I’ve received a handful of emails from friends and clients asking about whether they should add a PPC (pay-per-click) program to boost site revenues. I’ve studied PPC programs and learned a great deal about them – enough that I can warn my clients and you away from this form of on-line advertising.
Google AdWords and AdSense
Perhaps the best known of the PPC programs, Google AdWords and AdSense appear as the 60-character blocks on the right hand side of SERPs and web sites. They’re ubiquitous and, in my opinion, all but invisible they’re so commonplace. But that’s not the only problem I have with PPC programs, and Google’s AdWords and AdSense in particular.
With AdWords, you create those blue-cube links to your site. You bid against others (often deep-pockets bidders) for the most highly-used keywords which will, naturally, come up more frequently and consequently deliver more impressions. Now, AdWords, according to Google, are supposed to be placed contextually. For example…
…if your site sells wine accessories on-line, your AdWords cube would organically appear on oenophile (somebody who has a passionate interest in wine) websites. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. However, I discovered numerous complaints from AdWords buyers that their links appeared on sites that had nothing to do with the topicality of their sites – a cruise ship link on a site leasing oil and gas rigs. Huh?
But it gets worse. I also discovered more than a few AdWords users who actually discovered their links on foreign language web sites. Would you click on a link written in Chinese? Or Russian? Well, neither are the Chinese or Russians going to click on a link in English so what good do these impressions do the AdWords subscribers. None, even though they’ve bid on keywords that are supposed to be related to the subject of their sites. Instead, your car parts store site link appears on an Armenia site selling combines.
AdSense is the reverse of AdWords. You agree to allow Google to place AdWords on your site and you earn revenue each time there’s a click through. Sounds like a good idea.
I don’t agree. I think those AdWords skyscrapers in the fourth column right give any site a low-rent, carnival midway look. Imagine logging on to the site of a law firm and seeing a stack of PPC blocks running across the top of the page, or down the side or across the bottom of every page. This is a law firm interested in generating revenues not helping clients, ergo, not the law firm for you.
PPC Fraud
One of the positives of PPC advertising is that you only get charged per click. No clicks, no charge. You can also set a limit of advertising outlay over a certain period of time, you can prevent cubes from direct competitors appearing on your site and, in fact, define what are acceptable AdWords for your site.
However, PPC click fraud can very quickly gobble up any AdWords budget and despite protests to the contrary, Google has yet to take an pro-active stance against this burgeoning problem. Frankly, there isn’t a great deal of motivation to take action on Google’s part because: (1) they are the biggest PPC purveyors with the most expansive reach and (2) Google gets paid for the click whether it’s legit or fraudulent.
PPC fraud is simple. A competitor site owner and all of his friends click on your PPC links at 50 cents per click. It won’t take long for your $20 PPC budget to disappear. And not a single sale.
Ah, but the plot thickens. There are actually gangs engaged in click fraud. Sweat shop workers are paid a penny a click each time they click on a PPC ad that appears on their “client” list.
There are PPC fraud programs that change IP addresses so all the clicks don’t come from the same competitor’s IP address. Too easy, but technology makes it possible to scramble IP addresses with each click.
Now Google promises to return revenues derived from click fraud but it’s up to the victim to prove the fraud! Like I said, Google isn’t really motivated to crack down on click fraud.
Is PPC Good for Small Australian Service Providers?
No. I wouldn’t recommend it for a couple of reasons.
First there’s the fraud problem and Google’s apparent apathy concerning an immediate fix (though fixes are in the works, we’re told).
There’s the expense, especially when you’re competing against deep-pockets competitors for the most popular keywords. You could easily spend $5 – $10 per click. Easily. And there’s no guarantee that the site visitor is qualified or “just looking around.” In other words, they have yet to be converted to buyers.
Third, small service providers are looking for regional business and with Google’s track record of contextual AdWords placement, your link may end up on the site of a Finnish ski resort. Not exactly a placement to drive traffic.
I think young e-businesses should spend time establishing links with similar but non-competing sites. Time should also be taken to optimize every site page and to employ guerrilla tactics to pick up some pixels and get a little link love.
There may come a time when PPC makes sense and there are actually companies that track your site’s PPC activity for signs of fraud, which shows you how widespread the problem is, but they are effective and worth the expense if you add Google’s AdWords to your marketing arsenal.
Until then, cash is king. Don’t waste it or lose it to scammers.
