Unusual click surge

Did I miss something?

[visibot]

Don't usually watch Overture details that closely. Mostly have a bunch of low-cost bottom-feeder bids with a fairly predictable daily cost.

Until today I had no reporting available for activity since the 13th. Today (21st) I suddenly see that clicks were running nearly double the usual volume during this "blackout" period.

Have I missed some recent change that would cause the same keyword set to perform at twice the rate it was a week ago?

[dagny]

The same thing happened to the account I manage.

Up until this morning (8/21), I was unable to access any reports with data beyond 8/13. My normal daily charge averages around $80 ... now I see I had five days over $150, but I definitely had no matching increase in sales. I'm still not able to run the reprots I need to tell where the extra money is being spent. I'm very close to just shutting the whole account down until they get their act together.

This past week has been a total fiasco for Overture

[dagny]

Ok ... I just dug a little deeper.

The only numbers I have managed to get from Overture this past week, were off of the "Account Summary" that automatically generated after I logged in. Those numbers just reflected overall clicks, costs and cpc for the account. While I was unable to generate any other reports, those numbers looked pretty normal.

Today - when I can generate all reports - the numbers (clicks and total cost) from 8/14 to 8/19 are EXACTLY DOUBLE
what I had been seeing.

Hopefully Overture will soon recognize the error and correct it on their - though I am documenting everything in case they do not.

[visibot]

Appreciate the confirmation.

Feels like having your pocket picked while the lights were out.

[Eric in Tennessee]

I am seeing the same thing. Have either of you guys dealth with Overture about something similar to this before? I don't spend that much with them, but to double what you are spending without an increase in sales really cuts into the margins.

I am just wondering what I should do. If you guys figure something out, please keep this thread going; I am sure that we are not the only people experiencing this.

Thanks,

Eric

[dagny]

There is definitely something wrong.

Beginning on the 14th, the reports I run show numbers that are EXACTLY double for the numbers Overture shows on the Account Summary page you get after you log in.

The numbers that are doubled are: impressions, clicks and MOST IMPORTANTLY -- cost.

This seems like a simple programming error that Overture can easily fix. AT least I would have thought it would be easy for them before last week.

[visibot]

Sounds like they've got the right number in that initial summary so it appears the reports are just screwed up.

I'm just going to wait a day or two and trust that it will get squared away -- I expect that they probably have a ton of emails about this already.

[hobbnet]

We called this morning and the reports are screwed up for everyone and they are supposed to be fixed this afternoon.

We too are getting exactly double charged for all our clicks. Typically we get ~4,000 clicks/day now we are getting 8,000.

[Eric in Tennessee]

I notice a mild jump in Overture over the weekend as compared to normal weekend traffic, but a huge jump on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Now this may be important, and scary, My Google AdWords has also jumped - impressions and clicks. I guess my sales have gone up a bit, but it doesn't seem to be worth it.

Have ya'all noticed a jump in Google, assuming that you use AdWords, and Overture?

Maybe this is a seasonal thing with kids going back to school or something.

Air your thoughts please.

Eric

<added>P.S. and things @GoogleAdWords look to to be back to normal today, but Overture still looks high./>

[visibot]

Looks like reporting is back to normal.

[Eric in Tennessee]

Did this Content Match thingy just start after the most recent update?

Eric