This is a sub theme in the book "Subprime attention crisis" that more broadly argues that the fact that programmatic advertising is based on similar mechanics as financial systems also means it's vulnerable to bubbles in the same way. Interesting read but I would have loved some more data on the actual efficacy of programmatic advertising.
How can we know if paid search advertising works?
81–90 of 112 posts
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, once you realize the most profitable Google search terms are already the top organic result paying to be on top, you realize Google's business is the guy who shakes down storefronts for "protection" to avoid their windows being broken in by the local gang on a global scale. "That's a nice brand you built there. Ya know, it'd be a shame, a real shame, if one of your competitors was to end up above you on the sea…
Its worse: you search for a government service, like issuing a passport or a driving lisence, that by law and by logic only the government can provide , and the top result is often a scam.
To be fair to Google, they've only known about this issue for at least 10 years and I'm sure they are working hard on fixing it. It's not as easy as you think since the only legitimate domains in such a scenario would be .gov and there isn't any available technology to whitelist this tld - as far as I know?
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#83This article tackles one small and specific portion (bidding on branded keywords) of what paid search advertising is all about, so I think it’s fair to say that the title overstates the scope of the content. Paid search advertising has been subject to hit pieces for the past 15 years, often authored by people who are resentful of Google for some reason and happy to cite a bunch of statistics that don’t actually prove…
So you entire argument is "I refuse to actualy engage with any of the presented facts and claims, big and rich institutions can't be wrong". The author could have presented a cure for cancer and you woild have dismissed him just the same. Before 2008 banks were handing multiple mortgages to strippers. Does that mean that major banks with entire departments filled with analysts running their risk analysis and loans ef…
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#84Where search advertising works well for me is 'service' related advertising. As an example I have a burst pipe and I need to call a plumber out to my house. 10 years ago I'd go to the physical phone book and look up a plumber to call. I don't do that anymore now I type "my suburb name + plumber" into my browser. Where it does not work well is because I searched for the term 'plumber' every site I visit in my browser…
Maybe 'plumber' isn't the best example since any plumber currently generating business via paid search is probably the kind of plumber you would want to avoid?
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
The branded keyword game is very sneaky, though, and one place where google can (and does) make a killing. The trick is, if you have a particularly strong or unique brand, you can count on being the number one organic result. HOWEVER, if competitors bid on your brand and you do not, they end up above your brand in results as part of the the paid/promoted position. This usually forces brands into competing in paid pos…
i wonder if competitors bidding on your brand should be construed as trade mark violations - after all, if a user searches a brand and a competitor's site or product is shown as part of advertising, then aren't they making use of your brand to confuse the consumer (a classic trade mark violation)? The only problem is that the user isn't "seeing" the brand and confusing it, but instead is searching the brand and the s…
Is it actually confusing anyone? If I search for Pepsi and some of the ads are for Coke or Dr Pepper, that seems fine to me. If it's counterfeit Pepsi or something that's clearly a different case, but if someone searches "ebay mittens" I don't think it's ridiculous to allow a mitten store to have an ad that says "we sell mittens too!".
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its worse: you search for a government service, like issuing a passport or a driving lisence, that by law and by logic only the government can provide , and the top result is often a scam.
To be fair to Google, they've only known about this issue for at least 10 years and I'm sure they are working hard on fixing it. It's not as easy as you think since the only legitimate domains in such a scenario would be .gov and there isn't any available technology to whitelist this tld - as far as I know?
When my household moved last year two of the adults fell for this scam with change of address. For the record USPS will change your address for free in person or for $1 online (using a credit card cuts down on fraud and they have to charge something to actually use the CC). Well two people fell for bullshit Google ads and paid $85 each. One got her money back. The other did not. I am sure Google will fix it any day now.
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, once you realize the most profitable Google search terms are already the top organic result paying to be on top, you realize Google's business is the guy who shakes down storefronts for "protection" to avoid their windows being broken in by the local gang on a global scale. "That's a nice brand you built there. Ya know, it'd be a shame, a real shame, if one of your competitors was to end up above you on the sea…
Except your storefront is on Google's land...and people find your website using their services...and you are free to not ever do any kind of ppc or seo work on your site at all.
It just so happens that Google's land includes all of the main streets where people shop. But, you are free to set up your store on a backstreet alleyway a few miles from the town centre. That way you won't have to pay the protection fee. That's some real freedom right there.
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#88The article fails to mention that shortly after this made the rounds in the marketing communities, eBay suddenly got a very large SEO penalty. Conspiracy theories aside, I once inherited a large Adwords account with nearly 25% of spend dedicated to branded KW bidding. Simply dialing back bids by 90%+ dropped impression share from 95% to 80%, but the paid branded clicks just shifted to organic branded clicks-- confirm…
> the majority of brands are simply paying protection money
Exactly this. Google should be forced to not allow bidding on other companies‘ brand kw.
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#89Where search advertising works well for me is 'service' related advertising. As an example I have a burst pipe and I need to call a plumber out to my house. 10 years ago I'd go to the physical phone book and look up a plumber to call. I don't do that anymore now I type "my suburb name + plumber" into my browser. Where it does not work well is because I searched for the term 'plumber' every site I visit in my browser…
I'm not sure the first type of advertising is that useful. Why would I care which plumber paid Google the most money? I just want to find plumbers. I suppose you could make a 'search' engine by just letting people pay to show up on whatever keyword, but I'm not sure if that serves the same purpose as a general web search engine.
> Why would I care which plumber paid Google the most money?
I agree it's a bad metric if you have a better option, but in this example you don't.
Re: How can we know if paid search advertising works?
#90This article tackles one small and specific portion (bidding on branded keywords) of what paid search advertising is all about, so I think it’s fair to say that the title overstates the scope of the content. Paid search advertising has been subject to hit pieces for the past 15 years, often authored by people who are resentful of Google for some reason and happy to cite a bunch of statistics that don’t actually prove…
So you entire argument is "I refuse to actualy engage with any of the presented facts and claims, big and rich institutions can't be wrong". The author could have presented a cure for cancer and you woild have dismissed him just the same. Before 2008 banks were handing multiple mortgages to strippers. Does that mean that major banks with entire departments filled with analysts running their risk analysis and loans ef…
My argument is based on having worked in performance based advertising for years and seen first hand that it works.
Anyone who has direct experience in the space has seen the never ending stream of the same pedestrian arguments from people who have no idea what they are talking about.
For most organizations with a professionalized paid acquisition team, the returns aren’t fuzzy or something that a CMO could justify if it wasn’t producing real returns. The campaigns I worked on drove millions of dollars in incremental revenue every month. Turn it off, the revenue stops. Not some obscure attribution question.