4, kw5, and kw6, will I get an error when I attempt to add kw3 to Ad Group 2?

Please understand, I'm not trying to give anyone an argument or be difficult. As I said, it's been about half a year since I ran an AdWords campaign. I'm just curious about this.

[compar]

Please understand, I'm not trying to give anyone an argument or be difficult. As I said, it's been about half a year since I ran an AdWords campaign. I'm just curious about this.

Oh Yeah! You are definitely trying to give us a hard time

That's a perfectly valid question I think and as Christine says probably the only way to tell is go and test it.

I have a campaign in place that I just don't want to throw anymore money at at the moment or I would test it. But maybe some of them other big spender on here will test it for us and report back.

[Scottie]

Welcome to the forum, Barbara!

[HorseCove]

Well, I ran a quick test on Google. First surprise was they had launched a new interface - Yuck.

I set up a couple of experiments. Multiple ad within same adgroup, multiple adgroups, multiple campaigns, multiple accounts.

The end result: The only way I could get Google to show multiple ads was by setting up two accounts.

If some of you wizards have figured out a good way to have multiple ads show up for the same account, let me know. I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just not obvious.

If someone wants to observe the experiment in action, send me a message and I'll send you the secret query to put into Google if you promise not to click on it.

[HorseCove]

Okay, so now we know how servicemagic did it. Now back to Barbara's orginial question - What can you do when you see this kind of abuse?

It seems to me that running so many ads wouldn't be very cost effective for the long term. No company has endless resources.

Any body have any experience with this kind of abuse?

[qwerty]

Thanks for looking into this, Christine. Now we know how this is done... but I still question whether or not it can really be called "abuse". The company in question has chosen to spend more, and we can guess at their intentions: either to monopolize the ads for the query, or to experiment with different ad copy. Of course, if you're in a bit less of a rush, you can experiment with your ad copy without resorting to this.

If it's the former, I'd call it abuse. If it's the latter... I'm not sure. It comes down to Google's decision of course, but even if we find that all the ads but one disappear, we still won't know unless we can get someone from servicemagic to tell us whether they chose to delete most of the ads, or if they were deleted by Google.

I'm certainly not going to suggest that anyone here try this just to see whether Google thinks it's abuse.

[compar]

Well,  I ran a quick test on Google.  First surprise was they had launched a new interface - Yuck.

Actually that interface has been up for several weeks. I think it is big improvement.

[HorseCove]

Ahhh, you know how it is when you get used to things the way they are. The old resistance to change syndrome.

It’s like someone coming in and rearranging your furniture. Now if they want to clean while they’re re-arranging, well that’s another story.

[compar]

Now we know how this is done... but I still question whether or not it can really be called "abuse". The company in question has chosen to spend more, and we can guess at their intentions: either to monopolize the ads for the query, or to experiment with different ad copy. Of course, if you're in a bit less of a rush, you can experiment with your ad copy without resorting to this.

I agree. I don't necessarily think you can call it abuse. Is it abuse when someone buy the entire back or inside front cover of a magazine?

After all AdWords is not a democratic institution. They are selling ad space. So they will sell to the highest bidder. If the company in question opened 5 different accounts and was prepared to pay more per click through than anybody else, what is wrong with Google running 5 of their ads on a SERP?

We have all seen companies run multiple copies of their ads in the same magazine or journal when they are announcing a product launch or mounting a big marketing push. Would you call that abuse?

I would think if you wanted your ad on the SERP all you have to do is raise your maximum price to be higher than the competition. That's what free enterprise is all about isn't it?