Overture Charging for More Hits than They Deliver

Is anyone seeing the same trend?

[swedras]

We have been using Overture ads for the past many months. We have a sophisiticated tracking program that counts every hit delivered to the unique URL (page)
that was given to Overture only.

I have recently become aware that the overture search terms are losing ground and no longer profitable for
us to use. In investigating closely, I am finding that over the past 5 months (I didn't investigate further back but could), Overture has been progressively upcharging more and more hits than were actually delivered to our site. I randomly checked the first week of each of the last 5 months.

April 1-8, WE logged 14% MORE hits delivered to our site than Overture logged and charged.
May 1-8, WE logged 3% MORE hits delivered to our site than Overture logged and charged.
June 1-8 WE logged 7% MORE hits delivered to our site than they logged and charged.
July 1-8 Overture charged for 17% more hits than we showed delivered.
Aug 1-8 Overture has charged for 69% more hits than were delivered to our site.
(It's now getting rediculous. They're heading toward doubling our hit count)

Do any of you also have independent software that tracks hits, and have you seen the same trend?

Our tracking software has not changed by even one character in these 5 months. We have checked our trunk lines and records for site "down" time and find no correlation.

Were they wrong in April and right now? Are they wrong all of the time, and we just don't know by how much or which way? Are they wrong now and getting worse?

Last week the Overture Gold team told me they had been experiencing a problem with "double" something...? They credited me $9.00 on ONE term that I told them was way out of line according to our hit count, but when I asked the meaning of the term "double" something, I was told they had been xperiencing "trouble getting their listings to show up".

I am still waiting (day 3) for an explanation from Overture following an investigation of our account that started last Wed.

Let me know if anyone is experiencing the same trend.

[ogletree]

You need to look close Y may be saying you have a certain number of click but may not be chargeing you for them. They may have decided they were invalid clicks and did not charge you but still showed that they were made. It is impossible to tell what you are saying unless you know the exact cost of every click made.

[keywordguru]

swedras

I am looking for an in depth tracking solution like the one you seem to be using. Can you sticky me a message some more details?
Thanks
KG

[swedras]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have gone back to our reports again. I know the exact cost of each click as we keep VERY detailed records. Less than a 1% difference between our estimate and their charges. There have also been NO credits to our account.

Additionally, our recent records show nearly the identical conversion per OUR recorded delivered click but a plummeting conversion per THEIR recorded clicks -in other words, the clicks have gone up but the number of orders have not. This makes no sense. The competitors are the same as usual. Their offerings and prices are the same. (Although I use this bit of conversion information to add to the analysis, I don't want this to degenerate into a conversation about conversion rate. I'd like to stay focused on clicks delivered)

We track e-pilot, google, looksmart, and overture by incoming URL count, cost per click, conversion per click and conversion per dollar spent.

Lately, Overture is looking like a very poor tool indeed.

If anyone else has actual records that verify or discredit our observations, please let us know.

[swedras]

In re-reading my previous note, I realize I misstated the cost per click explanation. I meant to say "less than a 1% difference between the clicks THEY record and the charge THEY have billed us" but a large difference between the clicks WE record and the charge they bill us.

Sorry about the poor wording.