Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US • Hacker News Board

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#51

Post by IAmGraydon » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 3:44 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #20

benologist wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their whole ad empire is desperate for a massive audit. Google had to be sued to deliver a $400,000 refund they owed but later claimed couldn't be delivered, claiming 3rd parties had been paid the funds when it was their own platforms. It turned out Google had accidentally kept $75 million. https://marketingland.com/class-action-lawsuit-accuses-googl...

As someone who has adblocked everything since my teenage years, the whole ad industry seems to be making orders of magnitude more money than it should. I just don't understand how anyone comes to buy things shown in ads. Are ads really effective? I don't buy advertised products. Do we really trust ad tech accounting? They've been caught inflating numbers over and over again. The whole house of cards seems like it cou…

First, yes they are effective for effective marketing professionals. Digital advertising is a vehicle. The marketing creative is still the payload that does the work, and it has to be carefully and strategically created to maximize return. You can easily lose money if you don't know what you're doing.

Second, any marketing professional worth their salary is measuring with a number of tools to verify that the information they're getting from Google/Facebook/etc. is accurate. There are many metrics that only they can provide, but there are enough independently measured data points that fraud would be obvious.

Finally, you're blaming Google, but the advertising industry's current state is a product of extreme corporate greed (on the part of advertisers). It doesn't matter whether Google goes away, greed will continue to corrupt in other ways. Look what happened with the rise of ad blockers - native advertising, which is just a nice word for the paid corruption of editorial space, has become so prominent that you can't trust most of the articles you read on sites that were once considered reputable. The "influencer" marketing you mentioned is a perfect example. People with social presence and influence are being paid to lie about a product. You think this is somehow better or more "legitimate"? I would love to hear more about that. At least with Google, I can clearly see where the ads are.

So you can try to implode Google or any other facilitator of digital advertising, but money will find a way. It always does. You're trying to change human nature.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#52

Post by janesvilleseo » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:08 AM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #2

Sounds like excluding all other countries is the only solution. Google does provide a CSV with all the AdWords recognized countries: https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/geot... You should be able to copy the list to the clipboard and paste into the exclusion list.

This is the answer.

I can’t tell you the times I have had to tell clients and other search marketing professionals that they need to have a negative list.

Budgets are not infinite and they need to be managed to get the most out of them.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#53

Post by pheug » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:17 AM UTC

unreal37 wrote: post #38

I'm surprised that you're surprised. You worked for Google. You should have known this before today.

Why exactly should he have known this, especially as an SWE? Google is a gigantic 110k+ people company by now. It's totally possibly to spend years head deep in code specializing on some obscure parts of codebase with near zero understanding how everything else works outside of your narrow area of focus.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#54

Post by dang » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

ifthenelseend wrote: post #24

Google is a scam company. Stop using it.

Would you please stop posting flamebait and/or unsubstantive comments to HN? We've already had to ask you about this, and we ban accounts that keep doing it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#55

Post by soraminazuki » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:27 AM UTC

oceliker wrote: post #32

I'm somewhat confused here. I live in the US but regularly visit Turkey to see family (say, once a year). I also regularly Google things related to the US when I'm there. Clicks outside the US are not necessarily meaningless -- the screenshot in the article shows that they are targeting people "regularly in the US". Just because I left for a couple of weeks does not mean I abandoned everything related to where I live…

The default option says that it targets "people in, or show interest in , your targeted location." The author tightened the settings only after he realized the clicks came from outside the US. Also, it's unnatural that multiple clicks from the same location were made in a quick succession.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#56

Post by cookie_monsta » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:30 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #20

benologist wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their whole ad empire is desperate for a massive audit. Google had to be sued to deliver a $400,000 refund they owed but later claimed couldn't be delivered, claiming 3rd parties had been paid the funds when it was their own platforms. It turned out Google had accidentally kept $75 million. https://marketingland.com/class-action-lawsuit-accuses-googl...

As someone who has adblocked everything since my teenage years, the whole ad industry seems to be making orders of magnitude more money than it should. I just don't understand how anyone comes to buy things shown in ads. Are ads really effective? I don't buy advertised products. Do we really trust ad tech accounting? They've been caught inflating numbers over and over again. The whole house of cards seems like it cou…

The old saw was that 50% of advertising is useless, it's just that nobody knows which 50%.

I guess that's why people are so excited about click tracking, analytics, etc, etc.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#57

Post by dwd » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:37 AM UTC

janesvilleseo wrote: post #52

tyingq wrote: post #2

Sounds like excluding all other countries is the only solution. Google does provide a CSV with all the AdWords recognized countries: https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/geot... You should be able to copy the list to the clipboard and paste into the exclusion list.

This is the answer. I can’t tell you the times I have had to tell clients and other search marketing professionals that they need to have a negative list. Budgets are not infinite and they need to be managed to get the most out of them.

I've mentioned this previously as a dark pattern that trips most people up.

It's probably fair to assume setting a target location is it, not that you additionally have to exclude the rest of the world. And it's buried in the advanced settings, so anyone looking for a quick default setup just do the minimum required setting presented to them.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#58

Post by gesman » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:38 AM UTC

fnord77 wrote: post #35

ijidak wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. As an advertiser, who traces each ad, I can say that advertising has demonstrably made me thousands upon thousands of dollars. However, 80% of ads are trash peddled by blind men leading blind men. There are very specific advertising techniques that work consistently, but most "marketing types" optimize for flashy artistic ads that have literally ZERO selling power. In fact, in some studies, ads actually REDUCE s…

just out of curiosity, what are some specific advertising techniques that work consistently?

Brand awareness ads. Pretty much it’s irrelevant what you say about brand ‘X’ as long as you bombard gullible observer with ‘X’. Then buying ‘X’ would be more familiar choice for millions than buying ‘Y’ or ‘Z’.

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#59

Post by paul7986 » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

Just watched this vidoe re: other adword shenigans where Tulsi Gabbard discusses her suit against Google with Joe Rogan. They suspended her ads and adwords account during the first democratic debate & never provided a reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5o-zqII6eQ

Re: Google AdWords charged me for clicks in Istanbul while location-targeting the US

#60

Post by bitcoinbutter » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

JCharante wrote: post #43

I mean it says right there that they may also be people regularly in the US. I don't see why I'm less of a marketable audience for a SaaS when I'm abroad.

The problem is, it also includes anyone who has ever logged into a US VPN. There is no doubt that this will catch some Americans who are abroad, but if you are getting 3-4 non-US clicks to get 1 American abroad click, you are effectively paying 4-5x for that one useful click.