Google's Stock Falling Fast Again - is this advertiser dissatisfaction?

[bostonseo]

Google's stock is really taking a hit this last week - down about $50 a share. I really think advertiser dissatisfaction is catching up with them; seems like the majority of people here think Google's gotten greedy.

[shorebreak]

I think it's more "Buy going into the news, sell upon the news."

[bostonseo]

Could be, but there is a growing dissatisfaction amongst Adwords Advertisers. Also could be the news about the new
Internet Explorer browser driving Google's stock price down.

[DamonHD]

Hi bostonseo,

You report a "growing dissatisfaction": what is the objective source of your data?

I would say that otherwise all the data on their financial data argues the other way.

You may be right, but you should not report opinion as fact IMHO.

Rgds

Damon

[bostonseo]

Damon I know a way to take the pulse of the Adwords Advertiser - Ask them.

Question to all advertisers: Are you as happy with Google Adwords as you were last year? Simeple yes or no question.

[ronmcd]

Well I think bostonseo is absolutely correct, the level of advertiser dissatisfaction has increased recently due to the increase in organised & systematic double serving, MFA spam, not to mention googles lack of transparency in calculating bid prices.

Whether that has anything to do with the share price I have no idea, but I think many long term advertisers would say things have got worse in terms of adwords itself.

[ronmcd]

Btw, the financial data would argue there are MORE advertisers, not that those advertisers are happy.

[bostonseo]

It's true that there are more advertisers, however the majority of this growth is coming from outside of the U.S. and the U.K. - This data was from their earnings report conference call.

[TypicalSurfer]

More revenue does not mean more advertisers. As has been widely reported here, Adwords has been jacking up minimum bids across the board. That isn't how Wall Street defines healthy growth companies.

[gopi]

>> I really think advertiser dissatisfaction is catching up with them

I dont think so, the recent price drop is mainly because of the Vista/IE7 news...IMO wallstreet analysts have very little idea whats really going on in the google adword world.

[Marcia]

Now, this won't help either:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[pageoneresults]

Me thinks the tides are changing a bit. Maybe the stock holders are reading WebmasterWorld and other fora and they see the dissatisfaction that is being discussed on a regular basis.

Heck, maybe even some of the primary stock holders had their site dropped from the index! ;)

[gregbo]

You report a "growing dissatisfaction": what is the objective source of your data?

IMO, advertisers express more dissatisfaction with G now than five years ago (at least on WW). There may be more advertisers expressing dissatisfaction as well.

However, I don't get the feeling that investors pay much attention to forums like WW (if they even know of them). Investors listen to analysts, who either study trends or make guesses about what business will be. Trends report things like India and China will be major sources of revenue, which causes G's stock price to increase. Things we pay attention to, such as click fraud, index volatility, etc. aren't factored in that much in analyst's estimates. Occasionally, such as when the CFO wasn't very careful in his remarks about future business, G's stock takes a dive.

[wired in asia]

Yes articles in Business Week about legal action with regard to click through fraud do not help. I agree that the financial markets look primarily at performance. But after the google honeymoon period has to come to and end, people start asking questions...

A business model where paid advertisers compete against free (traditional) search engine listings!? So an individual who knows how to tweak his pages goes for free while one rank above an advertiser pays thousands of USD per day for a single keyword combination.

Also... here my take...on google service (and I don't think I am alone). We spend well over USD 1 million on ad words per year. My rep, well he responds to my emails on average 2 days later. When I call him there is a good chance for voice mail. He is a nice guy though.

When complaining about fraudulent advertisers, we were advised..'thanks for pointing this out.. great job, keep it up and yes thanks for helping us'. I mean, hallo…

Yes most financial players may not know about this forum or may not even know what PPC stands for. But the (unfortunate) truth is, that the customer rules. All past stories about googles extravagant escapades will come back to haunt them. I mean pets at the place at work (except cats), kicker tables, lunch being prepared by elderly rock stars.. get real;-)

Ah, and yes, after we installed out anti click through tracker I must ask, how can it be that someone out there clicks 20 times on our ad within 2 minutes?

[gregbo]

Also... here my take...on google service (and I don't think I am alone). We spend well over USD 1 million on ad words per year. My rep, well he responds to my emails on average 2 days later. When I call him there is a good chance for voice mail. He is a nice guy though.

Perhaps it's just me but I couldn't see myself spending US $1 million/year on any CPC advertising, knowing how vulnerable it is to click fraud.

[wired in asia]

google is not 'just' a search engine, it is the worlds first and largest e-commerce market place. And as in real life it's all about location, location, location (if you are in retail that is). So we don't mind spending the money.

Despite the criticism I am a great fan of google, as it provides any business the chance to reach a global audience overnight. Having carved out this historic first, i.e. empowering the small business, google needs to grow up fast to maintain and further nurture it's head start.

My point is that the reality of google operations has not kept up with it's online success.

Click through fraud is the smallest problem googles faces. As with theft in a retail environment, the cost of PPC abuse will ultimately be passed on to the consumer.

My problem with google is it's complete lack of customer support in critical areas (no pro-active engagement with the client, insufficient billing procedures, and lack of transparency).

[gregbo]

Click through fraud is the smallest problem googles faces. As with theft in a retail environment, the cost of PPC abuse will ultimately be passed on to the consumer.

I've never gotten the impression that in an (offline) retail environment, store management, law enforcement, etc. did not have a good handle on the size and scope of theft. Whereas with click fraud, no one really knows how bad it is (and no one can know).