AdSense = grammar nightmare?

[KimmoA]

I once read somewhere (or maybe I dreamed it -- I don't know anymore), that Google had a policy to only accept well written ads. I laugh at this as I read the grammar-wise nightmares for text ads I see on my sites.

"best Site buy Now Free Stuff" is a made-up, but typical, ad text I see shown. It's annoying as hell to me, as I'm a grammar freak myself.

I don't even understand why anyone would misspell an advertisement text. If I could afford AdWords, I'd totally proof-read it several times before submitting.

Some people have too much money.

[edited by: Woz at 9:58 pm (utc) on Sep. 26, 2005]
[edit reason] Tidying up. [/edit]

[wizarddave]

There's very good reason for bad grammar in ads. I believe it's an accepted Madison Ave. policy that misspellings and bad grammar attract attention.

There's bad and then there's bad... IMHO, "best Site buy Now Free Stuff" is not as bad as something like "best Sight bi now stuff free"...

[humblebeginnings]

As I believe the word 'best' is not permitted in an Adwords ad. But I get the point.
I c-c-can bééééééélieve that foolish language things might attract attention. But would using bad grammar help you to sell your goodies?
If that is a fact there is a bright future for me ahead!

[KimmoA]

Hmm... I personally think that: "Best TV guide online. 70+ channels." is more attractive to click on than "Nice tv Guide Online 70 Channels". Hmm...

[humblebeginnings]

Kim,

I think you are right that best-this-and-that is much more attractive. However, "best" is really not allowed. I just made an ad in Adwords with the title
"best widgets". The ad-copy is refused:

Unacceptable Superlatives
Unless verified by a third party, your ad text cannot contain comparative or subjective phrases such as 'Best,' 'Lowest,' or '#1.' This verification must be clearly displayed on your website. Please remove 'best' from your ad.

[KimmoA]

humblebeginnings: Why do you focus on specific words? I was talking about grammar.

Besides, a Swedish ad says the Swedish word for "best" in it and has been around forever on one of my sites.

[humblebeginnings]

Just thought my remarks about the word 'best' would add something meaningful. Perhaps you didn't know it was not allowed.

I just made an other ad with the title:
"zzwedisch wurd vor bestt"

Adwords declines the ad:

The spelling of 'zzwedisch' appears to be incorrect.
The spelling of 'wurd' appears to be incorrect.

So 'bestt' is considered OK by Adwords.

Guess the spell check doesn't mean that much...

[KimmoA]

"Bästa" is the Swedish for for "best", BTW...

[annej]

I once read somewhere (or maybe I dreamed it -- I don't know anymore), that Google had a policy to only accept well written ads.

I once read somewhere (or maybe I dreamed it -- I don't know anymore), that Google had a policy against made for AdSense sites.

Probably the same reason for both.

[KimmoA]

annej: What do you mean?

[annej]

I mean AdSense doesn't always enforce it's policies.

It would be great if Google would be willing to upgrade the quality of AdSense both in what kinds of sites they allow AdSense on and what kind of AdWords ads they accept.

Another way they hurt quality is allowing AdWords ads that advertise a product then when the visitor goes there the product can't be found on the site.

When I search a phrase from my meta description for various pages I find hundreds of scraper sites that have nothing but AdSense on them. No content at all. As surfers land on these sites it's got to give them a bad impression of AdSense.

I do appreciate AdSense but I would love to see them tighten up on quality.

[KimmoA]

annej: Yeah... lots of really <snip> sites out there with tons of ugly AdSense ads.

They should allow validating sites to get rid of the "Ads by" text! >:-)

[edited by: Jenstar at 12:03 pm (utc) on Sep. 29, 2005]
[edit reason] language, as per TOS [/edit]

[mlalex]

AdSense = grammar nightmare?

What does adsense have to do with bad grammar / spelling adwords?

or am I missing something here.

[KimmoA]

What does adsense have to do with bad grammar / spelling adwords?

Dunno. Just... uh... everything? AdSense = displaying the ads made through AdWords. I'm not an advertiser (I'd love to but can't afford it), but a publisher of the ads, so I post it in the AdSense forum category.

[annej]

Bad grammer and mispellings (beyond the usual shortened terms used in advertising) makes the ad look unprofessional thus makes the site they are on look unprofessional.

[KimmoA]

Bad grammer and mispellings (beyond the usual shortened terms used in advertising) makes the ad look unprofessional thus makes the site they are on look unprofessional.

Yep. That's exactly what I'm saying. (Although I would've said "grammar" instead of "grammer"... ;))

[pcgamez]

I never used to have a problem with this on AdSense, but in the past few weeks I have noticed a couple ads like that. It looks like they are slipping a bit.

[sailorjwd]

mispelllings and too bad grammer are techniques for adwords folks to lower cost per click. If you have dynamic keyword insertion turned on you'll get back whatever the user typed in as long as it matches your keyword phrases. My ROI would be even worse than it is if I couldn't have a few dangling participles in.

[KimmoA]

mispelllings and too bad grammer are techniques for adwords folks to lower cost per click. If you have dynamic keyword insertion turned on you'll get back whatever the user typed in as long as it matches your keyword phrases.

Once again: I have absolutely no idea what you mean by this! Please explain in great detail!

[sailorjwd]

Sorry but Adwords has nearly disabled my thought processes. I am only able to think in 35 character phrases - then my brain and keyboard get stuck.

Back to adsense now.

[annej]

Although I would've said "grammar" instead of "grammer"...

Yikes, how embarrassing! :)