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December ABCs of Web Design Newsletter

Introductory comments

Wow – I am busy with a lot of contract work. But I cannot really complain about that can I? I much prefer being busy. On to the question….

Question of the month

Question: Theresa, Do you know anything about link abuse on Google and Overture? I suspect a competitor is clicking on my pay for position and Google Adwords links to drive up my prices. Thanks, Peter Ingle

Answer: Since I am planning an aggressive PPC campaign for my full-time gig, I have been doing some research on this topic before Peter emailed me. I have noticed a lot of posts on this subject in the SEO forums that I frequent. Unfortunately, the news is not very good.

On the Google site, I found this information: (I assume this applies to sponsorships as well): What prevents users from repeatedly clicking on my ad? Google closely monitors all clicks on Google AdWords ads to ensure that there is no abuse of the program. This includes analyzing all clicks to determine whether they fit a pattern of fraudulent use intended to artificially drive up an advertiser's clicks. Google's proprietary technology automatically distinguishes between clicks generated through normal use by users and clicks generated by click spammers and automated robots. As a result, we're able to filter out clicks you don't want and ensure they don't show up on your reports or bill Unfortunately, in Peter’s case, Google is not doing this.

I found a post, called “Google Adwords Ignores Click Fraud,” with a story very similar to Peter’s and when this person contacted Google, he was pretty much ignored.

From the info I have found, here is some advice on how to resolve this issue:

• It was suggested that you document as much as you can -- time and date of whom you talked to and what was said/promised. Save emails with full address headers. Any technical statistics that you have, and the reporting dates and stats by Google.
• If you have an account rep at Google, contact them and they should take care of you.
• If you don't have a rep, try calling back their customer service number and demand to speak with someone that is in more of a management position than the tier1 person that you will initially talk to. Talk to a manager and stand your ground, let them now how it is absolutely unacceptable that you are being held responsible for these charges and also how they have been handling your complaint. Sometimes you got to become the a*****e to get the service your due, but it’s better than nothing.
• If all else fails, contact your credit card company and try your best to explain to them that you are not responsible for what they billed you, and you can maybe reverse the charge. This would probably be a bad move though, as I would bet they would kill your Adwords account if that happened.... but you might want to think to yourself if Adwords is something you want to continue to support if this is how they treat you.

Here some info I found from another site written by Andrew Goodman:

"Given the rampant fraud in the PPC world, Google is virtually the only PPC company I feel passes muster on the trust scale. That's why I recommend them so enthusiastically. There seems to be a certain percentage of advertisers that are suspicious and distrusting of Google. But compared to what? Either directly or indirectly, ad middleman companies like DoubleClick presided over much Internet advertising fraud (fake clicks, pumped-up impressions) in the heyday. PPC companies are even worse. You have to go right up the list, past even the second-tier guys like FindWhat, and yes, even Overture, whose past (prior to the big portal contracts) includes a lot of low-quality search affiliates who generated a lot of fake clicks, and all way up to Google before you reach a company in the PPC space that is truly squeaky clean. 

To be clear, I think that Overture's ethical standards are now much higher than they used to be, and a couple of companies might be recommendable. Ultimately, as Kevin Lee pointed out at the recent Search Engine Strategies conference, you do have a choice. Track your ROI and decide to "stay, or go." Google reminds us that ROI calculations need to take into account the lifetime value of a customer."

I know Peter has contacted Google and is waiting on an answer. Keep me posted. You can report fraud to Google by going here: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html. Thanks and good luck!

Wrap up

As I am busy trying to finish my next web column called “How to Get Higher Rankings,” and a friend of mine sent me a funny site she said I would appreciate. It is very funny! I especially like how the site owner looks at what search terms people use to find her site. I have to say that the search terms people use to find my sites are not nearly as interesting. The site is uglyweddingdress.com. Email me with any questions! Thanks for reading my newsletter.

Please send all questions to theresaw@columbus.rr.com.

To see the articles from my print web column, go to http://www.w-edge.com/articles.htm

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