Forum Moderators: martinibuster
The Conspiracy Theorist
These are the posters who state or imply that Google has ulterior motives, monkies with account eCPM as a method for earning more money for themselves and their investors, and feels that the "Smart" in Smart Pricing should always have quotes around it. The conspiracy theorist is eager for competition to AdSense so they can switch ASAP, and is at least a little bitter that they are stuck with AdSense for the time being.
The Loyalist
These are the guys who think that Google is doing the best they can to make things work for both the AdSense publishers and the AdWords advertisers. Their posts tend to defend decisions made by Google (not always, but usually). Although typically welcoming competition, which they feel will most certainly be good for publishers, they are not dissatisfied or bitter about any flaws they find in the AdSense system.
Which are you?
Keep in mind that you probably have at least a little of both in you, but which side do you tend to gravitate to the most?
As for me, I used to be a conspiracy theorist, but then I became an AdWords advertiser and realized the complexity of trying to make both sides happy, so as much as I hate to admit it, my thoughts since then tend to fall in the loyalist group.
It took many months of hard work to try and find out exactly what happened, and I'm still not 100% sure today, however I stuck at it with the rationale that I've been up there therefore I can do it again.
Surely month by month I've dragged the earnings back to pre 05.05.05 levels and I actually see a much greater consistency with my earnings these days so I guess I'm back in the loyalist camp...until something changes drastically and then I really will wonder what's happening!
I must say that Google’s SERPS have improved over the last 6 months. I still think the sandbox has many question marks surrounding it and I am more likely to add content to an existing site than build a new one at present. Not sure that this is their best work for the development of the internet and new ideas.
DON'T BE EVIL!
And because of this motto, I think Larry Page and Sergey Brin must be of of the nicest chaps in America and that probably make them the most eligible bachelors in USA.
PS: As long as Google is giving me this opportunity to make it a full time job I am a Google loyalist. In fact, I've been using Google since the beginning. That time Google had to entice webmasters to put search box at their web sites by paying them. I missed that opportunity and now I joined Adsense quite late though I am fully aware of its existence.
I don't trust them one bit, and think they basically shaft adsensers something cronic (not that I'm bothered either way).
They are in it for the buck - and they don't take prisoners!
Now...... if Google were really trying to help the less fortunate, they'd raise adsense cash, and in turn would see more adwords accounts being set up - and they still wouldn't lose anything.
But do they na..... we are but pawns in their game..
There's a lot of logic flying around both sides--but then logical doesn't mean accurate.
So I can safely be listed as doubtful whether I belong in one camp or the other, and pretty much non-committal.
Competition will be good for all, of that i don't doubt.
Sometimes I can see why the conspiracy crew get motivated, especially when the SERPS get filled with scraper sites.
I say to them, do you really think G wants all that crap in their results?
I believe G still wants the best results for joe public, and they are still a great source of income for the smallest to the biggest webmasters.
Dazz
It does not mean I think google is my friend. They are out to make money, but it is in their own interests to play fairly straight.
Another example of this sort of thing in the UK is Rupert Murdoch who makes many people hiss and boo and runs very crappy newspapers. But he also runs a TV news channel sky news which is pretty reasonable compared to expectations. This is becuase of enlightened self interest and not because he has a split personality.
Google has a lot of employess, if they really were up to no good, they would get terrible publicity from whistle blowers.
if Google were really trying to help the less fortunate
What a quaint notion!
I would be a cautious loyalist. Never had any complaints and Google has been good to me. But I am aware that they are a business and so will make any changes necessary to ensure the continuing, increasing, profitibility of THEIR business, not mine. So the future is always uncertain.
I'd say I'm a mix of loyalist and EFV's 'logical' category. I don't think one can be 100% logical - there just isn't enough information available in life to make all decisions that way.
Then, if things go wrong, I'm more likely to explain it using cock-up theory than conspiracy. That's what the evidence from Google's track record suggests, anyway.
On the other hand, this thread could be a ploy to expose the conspiracy theorists, to then disable their accounts.
It leads me to indiscriminate, tentative postions...In the end, it is good to question all things.
Primary reason, I just haven't found another program that can better monetize almost any page for the same amount of work on my part.
Yes there are other options but they all seem to generate less revenue (individually), are less reliable, and/or are a lot more work to implement.
Freq---
They pay me money. If the day comes that Yahoo! wants to pay me more money, then I'll be Yahoo!'s customer.
What do I care about their motives? I just look at how big the check is.
I don't get into a big motivation discussion when I have 30 minutes for lunch. I just go to whoever has some food I want for a price that's reasonable.
People who suffer Google angst have generally built a "business" that's totally tied (in their minds if not in fact) to a single supplier. That's not much of a business, IMO, and blaming Google is just a way of ignoring the real problem. Never single source anything crucial to business success.
Particularly if, like me, they have sites in their profiles?
On the other hand, this thread could be a ploy to expose the conspiracy theorists, to then disable their accounts.
Hmm... sounds like a conspiracy theorist to me. :)
Would Google test lowering our EPC to see how much extra cash they could squeeze out of us without causing all the publishers to walk? Of course they would, it is business. I would do the same if I was in their positoin. It is no conspiracy, if you dont think they are constantly adjusting payout settings, your more than a litle naive.
At the same time if I find something that pays me more money, I don't even think twice before switching. I have a few sites with Adsense but my major sites are now with YPN for the simple fact they are paying me more money for my traffic.
Google sees our relationship as dollar signs so we should keep that in mind and look at it the same way. In the business world there is no loyalty.
Jonathan, who do you think is more likely to post in a public forum? Those who are going to post for or against Google?
You might think that only the pro-Googlers would post, or at least most of the time, but honestly it's really split down the middle here IMO.
I read a lot of conspiracy posts, and a lot of loyalty posts, in the forum.
BTW, thinking that Google's going to come ban your account because you post against them and have your url in your profile might just make you a Conspiracy Theorist... ;)
You might think that only the pro-Googlers would post, or at least most of the time, but honestly it's really split down the middle here IMO.
I think the people who are most likely to post are those who are unhappy about something, e.g.:
"My EPC is dropping"
"I got banned"
"Smart pricing sucks"
"Scraper sites are stealing my content"
"MFA sites are driving away advertisers"
That's just human nature, and it's the pattern that one sees on most official or unofficial support forums. And it's why one has to be careful when analyzing "trends" by reading forum posts. People who post messages like "Publisher earnings are declining," "Smart pricing is killing publishers," or "Publishers are being banned in record numbers" based on what they see in this forum simply don't understand how forums and human nature work.
Loyalist? Conspiracy theorist? How about just customer?
They pay me money. If the day comes that Yahoo! wants to pay me more money, then I'll be Yahoo!'s customer.
I would say that Adsense publishers are suppliers, and Google is your customer, because customers pay suppliers. Therefore Adsense publishers should give Google the best quality content and service that they can possibly provide.
On the conspiracy side, Google is a business. Businesses work within a supply and demand equation, and they usually play according to the balance of the equation. Google has been playing a pretty good game so far, and they are probably always "up to something".
