Some industry watchers say Google is a modern day “Emperor’s New Clothes” story. Everyone is so worried they will look stupid; they don’t see the hypocrisy of AdWords. Here are ten reasons why. We’re forced to use AdWords because our clients want to come up on top of a Google search no matter what. We try to encourage improving the page content, but that’s more difficult than just paying for AdWords. That’s even what American Express says in its book, “When Everything Clicks: Your Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising.” 

 

1. Bounce rate 100 percent when the ad specifically says this is a sub-micron grinder. A human couldn’t be selecting our ad.
2. They change the algorithm to spend what you set, even if it’s within 3 percent of what was spent if you didn’t limit it.
3. You set AdWords to “spend until used” and your ad displays throughout the entire day at $20.
4. You change to “let Google balance your spend throughout the day” and in a few weeks, your ad doesn’t display anymore and your budget needs to be increased.
5. Your ads don’t show when you search anonymously. Google says that’s the way it’s designed. You already didn’t click on it the last time. This is even though you clicked the global symbol. It’s because you have to select “AdWords will set my bids to help maximize clicks within my target budget,” of course at the suggestion of Google. We refreshed ten times, and still our ad never came up.
6. Your Quality Score is low, but you and two other companies are the only ones in the world that offer that product
7. Your ad still gets clicked at 3 a.m. on Sunday, for locomotive train electrical resistors.
8. You search on a company name in a dozen languages and get a similar search results number, whether the US or Estonia.
9. There is no algorithm to suspend ads if you are ranking high naturally. Google says it’s best practices to advertise when you are already number one organically. We think this is patently stupid.
10. Why is Bing just about as effective but only ten percent of the cost of Google?
11. Why doesn’t Google give agencies a commission on sales? There is no alternative. How did this happen? Early printing was managed by a monarch. Millennia later, airwaves were regulated and licensed. But the Internet has no watchdogs. Churchill nailed it: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”

But all isn’t so wrong. This is just because common public interest algorithms don’t meet typical engineering search criteria. The search engines do a good enough job for our job. I’ve just pointed out most of the odd problems

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All is not lost. Retailing tycoon John Wanamaker once said, “I know that half of my advertising doesn’t work. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” Best to focus on being creative and great content.

Technical content to support your marketing efforts doesn’t have to be rocket science. Download our free content guide that is based on fundamental Masters of Business Administration principals, “The purpose of a company is to create and retain customers.”

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